service, _Zebachim_ V (_Siddur_, ed. Singer, p. 11); in the
evening service for the Sabbath, _Sabbat_, II (pp. 120-122),
and, from the _Talmud_, end of _Berachot_ (p. 122); in the
additional service for Sabbath and festivals, from the _Talmud
Keritot_, 6a, from the _Mishnah_, end of _Tamid_, and from the
_Talmud_, end of _Berachot_ (pp. 167-168).

As Taylor has said, "Its simplicity and intrinsic excellence have
secured for _Abot_ a widespread and lasting popularity, and have led
to its being excerpted from the _Talmud_ and used liturgically in the
Synagogue, at certain seasons, from an early period" (19). Thus, the
_Abot_ is found not only in all editions of the _Mishnah_ and the
_Talmud_, but also in the prayer-books of the Ashkenazic rite (20).
The practice of reading a chapter from _Abot_, on Saturday, after the
afternoon prayer (_Minchah_), originated as early as Gaonic times
(seventh to eleventh centuries). During the middle of the ninth
century, _Abot_ and its _Baraita_ were thus liturgically used. In
Spanish communities it was recited in the morning of the Sabbath, and
not in the afternoon. By the eleventh century, this custom was
universally a part of the synagogal service.

(19) Taylor, _loc. cit._

(20) German and Polish.


Originally, _Abot_ was probably read only from Passover to _Shebuot;_
and, since this period has generally six Sabbaths, and there are only
five chapters of _Abot_, the chapter _Kinyan Torah_ was appointed to
be read on the sixth Sabbath. Later, the period of the year in which