of ethical tract which was peculiar to Jewish moralists. These
tracts were what are known as Ethical Wills.

These Ethical Wills (_Zevaoth_) contained the express directions of
fathers to their children or of aged teachers to their disciples. They
were for the most part written calmly in old age, but not immediately
before the writers' death. Some of them were very carefully composed,
and amount to formal ethical treatises. But in the main they are
charmingly natural and unaffected. They were intended for the absolutely
private use of children and relatives, or of some beloved pupil who
held the dearest place in his master's regard. They were not designed
for publication, and thus, as the writer had no reason to expect that
his words would pass beyond a limited circle, the Ethical Will is a
clear revelation of his innermost feelings and ideals. Intellectually
some of these Ethical Wills are poor; morally, however, the general
level is very high.

Addresses of parents to their children occur in the Bible, the
Apocrypha, and the Rabbinical literature. But the earliest extant
Ethical Will written as an independent document is that of Eleazar, the
son of Isaac of Worms (about 1050), who must not be confused with the
author of the _Rokeach_. The eleventh and twelfth centuries supply few
examples of the Ethical Will, but from the thirteenth century onwards
there is a plentiful array of them. "Think not of evil," says Eleazar of
Worms, "for evil thinking leads to evil doing.... Purify thy body, the
dwelling-place of thy soul.... Give of all thy food a portion to God.
Let God's portion be the best, and give it to the poor." The will of the
translator Judah Ibn Tibbon (about 1190) contains at least one passage
worthy of Ruskin: "Avoid bad society, make thy books thy companions, let
thy book-cases and shelves be thy gardens and pleasure-grounds. Pluck
the fruit that grows therein, gather the roses, the spices, and the
myrrh. If thy soul be satiate and weary, change from garden to garden,
from furrow to furrow, from sight to sight. Then will thy desire renew
itself, and thy soul be satisfied with delight." The will of Nachmanides
is an unaffected eulogy of humility. Asher, the son of Yechiel
(fourteenth century), called his will "Ways of Life," and it includes
132 maxims, which are often printed in the prayer-book. "Do not obey the
Law for reward, nor avoid sin from fear of punishment, but serve God
from love. Sleep not over-much