Overall, Hillel was most frequently-cited contributor to Avot, which was unsurprising given that he was named as the author of seven mishnayot in Avot, more than anyone else. He was cited a total of seven times, followed by Yehoshua ben Perachya on six, Rabbi Tarfon on five and Ben Zoma on four.
Now, at the half-way mark for the year, the total number of online references to Avot stands at 106 (up 60 from 46 at the end of the first quarter). Hillel’s mishnah 1:14 has taken the lead. The most frequently cited mishnayot, together with the number of times they were cited, looks like this:
Hillel (Avot 1:14) 18
Yehoshua ben Perachyah (Avot 1:6) and Ben Zoma (Avot 4:1) 11 apiece
Rabbi Tarfon (Avot 2:21) 9.
The popularity of Avot 1:14 may have something to do with the fact that it is convenient for use by authors who have little or no interest in Judaism or the Torah but who are generally exhorting their readers to do something now rather than at some later time.
More media citations of Avot come from the first perek than any of the others. In terms of popularity, the six perakim rank as follows:
Perek 1: 40 (37.7%)
Perek 2: 22 (20.7%)
Perek 3: 8 (0.7%)
Perek 4: 24 (22.6%)
Perek 5: 7 (0.7%)
Perek 6: 5 (0.5%)
I must admit some surprise at the relatively low level of references to the third perek of Avot, which contains some wonderful material (including all of Rabbi Akiva’s contributions).
