Alphabet of Sirach
The Alphabet of Sirach (Jewish Babylonian Aramaic: אלפא-ביתא דבן סירא, romanized: Alpā-Bethā də-Ben Sirā) is an anonymous text of the Middle Ages inspired by the Book of Sirach and written in a Muslim country between 700 and 1000. It is a compilation of two lists of proverbs, 22 in Jewish Babylonian Aramaic and 22 in Medieval Hebrew, both arranged as alphabetic acrostics. Each proverb is followed by an aggadic commentary. Adolf Neubauer and Abraham Epstein argued for a satirical character, which reading was rejected by Louis Ginzberg.
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It has been translated into Latin, Yiddish, Judaeo-Spanish, Judeo-Persian, French and German. An English translation by Norman Bronznick appeared in Stern and Mirsky (1998). A critical edition under the title סיפורי בן סירא בימי הביניים was published by Eli Yassif in 1984.