Rediscovering Ben Sira: The Lost Book Quoted by the Sages

In the Talmud (Eruvin 65b), the great Amora Rav taught:
"Anyone whose mind is not settled should not pray, as it is written: 'In distress, he should not shoot.'"
Rashi comments on this verse with unusual candor: "I searched for this verse, and it is not found anywhere in the Scriptures; perhaps it is in the Book of Ben Sira."

Who was Ben Sira? And what is this mysterious book that Rav may have cited as halachic (Jewish legal) support, with Rashi himself speculating that it might be the source?

A Hidden Work of Jewish Ethics

The Book of Ben Sira, also known as Ecclesiasticus, was lost to the Jewish people for many generations. It was eventually rediscovered in a Greek translation found in a Coptic church in Egypt. The introduction to the Greek text reads:

“My grandfather, Yeshua, after dedicating himself greatly to the study of the Torah, the Prophets, and the other writings of our ancestors, and having acquired deep knowledge in them, was also moved to write something concerning ethics and wisdom… When I came down to Egypt in the thirty-eighth year of King Euergetes, I found a copy of the book my grandfather had written, which contained many teachings of ethics. I considered it worthwhile to labor over a translation into Greek, for the sake of the Jews living in the diaspora.”

This preface was written around 132 BCE by Shimon, the grandson of Ben Sira, referring to his grandfather’s original Hebrew text. Yeshua Ben Sira lived in the early Hellenistic period, prior to the Maccabean Revolt, and composed a book of moral teachings in Hebrew.

Revered, Rejected, and Eventually Recovered

Some of the sages regarded Ben Sira with respect, even quoting his words as if they were from the canonical Scriptures. Others among the Amoraim, however, viewed his work as problematic and prohibited its study. The accepted position became: if the content attributed to Ben Sira is positive and consistent with Torah values, it may be taught and discussed.

In 1896, Professor Solomon Schechter made a groundbreaking discovery in the Cairo Genizah: an ancient Hebrew manuscript containing text from the original Book of Ben Sira, long before its translation into Greek. Additional Hebrew fragments of Ben Sira were later found in the Dead Sea Scrolls and even at the Masada site, confirming its original Hebrew composition.

A Curious Legend

In a later work titled Alpha Beta de-Ben Sira, a strange story appears: Ben Sira was said to be the son of the prophet Yirmiyahu, unknown even to his mother. Although this tale is far from historically credible, some halachic authorities, such as the Chelkat Mechokek (Even HaEzer 1), took it into account, while most dismissed it as apocryphal.

Ben Sira's story is one of disappearance and rediscovery, rejection and partial acceptance. Though never formally canonized, his words echoed in the teachings of Chazal and still carry ethical weight today.