Alphabet of Sirach

The Alphabet of Sira (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.

Adolf Neubauer and Abraham Epstein argued for a satirical character, which reading was rejected by Louis Ginzberg.

A critical edition under the title סיפורי בן סירא בימי הביניים was published by Eli Yassif in 1984.

Half of the proverbs are borrowed from the Talmud, and are only a pretext for the presentation of a number of legends surrounding Ben Sira.