"... the rabbis who cite Ben Sira in their literature had to contend with a certain problem: The rabbis’ Christian neighbors did not distinguish Ben Sira’s status from that of many other biblical books. Insofar as we can speak of an early Christian canon, Ben Sira was part of it for many communities. The rabbis, on the other hand, determined early on that Ben Sira was not part of the canon. Thus, to distinguish Ben Sira from the biblical books, they cited Ben Sira as though he were a rabbi—“Ben Sira said …,” or “So-and-so said in the name of Ben Sira …”—rather than as an author—“It is written in the Book of Ben Sira.” The one and only time that it is referred to as the “Book of Ben Sira” (סיפראדבןסירא) in Palestinian rabbinic literature is when Simeon b. Shetah is reported as talking about it to King Yannai, a nonrabbi (Y. Berakhot 7:2 [11b] and parallels, second Palestinian source below). This suggests that the rabbis were aware of Ben Sira as a written work and of nonrabbis’ familiarity with it primarily as such. Their avoidance of referring to Ben Sira as an author or as the title of a book thus reflects an important religious concern, not simply the form in which they knew these traditions ..."