"... When discussing rabbinic knowledge of Ben Sira, the earliest rabbinic source to which modern scholars point is a passage of the Mishnah that appears to cite Ben Sira, though without attribution. Mishnah Avot 4:44 reads ... This closely corresponds to Ben Sira 7:17, which is preserved in two Hebrew manuscripts (MS A and MS C) ... The minor differences between Ben Sira and R. Levitas of Yavneh derive from the latter’s use of more rabbinic Hebrew phrasing. He opens with the prescriptive verb ״,הוי״ which introduces prescriptive statements at least thirteen times in Tractate Avot alone ... All this, and the citation is still very close to Ben Sira. Later, in the amoraic period, there are two more examples of verses from Ben Sira cited in the name of a specific rabbi without attribution to Ben Sira, and there are also several examples of Ben Sira cited in amoraic literature as though it were a tannaitic source. Once in the Babylonian Talmud, it is even cited as though it were part of the hagiography ..."