Mishnah

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The Mishnah (Hebrew משנה, "repetition") is a major source of rabbinic Judaism's religious texts. It is the first recording of the oral law of the Jewish people, as championed by the Pharisees and is considered the first work of Rabbinic Judaism.

The Mishnah was redacted around the year 200 CE by Judah haNasi ("Judah the Prince"). He is usually simply referred to as Rebbi ("Rabbi"). Nearly all of the Mishnah is written in Mishnaic Hebrew, except for a few verses, which are written in Aramaic. Rabbinic commentaries on the Mishnah over the next three centuries were recorded mostly in Aramaic and were redacted as the Gemara. The Mishnah and the Gemara together form the Talmud.

The Mishnah is noteworthy in Rabbinic literature for its depiction of a religious universe in which the Temple in Jerusalem, destroyed a century earlier, still retains a central place. Laws concerning the Temple service constitute one of the Mishnah's six divisions.

Also noteworthy is the Mishnah's lack of citation of a scriptural basis for its laws. It is said that the Oral Law was given simultaneously with the Written Law (Torah), and so does not derive directly from it. Connecting the Mishnaic law with the Torah law was a major enterprise of the later Midrash and Talmuds.

The Rabbinic sages whose views are recorded in the Mishnah are called Tannaim (תנאים), the plural of Tanna (תנא); Tanna is an Aramaic term for the Hebrew word shana, which also is the root-word of Mishnah. The verb shano (שנה) literally means 'to repeat [what one was taught]' and is used to mean 'to learn'.

The word mishna can also indicate a single paragraph, i.e., the smallest unit of structure in the Mishnah. The plural is mishnayot. Thus, a number of mishnayot make up a perek (chapter), a number of perakim (chapters) make up a masechet (tractate), a number of masechtot (tractates) make up a seder (order) and the Shas (acronym for Shisha Sedarim - the six orders) make up the Mishnah. (The term Shas is also used to refer to a complete Talmud, which follows the structure of the Mishnah.)

Contents

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Relation between the Hebrew Bible and the Mishnah

Rabbinical Judaism holds that the Five Books of Moses called the (Written) Torah have always been transmitted in parallel with an oral tradition. Two guides to laws were given to Moses at Mount Sinai. The first, known as Torah she-bi-khtav, or the "Written Law" is composed of only the Five Books of Moses -- Genesis through Deuteronomy. These five books are the first five books of the Hebrew Bible.

When the writings of the Nevi'im [נביאים] meaning: "Prophets" and Ketuvim [כתובים] meaning "Writings", the wisdom and creative literature, are added to the Torah [the Five Books of Moses] the expanded volume is called the Tanakh. It is this "complete" version of Hebrew literature that Christianity knows as "The Old Testament." The Tanakh comprises the Hebrew Bible as we know it today.

The second law given to Moses at Sinai, known as Torah she-be'al-peh, is the exposition of the Written Law as relayed by the scholarly and other religious leaders of each generation. This Oral Law is, in some sense, the more authoritative of the two. The traditions of the Oral Law are considered as the basis for the interpretation, and often for the reading, of the Written Law.

By 200 CE, the time of Rabbi Judah Ha-Nasi, much of the Oral Law was edited together into the Mishnah; see below. Over the next four centuries this material underwent analysis and debate, known as Gemara ("completion"), in both of the world's major Jewish communities (in the land of Israel and Babylon). These eventually came to be edited together into compilations known as the Talmud. Jewish law and custom thus is not based on a literal reading of the Torah, or the rest of the Tanakh, but on the combined oral and written traditions.

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The writing of the Mishnah

According to Jewish Law, the Written Law must be transmitted from a written source, and the Oral Law orally. Therefore, it was forbidden to write down the Oral Law in any form, other than for notes.

The Babylonian Talmud (Hagiga 14a) states that there were either six-hundred or seven-hundred orders of the Mishnah. Hillel the Elder organized them into six orders to make it easier to remember.

Over time, different traditions of the Oral Law came into being, debating what the laws or their rulings were. Further, (according to the Mavoh Hatalmud) many rulings were given about specific things that could have been taken out of context or where a ruling was revisited but the second ruling was not as popularly known. To correct this, Rabbi took up the redaction of the Mishnah. If something was already there with no conflict, he used it without changes in language, he reordered and ruled on where there was conflict, and clarifed where context was not given. The idea was not do this at his own discretion, but rather to examine the tradition as far back as he could, and only supplement as required.

As he went through the tractates, the Mishnah was set forth, but throughout his life some parts were updated as new information came to light. Because of the proliferation of earlier versions, it was deemed too hard to retract anything already released, as such, a second version of certain laws were released. The Talmud refers to these differing version as Mishnah Rishona ("First Mishnah") and Mishna Acharona ("Last Mishnah").

With Rabbi's death, no more redactions were done to the body of the Mishnah, though it was still not written down. It was finally written down some centuries later when it was deemed too difficult to remember, but the exact date is a matter of debate.Together the Gemara and Mishnah form the Talmud.

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The structure of the Mishnah

The Mishnah consists of six orders (sedarim). This explains the traditional name for the Talmud as Shas, which is an abbreviation of shishah sedarim, "six orders". Each of the six orders contains between 7 and 12 tractates, called masechtot. Each masechet is divided into verses called mishnayot (singular - mishna).

  1. First Order: Zeraim ("Seeds"). 11 tractates. It deals with agricultural laws and prayers.
  2. Second Order: Moed ("Festival"). 12 tractates. This pertains to the laws of the Sabbath and the Festivals.
  3. Third Order: Nashim ("Women"). 7 tractates. Concerns marriage and divorce.
  4. Fourth Order: Nezikin ("Damages"). 10 tractates. Deals with civil and criminal law.
  5. Fifth Order: Kodshim ("Holy things"). 11 tractates. This involves sacrificial rites, the Temple, and the dietary laws.
  6. Sixth order: Tohorot ("Purities"). 12 tractates. This pertains to the laws of purity and impurity, including the impurity of the dead, the laws of ritual purity for the priests (cohanim), the laws of "family purity" (the menstrual laws) and others.

Most of the Mishnah is related stam, i.e. without any name attributed to it. This usually indicates that many sages taught so, and the halakhic ruling usually follows that view. Sometimes, however, it is the opinion of a single sage whom Rabbi Judah haNasi favored and sought to establish the ruling accordingly.

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The generations of the Mishnah sages

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  1. First Generation: Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai's generation (circa 40 BCE-80 CE).
  2. Second Generation: Rabban Gamliel of Yavneh, Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Yehoshua's generation, the teachers of Rabbi Akiva.
  3. Third Generation: The generation of Rabbi Akiva and his colleagues.
  4. Fourth Generation: The generation of Rabbi Meir, Rabbi Yehuda and their colleagues.
  5. Fifth Generation: Rabbi Judah haNasi's generation.
  6. Sixth Generation: The interim generation between the Mishnah and the Talmud: Rabbis Shimon ben Judah HaNasi and Yehoshua ben Levi, etc.
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Oral traditions and pronunciation

The Mishnah was and still is traditionally studied through recitation (out loud). Many medieval manuscripts of the Mishnah are vowelized, and some of these contain partial Tiberian cantillation. Jewish communities around the world preserved local melodies for chanting the Mishnah, and distinctive ways of pronouncing its words.

Most vowelized editions of the Mishnah today reflect standard Ashkenazic vowelization, and often contain mistakes. The Albeck edition of the Mishnah was vowelized by Hannokh Yellin, who made careful eclectic use of both medieval manuscripts and current oral traditions of pronunciation from Jewish communities all over the world. The Albeck edition includes an entire volume by Yellin detailing his eclectic method.

Two institutes at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem have collected major oral archives which hold (among other things) extensive recordings of Jews chanting the Mishnah using a variety of melodies and many different kinds of pronunciation. These institutes are the Jewish Oral Traditions Research Center and the National Voice Archives (the Phonoteca at the Jewish National and University Library). See below for external links.

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Commentaries

  • In 1168, Maimonides was probably the first to author a comprehensive commentary on the Mishnah. It was written in Arabic and was one of the first commentaries of its kind. In it, "Rambam" condenses the associated Talmudical debates, and offers his conclusions in a number of undecided issues. Of particular significance are the various introductory sections - as well as the introduction to the work itself [1] - these are widely quoted in other works on the Mishna, and on the Oral law in general. Perhaps the most famous is his introduction to the tenth chapter of tractate Sanhedrin [2] where he enumerates the thirteen fundamental beliefs of Judaism.
  • Rabbi Samson of Sens (France) was, apart from Maimonides, one of the few rabbis of the early medieval era to compose a Mishnah commentary. It is printed in many editions of the Mishnah.
  • Rabbi Obadiah ben Abraham of Bertinoro (15th century) wrote one of the most popular Mishnah commentaries. He draws on Maimonides' work but also offers Talmudical material (in effect a summary of the Talmudic discussion). In addition to its role as a commentary on the Mishna, this work is often referenced by students of Talmud as a review-text, and is often referred to as "the Bartanura".
  • After the Maharal of Prague had initiated organised Mishnah study (Chevrath ha-Mishnayoth), his pupil Yomtov Lipman Heller wrote a commentary which resembles that of the Tosafists on the Talmud, and is therefore called Tosafoth Yom Tov. He offers brief insights into the Mishnah and Bertinoro. In many compact Mishnah printings, a condensed version of his commentary, titled Ikar Tosafoth Yom Tov, is featured.
  • A prominent commentary from the 19th century is Tifereth Yisrael by Rabbi Yisrael Lipschutz. It is subdivided into two parts, one more general and the other more analytical, titled Yachin and Boaz respectively (after two large pillars in the Temple in Jerusalem). Lipschutz has not been completely without controversy, partially because he refers on occasion to scientific findings.
  • The commentary by Rabbi Pinhas Kehati, which is written in Modern Israeli Hebrew and based on classical and contemporary works, has become popular in the late Twentieth Century. The commentary is designed to make the Mishnah widely accessible to a wide spectrum of learners of all ages and all levels of experience in Torah study. It is popularly referred to as "The Kehati". Each tractate is introduced with an overview of its contents, including historical and legal background material, and each mishnah is prefaced by a thematic introduction.
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Historical study

Both the Mishnah and Talmud contain little serious biographical studies of the people discussed therein, and the same tractate will conflate the points of view of many different people. Yet, sketchy biographies of the Mishaic sages can often be constructed with historical detail from Talmudic and Midrashic sources.

Many modern historical scholars have focused on the timing and the formation of the Mishnah. A vital question is whether it is comprised of sources which date from its editor's lifetime, and to what extent is it comprised of earlier, or later sources. Are Mishnaic disputes distinguishable along theological or communal lines, and in what ways do different sections derive from different schools of thought within early Judaism? Can these early sources be identified, and if so, how? In response to these questions, modern scholars have adopted a number of different approaches.

  • Traditionally, rabbinic Judaism has viewed the statements in the Mishnah and Talmud as being historically accurate, and written under a subtle form of divine inspiration, sometimes called the Ruach haKodesh, "The Holy Spirit". In this view, the statements described therein are entirely reliable, and accepted as much. Nevertheless, even the Talmud points out that the Mishnah is on occasions ambiguous or deficient. In general, textual criticism of the Mishnah from Orthodox point-of-view has ceased after the completion of the Talmud, and modern attempts at textual criticism are mainly considered heretical. Most Orthodox Jews view the biographical statements in the Mishnah, Talmud and in some cases, even the early midrash collections, as being entirely historically reliable.
  • Some scholars hold that there has been extensive editorial reshaping of the stories and statements within the Mishnah (and later, in the Talmud.) Lacking outside confirming texts, they hold that we cannot confirm the origin or date of most statements and laws, and that we can say little for certain about their authorship. In this view, the questions above are impossible to answer. See, for example, the works of Louis Jacobs, Baruch M. Bokser, Shaye J.D. Cohen, Steven D. Fraade.
  • Some scholars hold that the Mishnah and Talmud have been extensively shaped by later editorial redaction, but that it contains sources which we can identify and describe with some level of reliability. In this view, sources can be identified to some extent because each era of history and each distinct geographical region has its own unique feature, which one can trace and analyze. Thus, the questions above may be analyzed. See, for example, the works of Goodblatt, Lee Levine, David C. Kraemer and Robert Goldenberg.
  • Some scholars hold that many or most of the statements and events described in the Mishnah and Talmud usually occurred more or less as described, and that they can be used as serious sources of historical study. In this view, historians do their best to tease out later editorial additions (itself a very difficult task) and skeptically view accounts of miracles, leaving behind a reliable historical text. See, for example, the works of Saul Lieberman, David Weiss Halivni, Avraham Goldberg and Dov Zlotnick.
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See also

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References

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Translations

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Historical study

  • Shalom Carmy (Ed.) Modern Scholarship in the Study of Torah: Contributions and Limitations Jason Aronson, Inc.
  • Shaye J.D. Cohen, Patriarchs and Scholarchs, Proceedings of the American Academy for Jewish Research 48 (1981), pp. 57-87
  • Steven D. Fraade, "The Early Rabbinic Sage," in The Sage in Israel and the Ancient Near East, ed. John G. Gammie and Leo G. Perdue (Winona Lake, Indiana: Eisenbrauns, 1990), pp. 417-23
  • Robert Goldenberg The Sabbath-Law of Rabbi Meir (Missoula, Montana: Scholars Press, 1978)
  • Jacob Neusner Making the Classics in Judaism (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1989), pp. 1-13 and 19-44
  • Jacob Neusner Judaism: The Evidence of the Mishna (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1981), pp. 14-22.
  • Gary Porton, The Traditions of Rabbi Ishmael (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1982), vol. 4, pp. 212-25
  • Dov Zlotnick, The Iron Pillar: Mishnah (Jerusalem: Bialik Institute, 1988), pp. 8-9
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External links

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Wikimedia projects

Wikisource's Open Mishnah Project is developing Mishnah texts, commentaries, and translations. The project is currently available in three languages: Hebrew (the largest collection), English, and French.

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Other electronic texts

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The daily Mishnah (a study-cycle)

  • The Daily Mishnah - uses the Kehati commentary (in English translation).
  • Mishna Yomis - Daily Mishnah audio (English).
  • Mishnah Yomit - One mishnah per day. (Note: this study-cycle follows a different schedule than the regular one; contains extensive archives in English).
  • Mishnah of the Daf - a new Mishnah study cycle that parallels the progress of the Daf Yomi.
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Audio lectures

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Manuscripts

Oral Traditions (chanting and pronunciation of the Mishnah):

de:Mischna es:Mishná fr:Mishna it:Mishnah he:משנה nl:Misjna ja:ミシュナー no:Misjná nn:Misjná pl:Miszna pt:Mishná fi:Mišna sv:Mishna tr:Mişna

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