Mishnah

A page from the Talumud, with a Mishnah section printed in the center, surrounded by commentaries.

The Mishnah (Hebrew משנה, "repetition"), is the first written recording of the Oral Law of the Jewish people. It was redacted circa 200 C.E. by Rabbi Yehudah Ha-Nasi, also known as "Judah the Prince." In includes the often divergent religious opinions championed by the Pharisees and as debated between 70-200 C.E. by the group of rabbinic sages known as the Tannaim. It is considered the first work of Rabbinic Judaism.

The "Oral Torah" (Law) was an unwritten tradition based upon what God reportedly communicated to Moses on Mount Sinai but was not recorded by Moses in writing. In the centuries after its initial redaction by Judah the Prince, commentaries on the Mishnah known as the Gemara (Aramaic: "Tradition") were compiled together with the Mishnah into the work known as the Talmud.

The Mishnah consists of six major orders (sedarim), each containing between seven and 12 tractates (masechtot), which are further divided into verses. The orders include:

• Zeraim ("Seeds"), dealing with agricultural laws and prayers
• Moed ("Festival"), pertaining to the laws of the Sabbath and the ritual celebrations
• Nashim ("Women"), concerning marriage and divorce
• Nezikin ("Damages"), dealing with civil and criminal law
• Kodashim ("Holy things"), regarding Temple rites and the dietary laws
• Tohorot ("Purities"), pertaining to the laws of purity, including the treatment of the dead, the priesthood, sexual purity, menstruation, etc.

Most modern editions of the Talmud are organized with each Mishnah section followed by its associated Gemara commentaries. A Mishnah section may only be a few lines or short paragraph, followed by a commentary of several pages, until that particular tractate of Mishnah is completed.

Context

Relationship with the Hebrew Bible

Rabbinical Judaism holds that written Torah has been transmitted in parallel with an oral tradition, and that both of these were given to Moses at Mount Sinai. The first, known as the "Written Law," is composed of the Five "Books of Moses," namely Genesis through Deuteronomy. The second law given to Moses also takes the form of expositions of the Torah relayed by the scholars, prophets, and sages of each generation. This Oral Law is, in some sense, even the more authoritative of the two, in that traditions of the Oral Law are considered to be the basis for the understanding of the Written Law. Thus, Jewish law and custom—refered to as Halakhah—is based not only on a literal reading of the Torah, but on the combined oral and written traditions.

After the destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem in 70 C.E., rabbinical interpretations became increasingly important as the authority of the Temple priesthood diminished and Pharisaic leaders debated both major and minor points of contention within the Torah. By 200 C.E., much of the Oral Law was edited together into the Mishnah. Over the next four centuries this material underwent further analysis and debate—known as Gemara ("completion")—in the world's two major Jewish communities, in the former terriority of Israel and in the Babylonian Empire. These debates eventually came to be edited together into compilations known as the Talmud: the Jerusalem Talmud for the compilation in Israel, and Babylonian Talmud for the version undertaken in Babylon.

The Mishnah does not cite a written scriptural basis for its arguments and dicta. This is in contrast with the Midrashim (singular: midrash), commentaries in which the biblical sources are specifically identified. These commentaries often predate the Mishnah.

Authorship and writing

The period of the Mishna is commonly divided up into five stages according to generations of the Tannaim—the sages of whose opinions the Mishna is composed. There are approximately 120 known Tannaim. They lived in several areas of Judea, later known as Palestine. The spiritual center of Judaism at that time was Jerusalem, but after the destruction of the city and Temple in 70 C.E., Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakkai and his students founded a new religious center in Jammia (Yavne). It would be here that many of the debates recorded in the Mishna were recorded.

The generations of the Tannaim included:

1. First Generation: Yohanan ben Zakkai's generation (circa 40 B.C.E.-80 C.E.).
2. Second Generation: the time of the rabbis Gamliel II, Eliezer and Yehoshua]]'s—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.

Many of the Tannaim worked as laborers in addition to their duites as teachers and legislators. They were also leaders of the people, and negotiators with the Roman Empire.

Some Jews did not accept the written codification of the Oral Law, but insisted on the authority of the Written Law only. Known as Karaites, they comprised a significant portion of the world Jewish population around the tenth and eleventh centuries CE. Some communities of Karaites still exist, though they currently number in the thousands.

Mishnah Study

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.

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 Mishnah, 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) largely following the commentary of Rashi. In addition to its role as a commentary on the Mishnah, this work is often referenced by students of Talmud as a review-text, and is often referred to as "the Bartanura" or "the Ra'V."

• After the Maharal of Prague had initiated organised Mishnah study (Chevrath ha-Mishnayoth), Yomtov Lipman Heller (who is often believed to be his pupil but came to Prague already as a mature scholar) wrote a commentary called Tosafoth Yom Tov. In the introduction Heller says that his aim is to make additions (tosafoth) to Bertinoro’s commentary. The glosses are sometimes quite detailed and analytic. That is why it is sometimes compared to the Tosafoth - discussions of Babylonian gemarah by French and German scholars of 12-13th C. In many compact Mishnah printings, a condensed version of his commentary, titled Ikar Tosafoth Yom Tov, is featured.

• Other Acharonim who have written Mishnah commentaries:
  • Rabbi Solomon Luria (the Maharshal)
  • The Vilna Gaon (Shenoth Eliyahu)
  • Rabbi Akiva Eiger

• 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, in some hasidic cricles.

• 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. The current version of this edition is printed with the Bartenura commentary as well as Kehati's.

• The above-mentioned edition edited by Hanokh Albeck and vocalized by Hanokh Yellin (1952-59) includes the former's extensive commentary on each mishnah, as well as introductions to each tractate (Masekhet) and order (Seder.) This commentary tends to focus on the meaning of the mishnayot themselves, without as much reliance on the Gemara's interpretation and is, therefore, considered valuable as a tool for the study of Mishnah as an independent work.

Historical relevance

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.

• 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.

See also

Wikisource has original text related to this article:

Mishnah

• Tannaim
• Talmud
• Tosefta
• Beraita
• Minor Tractates
• Karaite

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

Translations

• Philip Blackman. Mishnayoth. The Judaica Press, Ltd., 2000 (ISBN 0-910818-00-X)
• Herbert Danby. The Mishna. Oxford, 1933 (ISBN 0-19-815402-X).
• Jacob Neusner. The Mishnah: A New Translation. New Haven, reprint 1991 (ISBN 0-300-05022-4).
• Various editors. The Mishnah, a new translation with commentary Yad Avraham. New York: Mesorah publishers, since 1980s.

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)
• John W McGinley 'The Written' as the Vocation of Conceiving Jewishly ISBN 0-595-40488-X
• 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
• Reuvain Margolies "Yesod Ha-Mishnah V' Arichoso" (Heb.)
• David Tzvi Hoffman "Mishnah Rishona V' Pelugta D'tannoi" (Heb)

External links

Wikisource has original text related to this article:

Mishnah

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Mishnah

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, French and Portuguese.

Other electronic texts

• Learn Mishnah Online - Create a Shloshim Mishnah list online
• Mishnah on Demand - Custom PDF versions of any section of the Mishnah in Hebrew.
• Mechon Mamre - Hebrew text of the Mishnah according to Maimonides' version (based on the manuscript of his Mishnah commentary in his own handwriting).
• The Structured Mishnah - Hebrew text according to the Albeck edition (without vowels) with special formatting.
• Treasury of Talmudic Manuscripts, Jewish National and University Library

Mishnah study & the Daily Mishnah

• Aaron Ahrend, "Mishnah Study and Study Groups in Modern Times" in JSIJ 3: 2004 (Hebrew). Available online here (Word & PDF).
• The Daily Mishnah - uses the Kehati commentary (in English translation).
• Mishnah 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.
• Kehati Mishnah a program of two Mishnayos per day, and the complete text of Kehati in English

Italic text

Audio lectures

• Rabbi Meir Pogrow - advanced lectures (in English); free MP3 download.

Manuscripts

• Kaufmann manuscript of the Mishnah - View images of the entire vowelized manuscript.

Oral Traditions (chanting and pronunciation of the Mishnah):

• Jewish Oral Traditions Research Center (Hebrew University)
• The National Sound Archives at the Hebrew University (catalogue not currently online).
• Treasury of Talmudic Manuscripts, Jewish National and University Library

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