Mishnah


The Mishnah is the first written collection of the Jewish oral traditions that are known as the Oral Torah. Having been collected in the 3rd century AD, it is the first work of rabbinic literature, written primarily in Mishnaic Hebrew but also partly in Jewish Aramaic. The oldest surviving physical fragments of it are from the 6th to 7th centuries. It is viewed as authoritative and binding revelation by most Orthodox Jews and some non-Orthodox Jews.
The Mishnah was redacted by Judah ha-Nasi probably in Beit Shearim or Sepphoris, in the late second or early third century AD. in a time when the persecution of Jews and the passage of time raised the possibility that the details of the oral traditions of the Pharisees from the Second Temple period would be forgotten.
After the Mishnah was compiled, it became the subject of centuries of rabbinic commentary, primarily taking place in the Talmudic academies in Syria Palaestina and in Babylonia. Both of these centers compiled their own collection of rabbinic commentaries on the Mishnah, leading to the creation of the Jerusalem Talmud and the now more well known Babylonian Talmud.

Etymology

Mishnah comes from the verb shanah, which means "to repeat", "to study", "to heed oral instruction", or "to teach".

Structure

The Mishnah is arranged by subject matter, and is divided into six "orders", each containing 7–12 tractates, 63 in total. Except for Zeraim, the orders are arranged from longest to shortest. According to tradition, the Mishnah was divided into six thematic sections by its author, Judah Ha-Nasi.
Each masechet is divided into chapters and then paragraphs. In this last context, the word mishnah means a single paragraph of the work, i.e. the smallest unit of structure, leading to the use of the plural, "Mishnayot", for the whole work.
According to the Babylonian Talmud, Hagigah 14a:9, there were originally six to seven hundred orders of the Mishnah, with only six surviving to the present.

The six orders

The Mishnah may also be called the Shas, a term that more often denotes the entire Talmud.
The six orders are:
  • Zeraim, dealing with prayer and blessings, tithes and agricultural laws
  • Moed, about the laws of the Sabbath and the Festivals
  • Nashim, concerning marriage and divorce, some forms of oaths and the laws of the nazirite
  • Nezikin, dealing with civil and criminal law, the functioning of the courts and oaths
  • Kodashim, regarding sacrificial rites, the Temple, and the dietary laws and
  • Tohorot, pertaining to the laws of purity and impurity, including the impurity of the dead, food purity, and bodily purity.
A popular mnemonic for these orders is the acronym "Z'MaN NaKaT".

Content and purpose

The Mishnah teaches the oral traditions by example, presenting actual cases being brought to judgment, usually along with the debate on the matter, and the judgment that was given by a notable rabbi based on halakha, mitzvot, and spirit of the teaching that guided his decision.
In this way, the Mishnah brings to everyday reality the practice of the 613 Commandments presented in the Torah and aims to cover all aspects of human living, serve as an example for future judgments, and, most important, demonstrate pragmatic exercise of the Biblical laws, which was much needed since the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE. The Mishnah is thus a collection of existing traditions rather than new law.
The term "Mishnah" is related to the verb "to teach, repeat", and to adjectives meaning "second". It is thus named for being both the one written authority secondary to the Tanakh as a basis for the passing of judgment, a source and a tool for creating laws, and the first of many books to complement the Tanakh in certain aspects.

Oral law

Before the publication of the Mishnah, Jewish scholarship and judgement were predominantly oral, as according to the Talmud, it was not permitted to write them down. The earliest recorded oral law may have been of the midrashic form, in which halakhic discussion is structured as exegetical commentary on the Torah, with the oldest surviving written material dating to the 6th to 7th centuries CE. Rabbis expounded on and debated the Tanakh without the benefit of written works. However, some may have made private notes for example of court decisions. The oral traditions were far from monolithic and varied among various schools, the most famous of which were the Houses of Hillel and Shammai.
After the First Jewish–Roman War in 70 CE, with the end of the Second Temple center in Jerusalem, Jewish social and legal norms were in upheaval. The rabbis faced the new reality of Judaism without a Temple to serve as the center of teaching and study and a Judea without autonomy. During this period, Rabbinic discourse began to be recorded in writing. The possibility was felt that the details of the oral traditions of the Pharisees from the Second Temple period would be forgotten, so the justification was found to have these oral laws transcribed.
Over time, different traditions of the Oral Law came into being, raising problems of interpretation. According to the Mevo Hatalmud, many rulings were given in a specific context but would be taken out of it, or a verdict was revisited, but the second ruling would not become popularly known. To correct this, Judah the Prince took up the redaction of the Mishnah. If a point was of no conflict, he kept its language; where there was conflict, he reordered the opinions and ruled and clarified where context was not given. The idea was not to use his discretion but to examine the tradition as far back as he could and only supplement as required.

The Mishnah and the Hebrew Bible

According to Rabbinic Judaism, the Oral Torah was given to Moses at Sinai or Mount Horeb as an exposition to the Torah. The accumulated traditions of the Oral Law, expounded by scholars in each generation from Moses onward, are considered the necessary basis for the interpretation, and often for the reading, of the Written Law. Jews sometimes refer to this as the Masora, roughly translated as "tradition". However, that word is often used in a narrower sense to mean traditions concerning the editing and reading of the Biblical text. The resulting Jewish law and custom is called halakha.
While most discussions in the Mishnah concern the correct way to carry out laws recorded in the Torah, it usually presents its conclusions without explicitly linking them to any scriptural passage, though scriptural quotations do occur. For this reason it is arranged in order of topics rather than in the form of a Biblical commentary. The Midrash halakha presents similar laws in the form of a Biblical commentary and explicitly links its conclusions to details in the Biblical text. These Midrashim often predate the Mishnah.
The Mishnah also quotes the Torah for principles not associated with law but just as practical advice, even at times for humor or as guidance for understanding historical debates.

Authorship

The rabbis who contributed to the Mishnah are known as the Tannaim, of whom approximately 120 are known. The period during which the Mishnah was assembled spanned about 130 years, or five generations, in the first and second centuries. Judah ha-Nasi is credited with the final redaction and publication of the Mishnah: Abraham ben David calculated the date as 189. There have been a few additions since his time according to the Iggeret of Sherira Gaon. those passages that cite him or his grandson, Judah II, and the end of tractate Sotah, which refers to the period after Judah's death. In addition to redacting the Mishnah, Judah and his court also ruled on which opinions should be followed, although the rulings do not always appear in the text.
Most of the Mishnah is related without attribution. This usually indicates that many sages taught so, or that Judah the Prince ruled so. The halakhic ruling usually follows that view. Sometimes, however, it appears to be the opinion of a single sage, and the view of the sages collectively is given separately.
As Judah the Prince 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, and therefore a second version of certain laws were released. The Talmud refers to these differing versions as Mishnah Rishonah and Mishnah Acharonah. David Zvi Hoffmann suggests that Mishnah Rishonah actually refers to texts from earlier Sages upon which Rebbi based his Mishnah.
The Talmud records a tradition that unattributed statements of the law represent the views of Rabbi Meir in Sanhedrin 86a, which supports the theory as recorded in the Iggeret of Sherira that he was the author of an earlier collection. For this reason, the few passages that actually say "this is the view of Rabbi Meir" represent cases where the author intended to present Rabbi Meir's view as a "minority opinion" not representing the accepted law.
There are also references to the "Mishnah of Rabbi Akiva", suggesting a still earlier collection; on the other hand, these references may simply mean his teachings in general. Another possibility is that Rabbi Akiva and Rabbi Meir established the divisions and order of subjects in the Mishnah, making them the authors of a school curriculum rather than of a book.
Authorities are divided on whether Judah the Prince recorded the Mishnah in writing or established it as an oral text for memorisation. The most important early account of its composition, the Iggeret of Rabbi Sherira Gaon is ambiguous on the point, although the Spanish recension leans to the theory that the Mishnah was written. However, the Talmud records that, in every study session, there was a person called the tanna appointed to recite the Mishnah passage under discussion. This may indicate that, even if the Mishnah was reduced to writing, it was not available on general distribution.