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79-572: Each minor tractate contains all the important material bearing on a single subject. While they are mishnaic in form and are called "tractates," the topics discussed in them are arranged more systematically than in the Mishnah; for they are eminently practical in purpose, being, in a certain sense, the first manuals in which the data scattered through prolix sources have been collected in a brief and comprehensive form. There are about 15 minor tractates. The first eight or so contain much original material;

158-497: A distinct literary genre. According to the Encyclopaedia Britannica , "Midrash was initially a philological method of interpreting the literal meaning of biblical texts. In time it developed into a sophisticated interpretive system that reconciled apparent biblical contradictions, established the scriptural basis of new laws, and enriched biblical content with new meaning. Midrashic creativity reached its peak in

237-470: A fixed, canonical text, considered to be the authoritative and revealed word of God by the midrashist and his audience, and in which this canonical text is explicitly cited or clearly alluded to". Lieve M. Teugels, who would limit midrash to rabbinic literature, offered a definition of midrash as "rabbinic interpretation of Scripture that bears the lemmatic form", a definition that, unlike Porton's, has not been adopted by others. While some scholars agree with

316-496: A foreshadowing of the technical sense that the rabbis later gave to the word. Since the early Middle Ages the function of much of midrashic interpretation has been distinguished from that of peshat , straight or direct interpretation aiming at the original literal meaning of a scriptural text. A definition of "midrash" repeatedly quoted by other scholars is that given by Gary G. Porton in 1981: "a type of literature, oral or written, which stands in direct relationship to

395-477: A handful of lines in the Biblical narrative may become a long philosophical discussion Jacob Neusner distinguishes three midrash processes: Numerous Jewish midrashim previously preserved in manuscript form have been published in print, including those denominated as smaller or minor midrashim. Bernard H. Mehlman and Seth M. Limmer deprecate this usage claiming that the term "minor" seems judgmental and "small"

474-560: A manner which helped to refute claims that they were only human interpretations—the argument being that, by presenting the various collections of different schools of thought, each of which relied upon close study of the text, the growing difference between early biblical law and its later rabbinic interpretation could be reconciled. Midrashim that seek to explain the non-legal portions of the Hebrew Bible are sometimes referred to as aggadah or Haggadah . Aggadic discussions of

553-513: A means of rewriting it in a way that both makes it more acceptable to later ethical standards and conforms more to later notions of plausibility. James L. Kugel , in The Bible as It Was (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1997), examines a number of early Jewish and Christian texts that comment on, expand, or re-interpret passages from the first five books of the Tanakh between

632-464: A number of different approaches. The main work discussing the Mishnah is the Talmud, as outlined . However, the Talmud is not usually viewed as a commentary on the Mishnah per se , because: the Talmud also has many other goals; its analysis — " Gemara " — often entails long, tangential discussions; and neither version of the Talmud covers the entire Mishnah (each covers about 50–70% of the text). As

711-543: A result, numerous commentaries-proper on the Mishna have been written, typically intended to allow for the study of the work without requiring direct reference to (and facility for) the Gemara . Mishnah study, independent of the Talmud, was a marginal phenomenon before the late 15th century. The few commentaries that had been published tended to be limited to the tractates not covered by the Talmud, while Maimonides' commentary

790-536: A ruling 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 he clarified where context was not given. The idea was not to use his discretion, but rather to examine the tradition as far back as he could, and only supplement as required. According to Rabbinic Judaism ,

869-425: A source and a tool for creating laws, and the first of many books to complement the Tanakh in certain aspects. 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

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948-614: A special tune for the Mishnaic passage "Bammeh madliqin" in the Friday night service ; there may also be tunes for Mishnaic passages in other parts of the liturgy, such as the passages in the daily prayers relating to sacrifices and incense and the paragraphs recited at the end of the Musaf service on Shabbat . Otherwise, there is often a customary intonation used in the study of Mishnah or Talmud, somewhat similar to an Arabic mawwal , but this

1027-523: A text. This is not limited to the traditional thirteen textual tools attributed to the Tanna Rabbi Ishmael , which are used in the interpretation of halakha (Jewish law). The presence of words or letters which are seen to be apparently superfluous, and the chronology of events, parallel narratives or what are seen as other textual "anomalies" are often used as a springboard for interpretation of segments of Biblical text. In many cases,

1106-429: A tradition that unattributed statements of the law represent the views of Rabbi Meir (Sanhedrin 86a), which supports the theory (recorded by Sherira Gaon in his famous Iggeret ) 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

1185-580: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Mishnaic The Mishnah or the Mishna ( / ˈ m ɪ ʃ n ə / ; Hebrew : מִשְׁנָה , "study by repetition", from the verb shanah שנה ‎, or "to study and review", also "secondary") is the first written collection of the Jewish oral traditions that are known as the Oral Torah . It is also the first work of rabbinic literature , with

1264-403: Is a popular mnemonic for these orders. In each order (with the exception of Zeraim), tractates are arranged from biggest (in number of chapters) to smallest. The Babylonian Talmud ( Hagiga 14a ) states that there were either six hundred or seven hundred orders of the Mishnah. The Mishnah was divided into six thematic sections by its author, Judah HaNasi. There is also a tradition that Ezra

1343-436: Is arranged in order of topics rather than in the form of a Biblical commentary. (In a very few cases, there is no scriptural source at all and the law is described as Halakha leMoshe miSinai , "law to Moses from Sinai".) The Midrash halakha , by contrast, while presenting similar laws, does so in the form of a Biblical commentary and explicitly links its conclusions to details in the Biblical text. These Midrashim often predate

1422-456: Is based on pre-set assumptions about the sacred and divine nature of the text, and the belief in the legitimacy that accords with rabbinic interpretation. Although this material treats the biblical texts as the authoritative word of God, it is clear that not all of the Hebrew Bible was fixed in its wording at this time, as some verses that are cited differ from the Masoretic , and accord with

1501-573: Is by subject matter and includes a much broader selection of halakhic subjects and discusses individual subjects more thoroughly than the Midrash . The Mishnah consists of six orders ( sedarim , singular seder סדר ), each containing 7–12 tractates ( masechtot , singular masechet מסכת ; lit. "web"), 63 in total. Each masechet is divided into chapters ( peraqim , singular pereq ) and then paragraphs ( mishnayot , singular mishnah ). In this last context,

1580-613: Is derived from the root of the verb darash ( דָּרַשׁ ), which means "resort to, seek, seek with care, enquire, require", forms of which appear frequently in the Bible. The word midrash occurs twice in the Hebrew Bible: 2 Chronicles 13:22 "in the midrash of the prophet Iddo ", and 24:27 "in the midrash of the book of the kings". Both the King James Version (KJV) and English Standard Version (ESV) translate

1659-474: Is expansive Jewish Biblical exegesis using a rabbinic mode of interpretation prominent in the Talmud . The word itself means "textual interpretation", "study", or " exegesis ", derived from the root verb darash ( דָּרַשׁ‎ ), which means "resort to, seek, seek with care, enquire, require". Midrash and rabbinic readings "discern value in texts, words, and letters, as potential revelatory spaces", writes

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1738-501: Is inappropriate for midrashim some of which are lengthy. They propose instead the term "medieval midrashim", since the period of their production extended from the twilight of the rabbinic age to the dawn of the Age of Enlightenment . Generally speaking, rabbinic midrashim either focus on religious law and practice ( halakha ) or interpret biblical narrative in relation to non-legal ethics or theology, creating homilies and parables based on

1817-630: Is not reduced to a precise system like that for the Biblical books. (In some traditions this intonation is the same as or similar to that used for the Passover Haggadah .) Recordings have been made for Israeli national archives, and Frank Alvarez-Pereyre has published a book-length study of the Syrian tradition of Mishnah reading on the basis of these recordings. Most vowelized editions of the Mishnah today reflect standard Ashkenazic vowelization, and often contain mistakes. The Albeck edition of

1896-499: Is often used in a narrower sense to mean traditions concerning the editing and reading of the Biblical text (see Masoretic 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

1975-449: Is such that the midrash is a simple lesson to the uninitiated, and a direct allusion, or analogy, to a mystical teaching for those educated in this area. A wealth of literature and artwork has been created in the 20th and 21st centuries by people aspiring to create "contemporary midrash". Forms include poetry, prose, Bibliodrama (the acting out of Bible stories), murals, masks, and music, among others. The Institute for Contemporary Midrash

2054-697: The House of Shammai and the House of Hillel . After the First Jewish–Roman War in 70 CE, with the end of the Second Temple Jewish center in Jerusalem, Jewish social and legal norms were in upheaval. The Rabbis were faced with the new reality of Judaism without a Temple (to serve as the center of teaching and study) and Judea without autonomy. It is during this period that Rabbinic discourse began to be recorded in writing. The possibility

2133-606: The Second Temple period (516 BCE – 70 CE) would be forgotten. Most of the Mishnah is written in Mishnaic Hebrew , but some parts are in Jewish Western Aramaic . The term " Mishnah " originally referred to a method of teaching by presenting topics in a systematic order, as contrasted with Midrash , which followed the order of the Bible. As a written compilation, the order of the Mishnah

2212-464: The Torah , with the oldest surviving material dating to the 6th to 7th centuries CE. Rabbis expounded on and debated the Tanakh without the benefit of written works (other than the Biblical books themselves), though some may have made private notes ( מגילות סתרים ) for example of court decisions. The oral traditions were far from monolithic, and varied among various schools, the most famous of which were

2291-672: The Written Torah and Oral Torah (spoken law and sermons), as well as non-legalistic rabbinic literature ( aggadah ) and occasionally Jewish religious laws ( halakha ), which usually form a running commentary on specific passages in the Hebrew Scripture ( Tanakh ). The word Midrash , especially if capitalized, can refer to a specific compilation of these rabbinic writings composed between 400 and 1200 CE . According to Gary Porton and Jacob Neusner , midrash has three technical meanings: The Hebrew word midrash

2370-471: 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. Very roughly, there are two traditions of Mishnah text. One is found in manuscripts and printed editions of the Mishnah on its own, or as part of the Jerusalem Talmud . The other is found in manuscripts and editions of

2449-541: The Babylonian Talmud ; though there is sometimes a difference between the text of a whole paragraph printed at the beginning of a discussion (which may be edited to conform with the text of the Mishnah-only editions) and the line-by-line citations in the course of the discussion. Robert Brody, in his Mishna and Tosefta Studies (Jerusalem 2014), warns against over-simplifying the picture by assuming that

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2528-475: 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 (codex) secondary (only) to the Tanakh as a basis for the passing of judgment,

2607-455: The Hebrew scholar Wilda Gafney . "They reimagine dominant narratival readings while crafting new ones to stand alongside—not replace—former readings. Midrash also asks questions of the text; sometimes it provides answers, sometimes it leaves the reader to answer the questions". Vanessa Lovelace defines midrash as "a Jewish mode of interpretation that not only engages the words of the text, behind

2686-665: The Jewish People in the Period of the Second Temple and the Talmud, Volume 3 The Literature of the Sages: First Part: Oral Tora, Halakha, Mishna, Tosefta, Talmud, External Tractates. Compendia Rerum Iudaicarum ad Novum Testamentum , Ed. Shmuel Safrai, Brill, 1987, ISBN   9004275134 The first printed edition of the Mishnah was published in Naples . There have been many subsequent editions, including

2765-585: The Mishnah in its original structure, together with the associated Gemara , are known as Talmuds . Two Talmuds were compiled, the Babylonian Talmud (to which the term "Talmud" normally refers) and the Jerusalem Talmud , with the oldest surviving Talmudic manuscripts dating to the 8th century CE. Unlike the Hebrew Mishnah, the Gemara is written primarily in Aramaic. The Mishnah teaches

2844-710: 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. Both the Mishnah and Talmud contain little serious biographical studies of the people discussed therein, and the same tractate will conflate

2923-606: The Mishnah was redacted after the Bar Kokhba revolt , Judah could not have included discussion of Hanukkah, which commemorates the Jewish revolt against the Seleucid Empire (the Romans would not have tolerated this overt nationalism). Similarly, there were then several decrees in place aimed at suppressing outward signs of national identity, including decrees against wearing tefillin and tzitzit; as conversion to Judaism

3002-484: The Mishnah was vocalized by Hanoch Yelon , 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 introduction by Yelon detailing his eclectic method. Two institutes at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem have collected major oral archives which hold extensive recordings of Jews chanting

3081-519: The Mishnah-only tradition is always the more authentic, or that it represents a "Palestinian" as against a "Babylonian" tradition. Manuscripts from the Cairo Geniza , or citations in other works, may support either type of reading or other readings altogether. Complete manuscripts (mss.) bolded . The earliest extant material witness to rabbinic literature of any kind is dating to the 6th–7th centuries CE, see Mosaic of Rehob . The Literature of

3160-462: 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. Some Jews do not accept the codification of the oral law at all. Karaite Judaism , for example, recognises only the Tanakh as authoritative in Halakha (Jewish religious law ) and theology . It rejects

3239-402: The Mishnah. These include the laws of tzitzit , tefillin (phylacteries), mezuzot , the holiday of Hanukkah , and the laws of conversion to Judaism . These were later discussed in the minor tractates . Nissim ben Jacob 's Hakdamah Le'mafteach Hatalmud argued that it was unnecessary for "Judah the Prince" to discuss them as many of these laws were so well known. Margolies suggests that as

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3318-699: The Oral Torah ( Hebrew : תורה שבעל-פה ) was given to Moses with the Torah at Mount Sinai or Mount Horeb as an exposition to the latter. The accumulated traditions of the Oral Law, expounded by scholars in each generation from Moses onward, is considered as the necessary basis for the interpretation, and often for the reading, of the Written Law. Jews sometimes refer to this as the Masorah (Hebrew: מסורה ), roughly translated as tradition, though that word

3397-533: 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 Rav Sherira Gaon (Epistle 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

3476-615: 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 ("First Mishnah") and Mishnah Acharonah ("Last Mishnah"). David Zvi Hoffmann suggests that Mishnah Rishonah actually refers to texts from earlier Sages upon which Rebbi based his Mishnah. The Talmud records

3555-567: The Septuagint, or Samaritan Torah instead. With the growing canonization of the contents of the Hebrew Bible , both in terms of the books that it contained, and the version of the text in them, and an acceptance that new texts could not be added, there came a need to produce material that would clearly differentiate between that text, and rabbinic interpretation of it. By collecting and compiling these thoughts they could be presented in

3634-637: The Talmud Yerushalmi and the Talmud Bavli, and in variances of medieval manuscripts and early editions of the Mishnah. The best known examples of these differences is found in J.N.Epstein's Introduction to the Text of the Mishnah (1948). Epstein has also concluded that the period of the Amoraim was one of further deliberate changes to the text of the Mishnah, which he views as attempts to return

3713-607: The Vilna edition, the text cited line by line in the Gemara often preserves important variants, which sometimes reflect the readings of older manuscripts. The nearest approach to a critical edition is that of Hanoch Albeck . There is also an edition by Yosef Qafiḥ of the Mishnah together with the commentary of Maimonides , which compares the base text used by Maimonides with the Napoli and Vilna editions and other sources. The Mishnah

3792-436: 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 Rabbi Judah

3871-527: The basis of the Sephardic tradition for recitation. As well as being printed on its own, the Mishnah is included in all editions of the Babylonian and Jerusalem Talmuds. Each paragraph is printed on its own, and followed by the relevant Gemara discussion. However, that discussion itself often cites the Mishnah line by line. While the text printed in paragraph form has generally been standardized to follow

3950-628: The beginning of the 3rd century CE. Modern authors who have provided examples of these changes include J.N. Epstein and S. Friedman. Following Judah the Prince's redaction there remained a number of different versions of the Mishnah in circulation. The Mishnah used in the Babylonian rabbinic community differing markedly from that used in the Palestinian one. Indeed within these rabbinic communities themselves there are indications of different versions being used for study. These differences are shown in divergent citations of individual Mishnah passages in

4029-416: The codification of the Oral Torah in the Mishnah and Talmud and subsequent works of mainstream Rabbinic Judaism which maintain that the Talmud is an authoritative interpretation of the Torah . Karaites maintain that all of the divine commandments handed down to Moses by God were recorded in the written Torah without additional Oral Law or explanation. As a result, Karaite Jews do not accept as binding

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4108-521: The final redaction of the Talmud in the 6th century. The minor tractates are normally printed at the end of Seder Nezikin in the Talmud . They include: There is also a lost tractate called "Eretz Yisrael" (about laws pertaining to the Land of Israel ). Similarly, a Masechet Hanukkah is mentioned in connection with the Vilna Gaon , but is not extant. A translation of all of the minor tractates

4187-435: The first and second centuries CE. Judah ha-Nasi is credited with the final redaction and publication of the Mishnah, although there have been a few additions since his time: 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

4266-452: The importance of these texts for finding insights into the rabbinic culture that created them. Midrash is increasingly seen as a literary and cultural construction, responsive to literary means of analysis. Frank Kermode has written that midrash is an imaginative way of "updating, enhancing, augmenting, explaining, and justifying the sacred text". Because the Tanakh came to be seen as unintelligible or even offensive, midrash could be used as

4345-445: The last seven or so are collections of material scattered throughout the Talmud. Ancient authorities mention especially seven such tractates, which are doubtless the earliest ones. Their name and form suggests that they originated in the period of oral tradition which was dominated by the Talmud and the Midrash , so that these treatises are doubtless of great antiquity, some of them having been compiled in their main outlines before even

4424-895: The late 19th century Vilna edition, which is the basis of the editions now used by the religious public. Vocalized editions were published in Italy, culminating in the edition of David ben Solomon Altaras , publ. Venice 1737. The Altaras edition was republished in Mantua in 1777, in Pisa in 1797 and 1810 and in Livorno in many editions from 1823 until 1936: reprints of the vocalized Livorno editions were published in Israel in 1913, 1962, 1968 and 1976. These editions show some textual variants by bracketing doubtful words and passages, though they do not attempt detailed textual criticism. The Livorno editions are

4503-569: The limitation of the term "midrash" to rabbinic writings, others apply it also to certain Qumran writings, to parts of the New Testament , and of the Hebrew Bible (in particular the superscriptions of the Psalms, Deuteronomy, and Chronicles), and even modern compositions are called midrashim. Midrash is now viewed more as method than genre, although the rabbinic midrashim do constitute

4582-563: The non-legal parts of Scripture are characterized by a much greater freedom of exposition than the halakhic midrashim (midrashim on Jewish law). Aggadic expositors availed themselves of various techniques, including sayings of prominent rabbis. These aggadic explanations could be philosophical or mystical disquisitions concerning angels , demons , paradise , hell , the messiah , Satan , feasts and fasts, parables , legends, satirical assaults on those who practice idolatry , etc. Some of these midrashim entail mystical teachings. The presentation

4661-517: The oldest surviving material dating to the 6th to 7th centuries BCE. The Mishnah was redacted by Judah ha-Nasi probably in Beit Shearim or Sepphoris between the ending of the second century CE and the beginning of the third century 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

4740-545: The oral traditions by example, presenting actual cases being brought to judgment, usually along with (i) the debate on the matter, and (ii) the judgment that was given by a notable rabbi based on halakha , mitzvot , and spirit of the teaching ("Torah") 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

4819-484: The points of view of many different people. Yet, sketchy biographies of the Mishnaic sages can often be constructed with historical detail from Talmudic and Midrashic sources. According to the Encyclopaedia Judaica (Second Edition), it is accepted that Judah the Prince added, deleted, and rewrote his source material during the process of redacting the Mishnah between the ending of the second century and

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4898-417: The rulings do not always appear in the text. Most of the Mishnah is related without attribution ( stam ). 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 ( Hebrew : חכמים , hachamim ) is given separately. As Judah

4977-436: The schools of Rabbi Ishmael and Akiba , where two different hermeneutic methods were applied. The first was primarily logically oriented, making inferences based upon similarity of content and analogy. The second rested largely upon textual scrutiny, assuming that words and letters that seem superfluous teach something not openly stated in the text." Many different exegetical methods are employed to derive deeper meaning from

5056-610: The scribe dictated from memory not only the 24 books of the Tanakh but 60 esoteric books. It is not known whether this is a reference to the Mishnah, but there is a case for saying that the Mishnah does consist of 60 tractates. (The current total is 63, but Makkot was originally part of Sanhedrin , and Bava Kamma (literally: "First Portal"), Bava Metzia ("Middle Portal") and Bava Batra ("Final Portal") are often regarded as subdivisions of one enormous tractate, titled simply Nezikin.) A number of important laws are not elaborated upon in

5135-698: The text to what was regarded as its original form. These lessened over time, as the text of the Mishnah became more and more regarded as authoritative. Many modern historical scholars have focused on the timing and the formation of the Mishnah. A vital question is whether it is composed of sources which date from its editor's lifetime, and to what extent is it composed 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

5214-532: The text, and beyond the text, but also focuses on each letter, and the words left unsaid by each line". An example of a midrashic interpretation: "And God saw all that He had made, and found it very good. And there was evening, and there was morning, the sixth day." ( Genesis 1:31)—Midrash: Rabbi Nahman said in Rabbi Samuel's name: "Behold, it was very good" refers to the Good Desire; "AND behold, it

5293-452: The text. In the latter case they are described as aggadic . Midrash halakha is the name given to a group of tannaitic expositions on the first five books of the Hebrew Bible. These midrashim, written in Mishnaic Hebrew , clearly distinguish between the Biblical texts that they discuss, and the rabbinic interpretation of that text. They often go well beyond simple interpretation, and derive or provide support for halakha. This work

5372-472: The third century BCE and the second century CE. Kugel traces how and why biblical interpreters produced new meanings by the use of exegesis on ambiguities, syntactical details, unusual or awkward vocabulary, repetitions, etc. in the text. As an example, Kugel examines the different ways in which the biblical story that God's instructions are not to be found in heaven (Deuteronomy 30:12) has been interpreted. Baruch 3:29-4:1 states that this means that divine wisdom

5451-545: The two Derekh Eretz tractates, in Michael Rodkinson 's Talmud translation. [REDACTED]  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain :  Wilhelm Bacher ; Ludwig Blau (1901–1906). "Soferim" . In Singer, Isidore ; et al. (eds.). The Jewish Encyclopedia . New York: Funk & Wagnalls. [REDACTED] Media related to Minor tractates (Talmud) at Wikimedia Commons This Judaism -related article

5530-419: 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. Because of the division into six orders, the Mishnah is sometimes called Shas (an acronym for Shisha Sedarim – the "six orders"), although that term is more often used for the Talmud as a whole. The six orders are: The acronym "Z'MaN NaKaT"

5609-509: The word as "story" in both instances; the Septuagint translates it as βιβλίον (book) in the first, as γραφή (writing) in the second. The meaning of the Hebrew word in these contexts is uncertain: it has been interpreted as referring to "a body of authoritative narratives, or interpretations thereof, concerning historically important figures" and seems to refer to a "book", perhaps even a "book of interpretation", which might make its use

5688-569: The written collections of the oral tradition in the Midrash or Talmud. The Karaites comprised a significant portion of the world Jewish population in the 10th and 11th centuries CE, and remain extant, although they currently number in the thousands. 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

5767-606: Was against Roman law, Judah would not have discussed this. David Zvi Hoffmann suggests that there existed ancient texts analogous to the present-day Shulchan Aruch that discussed the basic laws of day to day living and it was therefore not necessary to focus on these laws in the Mishnah. Rabbinic commentary, debate and analysis on the Mishnah from the next four centuries, done in the Land of Israel and in Babylonia , were eventually redacted and compiled as well. In themselves they are known as Gemara . The books which set out

5846-480: Was and still is traditionally studied through recitation (out loud). Jewish communities around the world preserved local melodies for chanting the Mishnah, and distinctive ways of pronouncing its words. Many medieval manuscripts of the Mishnah are vowelized, and some of these, especially some fragments found in the Genizah , are partially annotated with Tiberian cantillation marks. Today, many communities have

5925-507: Was felt that the details of the oral traditions of the Pharisees from the Second Temple period (530s BCE / 3230s AM – 70 CE/ 3830 AM) 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

6004-407: Was formed to facilitate these reinterpretations of sacred texts. The institute hosted several week-long intensives between 1995 and 2004, and published eight issues of Living Text: The Journal of Contemporary Midrash from 1997 to 2000. According to Carol Bakhos, recent studies that use literary-critical tools to concentrate on the cultural and literary aspects of midrash have led to a rediscovery of

6083-493: Was published in two volumes by Soncino Press ; a one-volume edition with the original Hebrew was later issued as part of their set of the Babylonian Talmud. Numerous translations of individual tractates have been produced by other publishers. The Yale Judaica Series includes translations of Avot de-Rabbi Natan and Semahot; the former has been translated at least three other times, and the latter also appears, along with

6162-573: Was very good" refers to the Evil Desire. Can then the Evil Desire be very good? That would be extraordinary! But without the Evil Desire, however, no man would build a house, take a wife and beget children; and thus said Solomon: "Again, I considered all labour and all excelling in work, that it is a man's rivalry with his neighbour." (Kohelet IV, 4) . The term Midrash is also used of a rabbinic work that interprets Scripture in that manner. Such works contain early interpretations and commentaries on

6241-620: Was written in Judeo-Arabic and thus inaccessible to many Jewish communities. Dedicated Mishnah study grew vastly in popularity beginning in the late 16th century, due to the kabbalistic emphasis on Mishnah study and as a reaction against the methods of pilpul ; it was aided by the spread of Bertinoro's accessible Hebrew Mishnah commentary around this time. Commentaries by Rishonim : Midrash Midrash ( / ˈ m ɪ d r ɑː ʃ / ; Hebrew : מִדְרָשׁ ; pl. מִדְרָשִׁים midrashim or מִדְרָשׁוֹת ‎ midrashot )

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