Mishnah is a Jewish collection from the third century that expands in the legal substance and the old testament language. Mishnah is a Hebrew term that implies study by repetition. It is also known as the Oral Torah and is the bedrock of every successive Jewish law and praxis from the Talmuds to present-day Jewish writings.
Modern critical studies regarding the Mishnah suggest a present-day origin for the work. Instead of an oral history that began during the exile. The theory asserts that we should read Mishnah as a Jewish response to the cultural and political turmoil under roman imperial rule. About this and more on Mishnayos Charts, you can visit Chevrah Lomei Mishnah. We are dedicated to harnessing the power of Torah study as we bring merit to the deceased.
What is Mishnah
We define Mishnah as a combination of oral traditions associated with several rabbis during the first and second centuries. Its contents are arranged in topics and are noted down in Mishnaic Hebrew, which is different from biblical Hebrew in terms of grammar and syntax, unlike the midrash.
Midrash is initially written in Aramaic and goes in line with the order of the scriptures. The topics in Mishnah are further divided into 63 tractates, further, split into chapters and paragraphs.
What are the Six Books of Mishnah?
Mishnah divides the Jewish religious law’s traditions into six main categories, also known as orders, with the Sedarim design. The topical classification is dormant, but there are several digressions. Some of those digressions reflect the alternative organization standard employed in the former stages of redaction. The orders are as follows:
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Zera’im (“seeds”)
Zera’im mainly deals with foodstuff and crop portions that are to be set aside to feed the priests and the poor people. It also deals with other regulations that are land related, including mixed sowing and sabbatical years, among others. It has eleven tractates and Berakhot, the opening tractate, concentrates on blessings and prayers.
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Mo’ed (“festivals”)
Mo’ed is the order that deals with the weekly Sabbath and also the cycle of annual festivals. We have twelve tractates in Mo’ed.
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Nashim (“Women”)
Nashim has seven tractates. It involves issues around women, marriage, divorce, and laws of oaths, among other related matters.
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Neziqin (Torts”)
Neziqin handles criminal and civil laws, including the judiciary’s structure. Neziqin order comprises ten tractates. Among them is Avot and Eduyyot. The two tractates trace the history of Rabbinic authority.
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Qodashim (“Sacred Things”)
The Qodashim order deals with sacrificial worship, dietary laws, and the temple. It has eleven tractates.
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Tohorot (“purity”)
Tohorot is the order that deals with the laid out rules concerning purity and impurity among the food, the dead and the body. It has twelve tractates.
How was Mishnah Formed?
Mishnah came about due to roman oppression and occupation. The oppression caused the Jews to move out of the Holy Land around 200 CE. The fear that Jewish people would, at one point, lose their unity and beliefs for not being in the Holy City made the formation of Mishnah necessary.
Mishnah emerged from Sinai In the rabbinic tradition. It is God who delivered it to Moses, both in written form and as spoken Torah. Powerful rabbis like Rabbi Judah and Rabbi Akiva are the individuals who taught these sayings from century to century until there was a final redaction in (c. AD 200).
With this prehistory, the Mishnah prioritizes place equal to scripture in the Jewish system. It partly elaborates why Mishnah has been studied with intensity since the compilation.
The importance of Mishnah in Biblical Studies
The Mishnah is a significant witness to the early legal, Jewish theological, and ethinic thought and practice before the redaction in AD200. Most of the traditions of Mishnah are tested in previous samples of Jewish literature.
One example is the Josephus and the dead sea scrolls. Mishnah has closeness to the new testament, and because it has an interpretive approach towards the old testament, you can consider it a critical comparative resource, moreso considering the gospels.
Where can I read the Mishnah?
You need to be familiar with midrashic Jewish to comfortably read the Mishnah because it differs in vocabulary and grammar from theological Hebrew. You can find computerized editions of the Mishna and modern printed editions like Giessen Mishnah, which have been going on since 1912.
You can also read the Mishna with alternative readings gathered from manuscripts. Also, there is Shishah Sindre Mishnah by Chanoch Albeck, a six-volume version collected and accessible; it comes with Hebrew vowel printings.