Is the Mishnah the same as the Torah?
The Mishnah is the written collection of the Oral Torah . This collection came about as a result of Roman oppression and occupation which caused the Jewish people to leave the Holy Land around 200CE .
What is the Oral Torah called?
the MishnahThe major repositories of the Oral Torah are the Mishnah, compiled between 200–220 CE by Rabbi Yehudah haNasi, and the Gemara, a series of running commentaries and debates concerning the Mishnah, which together form the Talmud, the preeminent text of Rabbinic Judaism.
What's the difference between the Mishnah and the Talmud?
The Talmud is the source from which the code of Jewish Halakhah (law) is derived. It is made up of the Mishnah and the Gemara. The Mishnah is the original written version of the oral law and the Gemara is the record of the rabbinic discussions following this writing down.
What is the difference between the Mishnah and the Midrash?
In some contexts "Mishnah" is contrasted with "Midrash." The latter term denotes Rabbinic teachings that are attached to the text of the Bible, whereas the former term refers to teachings that are organized or formulated independently of Scipture.
Is the Torah and Talmud the same thing?
The Talmud is a record of the rabbinic debates in the 2nd-5th century on the teachings of the Torah, both trying to understand how they apply and seeking answers for the situations they themselves were encountering.
How many oral laws are there in Judaism?
The Jewish tradition that there are 613 commandments (Hebrew: תרי״ג מצוות, romanized: taryag mitzvot) or mitzvot in the Torah (also known as the Law of Moses) is first recorded in the 3rd century CE, when Rabbi Simlai mentioned it in a sermon that is recorded in Talmud Makkot 23b.
Who wrote the Mishnah?
Judah the PrinceWhat is the Mishnah? Compiled around 200 by Judah the Prince, the Mishnah, meaning 'repetition', is the earliest authoritative body of Jewish oral law. It records the views of rabbinic sages known as the Tannaim (from the Aramaic 'tena', meaning to teach).
Who wrote the Torah and Talmud?
Composition. The Talmud holds that the Torah was written by Moses, with the exception of the last eight verses of Deuteronomy, describing his death and burial, being written by Joshua. Alternatively, Rashi quotes from the Talmud that, "God spoke them, and Moses wrote them with tears".
What are the 6 books of Mishnah?
The Mishna is divided into six Orders (Sedarim): Zeraim [seeds], laws pertaining to agriculture; Moed [seasons], laws concerning observation of the Sabbath and festivals; Nashim [women], laws regarding vows, marriage, and divorce; Nezikim [damages], laws concerning civil and criminal matters; Kodashim [holy things], ...
Is Midrash part of the Torah?
The subject matter of the oral Torah is classified according to its content into Halakha and Haggada and according to its literary form into Midrash and Mishna. Halakha (“law”) deals with the legal, ritual, and doctrinal parts of Scripture, showing how the laws of the written Torah should be applied in life.
Is the Talmud the same as the Old Testament?
Within Judaism, the Talmud serves much the same function. We are part of The Trust Project. Christianity teaches that the New Testament interprets or "completes" the Old Testament (Judaism's Hebrew Bible). Within Judaism, the Talmud serves much the same function.
Who wrote Talmud?
Tradition ascribes the compilation of the Babylonian Talmud in its present form to two Babylonian sages, Rav Ashi and Ravina II. Rav Ashi was president of the Sura Academy from 375 to 427. The work begun by Rav Ashi was completed by Ravina, who is traditionally regarded as the final Amoraic expounder.
What is the oral law of the Pharisees?
The Pharisees, on the other hand, believed that the Law that God gave to Moses was twofold, consisting of the Written Law and the Oral Law—i.e., the teachings of the prophets and the oral traditions of the Jewish people.
What is the difference between the Mishnah and the Gemara?
The Mishna is a collection of originally oral laws supplementing scriptural laws. The Gemara is a collection of commentaries on and elaborations of the Mishna, which in “the Talmud” is reproduced in juxtaposition to the Gemara.
What religion used the Talmud?
The Talmud, the book of Jewish law, is one of the most challenging religious texts in the world.
What does Talmud mean in Hebrew?
The Talmud (/ˈtɑːlmʊd, -məd, ˈtæl-/; Hebrew: תַּלְמוּד, romanized: Tálmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (halakha) and Jewish theology.
What is the Mishnah of Judah?
His greatest accomplishment transcended the time in which he lived. That was Mishnah. The Mishnah is the first written record of what was the Oral Law. As the name implies, the Oral Law was never written down as a formalized text or permanent record.
Who put together the Mishnah?
The credit for that goes to Rabbi Judah the Prince who put together the Mishnah in such a way that it would be a vehicle for a living document not a mausoleum to a past that was no longer alive.
Where did Rabbi Judah move to?
Previously, it had moved from Jerusalem to Yavne and then from Yavne to the lower Galilee and then the upper Galilee to the town of Beit She’arim. Rabbi Judah the Prince was literally the man who had everything. He was a descendant of King David and Hillel. He was aristocratic and handsome.
Why is it the time to do something on behalf of God?
Citing the verse, “It is the time to do something on behalf of God because Your Torah has been desecrated” ( Psalms 119:126), he reasoned that when the Je wish people are threatened with extinction, and therefore the Torah itself is in danger of being forgotten, one can go against the Torah, so to speak, to save it.
When was the Mishnah published?
The publication of the Mishnah occurred approximately 190 to 200 CE. During the time of Rabbi Judah the Prince the Jewish community in the Land of Israel already began to dwindle. There were a number of reasons for this. The first was economic. Without the Temple there was very little “tourism,” so to speak.
What happened after Bar Kochba?
After the defeat of Bar Kochba, when it became abundantly clear that the Jewish people would be in for a long exile, the system of learning based upon oral transmission began to change of necessity. Individuals in earlier generations had kept notes that summarized the Oral Law, but these notes were kept private.
Did Judah the Prince develop the Mishnah on his own?
This student would in time become a teacher himself and then pass it on to a student and so on. Rabbi Judah the Prince did not develop the Mishnah on his own.
What is oral Torah?
Oral Torah. It has been suggested that Law given to Moses at Sinai be merged into this article. ( Discuss) Proposed since May 2021. According to Rabbinic Judaism, the Oral Torah or Oral Law ( Hebrew: תורה שבעל פה, Torah she-be-`al peh, lit. "Torah that is on the mouth") represents those laws, statutes, and legal interpretations ...
How was the oral Torah passed down?
According to modern scholarship, the traditions embodied in what later became known as the "Oral Torah" developed over generations among the inhabitants of Judea and were passed down through various modes of cultural transmission, including but not restricted to oral transmission. It is hypothesized that, sometime prior to the Babylonian exile of 586-530 BCE, in applying the Mosaic code to daily life and Temple worship, "a multitude of usages arising out of practical necessity or convenience or experience became part of the routine of observance of the code, and, in the course of time, shared the sanctity and authority which were inherent in the divinely inspired code itself."
Why is the oral law of Judaism not written?
According to traditional Judaism, the Oral Law must have been disseminated at the same time as the Written Torah because certain Torah commandments would be indecipherable without a separate explanatory codex (and, presumably, God would not demand adherence to commandments that could not be understood). Many terms used in the Torah are left undefined, such as the word totafot, usually translated as "frontlets," which is used three times in the Pentateuch (in Exodus 13:9 and Deuteronomy 6:8 and 11:18) but only identified with tefillin in the Mishnah (see Menachot 3:7).
How did the Talmudic era view oral Torah?
The distinctive feature of this view was that Oral Torah was "conveyed by word of mouth and memorized." Second, the Rabbis also viewed the Oral Torah as an interpretive tradition, and not merely as memorized traditions. They saw the written Torah as containing many levels of interpretation. It was left to later generations, who were steeped in the oral tradition of interpretation, to discover those ("hidden") interpretations not revealed by Moses. Instead, Moses was obligated to impart the explanations orally to students, children, and fellow adults. It was thus forbidden to write and publish the Oral Torah.
How many categories are there in the Torah?
The Jewish Encyclopedia divides the Oral Torah into eight categories, ranked according to the relative level of authoritativeness, which are found within the Talmud, the Tosefta and the halakhic Midrashim.
What was the impact of the destruction of the Second Temple?
The destruction of the Second Temple and the fall of Jerusalem in the 1st and early 2nd Centuries CE devastated the Jewish community. The First Jewish–Roman War of 66–73 CE and the Bar Kokhba revolt cost hundreds of thousands of Jewish lives, the destruction of leading yeshivot, and thousands of scholars and students. At that point, it became apparent that the Hebrew community and its learning were threatened, and that publication was the only way to ensure that the law could be preserved. Thus, around 200 CE, a redaction of the Oral Law in writing was completed. Both Rabbinic tradition and scholarship ascribe this effort to Rabbi Judah HaNasi. The product of this effort, the Mishnah, is generally considered the first work of rabbinic literature .
What is the definition of Debar Torah?
There are differences of opinion among the scholars in regard to most of these explanations and definitions; but they are of equal weight with the written law , and are called also "Debar Torah" (Regulation of the Torah).
How many tractates are there in the Mishna?
In the Mishna, the name for the sixty-three tractates in which Rabbi Judah set down the Oral Law, Jewish law is systematically codified, unlike in the Torah. For example, if a person wanted to find every law in the Torah about the Sabbath, he would have to locate scattered references in Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers.
Why is oral tradition necessary in the Torah?
Common sense suggests that some sort of oral tradition was always needed to accompany the Written Law, because the Torah alone, even with its 613 commandments, is an insufficient guide to Jewish life. For example, the fourth of the Ten Commandments, ordains, "Remember the Sabbath day to make it holy" ( Exodus 20:8 ).
What year did the rabbis edit the Mishna?
The rabbis of Palestine edited their discussions of the Mishna about the year 400: Their work became known as the Palestinian Talmud (in Hebrew, Talmud Yerushalmi, which literally means "Jerusalem Talmud").
What is the Talmud's guidance on ethics?
In addition to extensive legal discussions (in Hebrew, halakha ), the rabbis incorporated into the Talmud guidance on ethical matters, medical advice, historical information, and folklore, which together are known as aggadata. As a rule, the Gemara's text starts with a close reading of the Mishna.
What does the Hebrew word "totafot" mean?
The Hebrew word for frontlets, totafot is used three times in the Torah — always in this context ( Exodus 13:16; Deuteronomy 6:8, 11:18) — and is as obscure as is the English. Only in the Oral Law do we learn that what a Jewish male should bind upon his hand and between his eyes are tefillin (phylacteries).
What does it mean to study the Talmud?
When people speak of studying "the Talmud," they almost invariably mean the Bavli rather than the Yerushalmi. The Talmud's discussions are recorded in a consistent format. A law from the Mishna is cited, which is followed by rabbinic deliberations on its meaning.
Why is oral law important in the Torah?
Finally, an Oral Law was needed to mitigate certain categorical Torah laws that would have caused grave problems if carried out literally. The Written Law, for example, demands an "eye for an eye" ( Exodus 21:24 ). Did this imply that if one person accidentally blinded another, he should be blinded in return? That seems to be the Torah's wish. But the Oral Law explains that the verse must be understood as requiring monetary compensation: the value of an eye is what must be paid.
What is the oral Torah?
The two main sections of the Oral Torah are the Mishnah and the Gemara.
What is the Mishnah in Judaism?
Answer. The Mishnah is the oral law in Judaism, as opposed to the written Torah, or the Mosaic Law. The Mishnah was collected and committed to writing about AD 200 and forms part of the Talmud. A particular teaching within the Mishnah is called a midrash. Orthodox Judaism believes that Moses received the Torah (the books of Genesis, Exodus, ...
What is the story of Moses being held by Pharaoh?
As baby Moses is sitting in Pharaoh’s lap, he reaches up, removes Pharaoh’s crown, and places it on his own head.
How many different versions of the Gemara are there?
Actually, there are two different versions of the Gemara, one compiled by scholars in Israel (c. AD 400) and the other by the scholars of Babylonia (c. AD 500). Together, the Mishnah and the Gemara form the Talmud. Since there are two different Gemaras, there are two different Talmuds: the Babylonian Talmud and the Jerusalem (or Palestinian) Talmud.
What is the oral law in Deuteronomy 21?
The midrash on Deuteronomy 21:18–21 states that both parents must consider the son rebellious for him to be presented to the elders for judgment.
What are the two sections of the oral Torah?
The two main sections of the Oral Torah are the Mishnah and the Gemara . The Mishnah (משנה, “repetition”) essentially records the debates of the post-temple sages from AD 70—200 (called the Tannaim) and is considered the first major work of “Rabbinical Judaism.”.
What does Orthodox Judaism believe about Moses?
Orthodox Judaism believes that Moses received the Torah (the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy) from God and that he wrote down everything God spoke to him. However, they also believe that God gave Moses explanations and examples of how to interpret the Law that Moses did not write down.
What is the Mishnah?
The Mishnah is the written form of what Orthodox Jews consider oral explanations of the Jewish Law that God gave to Moses. When Moses was on Mt. Sinai, God gave him the law He wished the Israelites to follow.
What is the Talmud called after the Mishnah?
After the writing of the Mishnah, Jewish scholars continued to add to the commentaries on both the Tanakh and the Mishnah; in the 5th Century, the extra writings were compiled into the Gemara . The Mishnah and the Gemara together are called the Talmud.
What did the Jewish people believe when God gave Moses the Torah?
Some sects of Judaism believe that when God gave Moses the Jewish Law, He also gave him the Oral Law. The Oral Law, they say, contains explanations of the written law that clarify and detail the sometimes confusing Torah. This Oral Law was supposedly passed down from generation to generation verbally. Around AD 200, in fear that the Jewish diaspora ...
What are the Jewish scriptures?
In addition to the Torah, the Jewish Scriptures include the Nev'im or "Prophets" (Joshua, Judges, 1 and 2 Kings, 1 and 2 Samuel, and all the prophets) and the Kethuvim or "Writings" (Esther, Daniel, Chronicles, Ezra and Nehemiah, and the books of poetry).
What are the Conservative and Reform Jews?
Conservative and Reform Jews consider the teachings of the Mishnah, but take the freedom to make their own conclusions. In the age of the New Testament, the Pharisees were the biggest supporters of the Oral Torah. It was the extra rules that the Pharisees used to bind the people to legalism.
When did Rabbi Judah write the oral law?
Around AD 200, in fear that the Jewish diaspora would leave some communities without access to the Oral Torah, Rabbi Judah the Patriarch took on the task of writing these guidelines in the form of the Mishnah. Now all synagogues would have access to the complete Oral Law.
What is the meaning of Toharot?
Toharot — "purities": Ritual purity and impurity including medical issues. The acceptance of the Mishnah varies. Orthodox Jews believe the Oral Torah is Scripture handed from God to Moses and passed down until it was compiled into the Mishnah.
How many times larger is the oral Torah than the written Torah?
Note that the Oral Torah is 50 times the size of the Written Torah! Barry W. Holtz ( Back to the Sources, 1984) notes: Ancient rabbis taught that the revelation granted to Moses had been delivered in two forms, a smaller revelation in writing and the larger one kept orally.
What is written Torah?
Written Torah refers to the five books of Moses, usually taking the form of a sefer torah (torah scroll) or Chumash (book form of the first five books of Moses). Oral Torah refers to the word-of-mouth tradition of learning something.
What is the literature that interprets written Torah and seeks evidence to establish judicial laws, both civil and religious?
Halachah is literature that interprets written Torah and seeks evidence to establish judicial laws, both civil and religious, that consist of codes of behavior and religious practice and procedures (for instance, the laws of marriage and divorce, the ethics of giving charity, etc., would be considered as halachah .
How is oral Torah transmitted?
It was transmitted from master to student in such a manner that if the student had any question, he would be able to ask , and thus avoid ambiguity. A written text, on the other hand, no matter how perfect, is always subject to misinterpretation.
What is the Talmud?
A Note about the (Written) Talmud. The Talmud is the repository of "Oral Law" of Judaism, consisting of two basic parts: the Mishnah and the Gemara. There exist two versions of Talmud: the Babylonian, or "Bavli" (this is the most frequently used version) and the Jerusalem, or "Yerushalmi.". Within the Mishnah are two different types of literature.
When was the Torah written down?
Eventually this oral material was written down, beginning around the year 200 CE and culminating in the "written oral Torah" called the Talmud (which consists of the Mishnah and its commentary called the Gemarah).
Did Moses respond to the oral Torah?
The idea is that God first spoke words to Moses, and then Moses responded. That is, before the actual writing down of the words of God ( Torah shebikhtav) there was this dialog ( Torah sheb'al peh ). In Rabbinic tradition, oral Torah is considered more vital than the written Torah. The rabbis claim that oral Torah was also received by Moses ...
What are the rabbis in the Mishna?
The rabbis whose views are cited in the Mishna are known as Tanna’im (Aramaic for “teachers”), while the rabbis quoted in the Gemara are known as Amora’im (“explainers” or “interpreters”). Because the Tanna’im lived earlier than the Amora’im , and thus were in closer proximity to Moses and the revelation at Sinai, their teachings are considered more authoritative than those of the Amora’im . For the same reason, Jewish tradition generally regards the teachings of the Amora’im , insofar as they are expounding the Oral Law, as more authoritative than contemporary rabbinic teachings.
Why is oral law important in the Torah?
Finally, an Oral Law was needed to mitigate certain categorical Torah laws that would have caused grave problems if carried out literally. The Written Law, for example, demands an “eye for an eye” (Exodus 21:24). Did this imply that if one person accidentally blinded another, he should be blinded in return? That seems to be the Torah’s wish. But the Oral Law explains that the verse must be understood as requiring monetary compensation: the value of an eye is what must be paid.
What is Nashim's order?
Another order, Nashim (Women), deals with issues between the sexes, including both laws of marriage, Kiddushin, and of divorce, Gittin.
What does the Gemara say about laborers?
In that case, it might be argued that he could then say to them, ‘The reason I gave you a higher wage than is normal is so that you will work early in the morning and late at night.’ So the law tells us that the laborers can reply: ‘The reason that you gave us a higher wage than is normal is for better work [not longer hours].'”
Overview
According to Rabbinic Judaism, the Oral Torah or Oral Law (Hebrew: תורה שבעל פה, romanized: Torah she-be-'al peh) are those purported laws, statutes, and legal interpretations that were not recorded in the Five Books of Moses, the Written Torah (תורה שבכתב, Torah she-bi-khtav, '"Written Law"'), but nonetheless are regarded by Orthodox Jews as prescriptive and given at the same time. This holistic Jewish code of conduct encompasses a wide swathe of rituals, worship practices, G…
Components of the Oral Torah
The term "Oral Torah" should not be understood as a monolith. The Jewish Encyclopedia divides the Oral Torah into eight categories, ranked according to the relative level of authoritativeness, which are found within the Talmud, the Tosefta and the halakhic Midrashim.
1. Explanations of those laws of the written law, which are not fully intelligible without the explanations, and therefore presuppose an oral interpretation. Such explanations are connected …
Historical development
According to modern scholarship, the traditions embodied in what later became known as the "Oral Torah" developed over generations among the inhabitants of Judea and were passed down through various modes of cultural transmission, including but not restricted to oral transmission. It is hypothesized that, sometime prior to the Babylonian exile of 586-530 BCE, in applying the Mosaic code to daily life and Temple worship, "a multitude of usages arising out of practical nec…
In Jewish tradition
Rabbinic Judaism holds the Oral Law to be of divine origin. The divinity and authoritativeness of the Oral Law as transmitted from God to Moses on Mount Sinai, continues to be universally accepted by Orthodox and Haredi Judaism as a fundamental precept of Judaism. The Oral Law was the basis for nearly all subsequent rabbinic literature. It is therefore intricately related to the develop…
See also
• Aggadah
• Hadith
• Law given to Moses at Sinai
• Oral history
• Oral law
External links
• Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Massorah" . Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
• Oral Law, Jewish Encyclopedia
Usage
- Without an oral tradition, some of the Torah's laws would be incomprehensible. In the Shema's first paragraph, the Bible instructs: \"And these words which I command you this day shall be upon your heart. And you shall teach them diligently to your children, and you shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk on the road, when you lie down and when you rise up…
Purpose
- Finally, an Oral Law was needed to mitigate certain categorical Torah laws that would have caused grave problems if carried out literally. The Written Law, for example, demands an \"eye for an eye\" (Exodus 21:24). Did this imply that if one person accidentally blinded another, he should be blinded in return? That seems to be the Torah's wish. But the Oral Law explains that the vers…
Significance
- This decline in the number of knowledgeable Jews seems to have been a decisive factor in Rabbi Judah the Prince's decision around the year 200 C.E. to record in writing the Oral Law. For centuries, Judaism's leading rabbis had resisted writing down the Oral Law. Teaching the law orally, the rabbis knew, compelled students to maintain close relationships with teachers, and th…
Introduction
- In the Mishna, the name for the sixty-three tractates in which Rabbi Judah set down the Oral Law, Jewish law is systematically codified, unlike in the Torah. For example, if a person wanted to find every law in the Torah about the Sabbath, he would have to locate scattered references in Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers. Indeed, in order to know every...
Themes
- The first of the six orders is called Zera'im (Seeds), and deals with the agricultural rules of ancient Palestine, particularly with the details of the produce that were to be presented as offerings at the Temple in Jerusalem. The most famous tractate in Zera'im, however, Brakhot (Blessings) has little to do with agriculture. It records laws concerning different blessings and when they are to be rec…
Summary
- Another order, called Nezikin (Damages), contains ten tractates summarizing Jewish civil and criminal law.
Issues
- Another order, Nashim (Women), deals with issues between the sexes, including both laws of marriage, Kiddushin, and of divorce, Gittin.
Contents
- A fifth order, Kodashim, outlines the laws of sacrifices and ritual slaughter. The sixth order, Taharot, contains the laws of purity and impurity.
Influence
- Although parts of the Mishna read as dry legal recitations, Rabbi Judah frequently enlivened the text by presenting minority views, which it was also hoped might serve to guide scholars in later generations (Mishna Eduyot 1:6). In one famous instance, the legal code turned almost poetic, as Rabbi Judah cited the lengthy warning the rabbinic judges delivered to witnesses testifying in ca…
Writings
- In addition to extensive legal discussions (in Hebrew, halakha), the rabbis incorporated into the Talmud guidance on ethical matters, medical advice, historical information, and folklore, which together are known as aggadata.
Example
- As a rule, the Gemara's text starts with a close reading of the Mishna. For example, Mishna Bava Mezia 7:1 teaches the following: \"If a man hired laborers and ordered them to work early in the morning and late at night, he cannot compel them to work early and late if it is not the custom to do so in that place.\" On this, the Gemara (Bava Mezia 83a) comments: \"Is it not obvious [that a…