Concept

Mishnah

Overview

The Mishnah (; Hebrew: מִשְׁנָה, romanized: mišnā, lit. 'study by repetition', from the verb לִשְׁנוֹת lišnot, "to repeat") is the first written collection of the Jewish oral traditions. These oral traditions are known as the "Oral Torah", to differentiate them from the (written) Torah, and both are believed in rabbinic tradition to have been revealed alongside each other to Moses at Mount Sinai. While the Torah was passed down in writing, the Oral Torah is believed to have been transmitted by Jewish scholars until the compilation of the Mishnah in the late second or early third century CE. The Mishnah is viewed as authoritative and binding revelation by most Orthodox Jews and some non-Orthodox Jews. The Mishnah is also the basis of the Babylonian Talmud and the Jerusalem Talmud, which are both commentaries on the Mishnah.

According to tradition, the Mishnah arose during the persecution of Jews in the late second or early third century. Fearing that these events would lead to the oral traditions of the Second Temple period (516 BCE – 70 CE) to being forgotten, Judah ha-Nasi compiled the Mishnah in its current form, either in Beit Shearim or in Sepphoris. It was mainly written in Mishnaic Hebrew, but some parts are also in Jewish Aramaic. The oldest surviving physical fragments are from the 6th to 7th centuries.

Overview adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0; see the article history for authors).

Possible passages

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The _poetical_ books give the teachings of the Old Testament covenant in prayers, proverbs and hymns. The _prophetical_ books contain many instructions, admonitions and prophecies (especially concerning Christ who should come to save men) which God sent to the Israelites through the prophets. The first four prophets are called the Major Prophets; and the last twelve, the Minor Prophets.
Martin Luther, An Explanation of Luther's Small Catechism
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xxviii. 8), “refuse,” is derived from the verb yaẓa, “he went out”; for “urine” the phrase meme raglayim, “the water of the feet” (2 Kings. xviii. 17), is used; semen is expressed by shikbat zeraʻ, “a layer of seed.” For the act of generation there is no expression whatever in Hebrew; it is described by the following words only: baʻal, “he was master”; shakab, “he lay”; laḳaḥ, “he took”; gillah ʻervah, “he uncovered…
Moses Maimonides, The guide for the perplexed
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31.9.) and commanded (ve. 26.) "to be put in the side of the Arke;" for in the Ark it selfe was nothing but the Ten Commandements. This was the Law, which Moses (Deuteronomy 17.18.) commanded the Kings of Israel should keep a copie of: And this is the Law, which having been long time lost, was found again in the Temple in the time of Josiah, and by his authority received for the Law of God. But both Moses at the…
Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan
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Philosophers who discussed Mishnah

Related ideas

Opposing perspectives

Talmud

Place in the tradition

Part of Epicureanism.

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