The Hebrew term
meaning "Repetition." The oral Torah
of the Pharisees was not
recorded in a set written form before the 2nd c. CE. Instead
this body of tradition was preserved primarily through
recitation & memorization. Standardization of the form
& content of rabbinic tradition became necessary after
the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem
(70 CE). For the conscious mission of
the rabbinic Academy
was not only to preserve but to promote the authority of its
interpretation of Torah for Jews everywhere. The Pharisaic
principle of consensus was invoked to make the Academy's
majority opinions the basis of normative Jewish religious
observance. To promote further consensus, rulings were
codified by topic & committed to memory by regular
repetition. Thus, the leading rabbis of the Academy came to
be referred to as the tannaim ["repeaters"].
While there are
some indications that first century rabbis made use of
written materials, none of these have survived. The impetus
to record rabbinic oral tradition can be traced to Rabbi Aqiba ben Joseph, who became
a scholar only after the age of 40. His work was continued by
his disciple Rabbi Meir.
But the publication of the Mishna in its definitive form (ca.
190 CE) is credited to Judah ha Nasi,
who in its pages and thereafter is identified
simply as Rabbi ["My Master"]. Yet, in its
final form the Mishna still is a collegial project,
presenting a compendium of consensus opinions on essental
Jewish tradition rather than the teaching of just one
scholar. It frequently juxtaposes contrasting opinions of tannaim
whose teaching was regarded as reliable without declaring one
or the other wrong, leaving plenty of room for further
debate.
Since the Mishna was a textbook for later rabbinic discussion of
Jewish law, the opinions of the rabbis were organized systematically by
topic and recorded in six general tractates
rather than in the chronological order of their composition. This, coupled
with the fact that the Mishna preserved little background information
about the rabbis it cites, makes it difficult to identify the exact
historical circumstances of its rulings. Some reflect the resolution of
issues that are traceable to the time of Jesus; others, however, deal with
debates that emerged in the post-temple era. Most of our biographical
information about the tannaitic sages comes from anecdotes told by
subsequent generations of rabbis in commentaries on the Mishna recorded in
the Palestinian & Babylonian Talmud.
[Edition used: Bladina,
Philip, ed. Mishnayoth. 2nd ed. 7 vols. New York: Judaica Press,
1963-1964.]
Other resources
on line:
-
Mishnah
- detailed article in Wikipedia's
web, with links to the Open
Mishnah Project in
Hebrew &
English.
-
Mishnah
- Eliezer Siegal's annotated image map of a page (U of Calgary).
-
The
Structured Mishnah - Moshe Kline's new color-coded
electronic edition of the Hebrew text (Jewish Theological Seminary).