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The Mishnah and The Talmud

Beth

The Mishnah and The Talmud

Under what conditions and by whom were the Mishnah and the Talmud composed and what is the relationship between them?

According to the Jewish Library (n.d), the Talmud is the written and comprehensive version of the Jewish oral law and the commentaries on it. The Talmud is from the 2nd Century CE. It is the source from which the Halakhah is derived and is made up of the Gemara and the Mishnah. The Mishnah is the written and original version of the oral law. The Gemara is a recording of the rabbinic discussions. The Talmud includes the differences in the views of the Gemara and Mishnah. Talmud is also known as Shas, which is the abbreviation in Hebrew for the six Mishnah orders or Shishah Sedarim.

In what way did the Mishnah and Talmud have one foot in the old world of the Temple and one foot in the new world without the Temple?

The Temple was destroyed 130 years before the publication, yet the world described by the Mishnah as the Temple and the laws governing it are in the present tense. In other words, the Mishnah talks about the destroyed Temple as though it was still present, and the laws are still applicable to the present time. While the Bar Kochba rebellion is mentioned in the Talmud and the Roman defeat, the Mishnah completely ignores the Roman occupation events in the land of Israel. Hence, the Mishnah is a document describing a life of sanctification where the Temple rituals are adapted for communal participation within a world where the Temple is non-existent and which escapes the ups and downs that are characteristic of history (MJL, n.d).

How did the Mishnah and Talmud come to be viewed by Jews in later times? Hint: think Oral Torah. Did all Jews accept the authority of the Mishnah and the Talmud?

The Mishnah is still studied out loud, although ancient Hebrew does not include vowels. Most medieval manuscripts are vowelized, and some notations show how the material ought to be chanted. Rabbinical Judaism asserts that the written Torah and the Oral Torah co-exist, and both were handed down to Moses on Mount Sinai. The written law comprises the first five books of the Bible, that is, Genesis to Deuteronomy. The second law also takes the form of the Torah that the sages, prophets, and scholars relayed. The Oral law is perceived as the more authoritative and is the basis for properly understanding the written law. Hence, the Halakah is based on the written and oral traditions (New World Encyclopedia, n.d)

What do you think is the purpose of the Mishnah and Talmud? Is your view closer to one of the other of the two positions just outlined?

According to Rabbinic Judaism, oral law is representative of the statutes, laws, and legal interpretations that were not in the Five Books of Moses. Nonetheless, the oral laws are viewed as being prescriptive by the Orthodox Jews. This Jewish code of conduct is viewed as holistic and encompasses a wide array of inter-relationships of God and man; worship practices, rituals, including the Sabbath laws and dietary laws, observance of festivals, agricultural practices, civil damages, and claims, as well as marital relations (Halvini, n.d). My view is closer to the first description; the Oral Torah is a code of law.

The Dead Sea Scrolls, The Mishnah, and The Talmud

Following the destruction of the Temple, Rabbinic Judaism survived. The Qumran literature reflects Judaism as it transitioned from the religion of the Israelites, as the Bible describes it, to the Judaism practiced by the Rabbis, as was explained in the Mishnah. The Dead Sea Scroll date as far back as the events that have been described in the New Testament. The scrolls have added to understanding the Christian movement’s Jewish background. These parallels include the rituals of property ownership, communal meals, and baptism. The Dead Sea Scrolls also have a parallelism of the organizational structures where the twelve tribes described the sectarians, which were led by the 12 chiefs and similar to the church structure with 12 apostles. These apostles, as Jesus said, will sit on the thrones to judge the 12 tribes. Several scholars hold that the Qumran literature and the teaching of the Christian church stem from a common Judaism stream and do not reflect any direct link between the early Christians and the Qumran community.

How Did Prayer Take The Place Of Sacrifice?

In the Old Testament, a number of incense offerings and sacrificial offerings were seen as prayer or were the right accompaniment to prayer. These were thanksgiving, cleansing/forgiveness, and confession/repentance prayers. This concept of offering and sacrifice that accompanied prayer was in acknowledgment of man’s complete dependence on God’s goodness and mercy. It is not possible for a man to approach God on the basis of their credentials. Hence, for this reason, the Old Testament sacrifices were accompanied by prayer and a prerequisite for coming before God. When Jesus came, He became the ultimate sacrifice for sin, and hence, individuals no longer need to make sacrifices for their own sins, yet there is a need for a mediating sacrifice that is effective and a one-time sacrifice for those who put their trust in Him. Jesus is the prayer, and hence, Christians pray in His name, never trusting in one’s sinlessness and self-righteousness. It is only through Christ that we have access to the Father.

What Is A Prozbul And What Problem Did It Solve?

The Prozbul was established by Hillel, the Elder, in the last years of the Second Temple of Jerusalem. Rabbis historically issued the writ and technically changed the individual private loan status into the public administration and allowed the poor to receive loans with no interest. The Torah did not allow anyone to charge interest to fellow Jews. These interest-free loans were those given before the Sabbatical year and protected the lenders’ investment, and the legal document accompanied the interest-free loans. The legal document stated that the transfer of the loans would go to the courts as the remissions were not applicable to the public domain. The lender and borrower both benefited from this law because the lenders were assured of the safety of their money; even after the Sabbatical year, they were still likely to give loans to the poor.

Works Cited

Halivni, David Weiss. The formation of the Babylonian Talmud. Oxford University Press, 2013.

Jewish Virtual Library. https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/the-oral-law-talmud-and-mishna

My Jewish Learning. https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/mishnah/

New World Encyclopedia. https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/mishnah

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Question 

What The Mishnah and The Talmud Do

Read the following web articles:

The Mishnah and The Talmud

  1. https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/the-oral-law-talmud-and-mishna (Links to an external site.)
  2. https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/mishnah/ (Links to an external site.)
  3. https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/mishnah (Links to an external site.)

Now answer these questions. (Use 1 page. for the first five questions and 1 page. for the last question; the total length should be 2-3 pages.):

  1. Under what conditions and by whom were the Mishnah and the Talmud composed and what is the relationship between them?
  2. In what way did the Mishnah and Talmud have one foot in the old world of the Temple and one foot in the new world without the Temple? Why was this important for the Jewish people who had lost their Temple and Land?
  3. How did the Mishnah and Talmud come to be viewed by Jews in later times? Hint: think Oral Torah. Did all Jews accept the authority of the Mishnah and the Talmud?
  4. You might be tempted to think that the Oral Torah is a code of law, but the problem with this is that sometimes the rabbis disagree with each other and no final solution is given. Alternatively, you might think that the Oral Torah is something like a handbook for their students who were studying with them, but the difficulty is that no basic definitions to any terms or issues are given which would help the beginning student. Based on what you have read, what do you think is the purpose of the Mishnah and Talmud? Is your view closer to one of the other of the two positions just outlined?
  5. How accurate do modern scholars think the Mishnah and Talmud are as historical sources about the practice and life of ancient Jews? How do you think the Dead Sea Scrolls might help us address this question? [Note: this is not mentioned in any of the web articles; use your knowledge of the scrolls and think! As with a few questions in the last assignment, I am asking you to formulate your own view here]

Now that you have formulated your answers, it is time to dig a little deeper. Below I have listed for you some of the specific things that the Mishnah and Talmud do. Read through the list and choose any two of the six items in the list that look most interesting to you (for a couple of them I give you two examples, and for those, you only need to research one of the two). Then do a web search, find good sources, and write a couple of paragraphs explaining in some detail how each issue was of concern to the Jewish community and how a solution was found by the rabbis.

What the Mishnah and Talmud Do:

  1.  Fill in gaps in the Written Law
    • Explore: How did the rabbis define constitutes the “work” that cannot be done on the Sabbath?
  2. Solve contradictions
    • Explore either of the following: Levirate marriage vs. Incest; What to do if Passover falls on the Sabbath?
  3. Adapt to new times
    • Explore: How did prayer take the place of sacrifice?
  4. Make the Torah’s commandments more strict by “putting a fence around the Torah” (the term for this is khumra or chumra)
    • Explore either of the following: How and why did the rabbis extend the sabbath day? How and why did the rabbis decide that one cannot cook or eat fowl with milk or cheese?
  5. Make life more livable by allowing exceptions to certain commandments
    • Explore either of the following: What is an eruv and what problem did it solve? What is a prozbul (sometimes spelled prosbul) and what problem did it solve?
  6. Provide encouraging and useful examples of people who obeyed the commandments
    • Explore: What is the Aggadah and give some examples showing how it might functioned (Be careful not to confuse with the Passover Haggadah)
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