Mishnah

The Mishnah (Hebrew משנה, "repetition") is a major source of rabbinic Judaism's religious texts. It is the first recording of the oral law of the Jewish people, as championed by the Pharisees and is considered the first work of Rabbinic Judaism. The Mishnah was redacted around the year 200 CE by Judah haNasi (Judah the Prince). He is usually simply referred to as 'Rabbi'. Nearly all of the Mishnah is written in Hebrew, except a few verses, which are written in Aramaic. Rabbinic commentaries on the Mishnah over the next three centuries were recorded mostly in Aramaic and were redacted as the Gemara. The Mishnah and the Gemara together form the Talmud.

Related Topics:
Hebrew - Judaism - Oral law - Jew - Pharisees - 200 - Judah haNasi - Aramaic - Gemara - Talmud

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The Mishnah is noteworthy in Rabbinic literature for its depiction of a religious universe in which the Temple in Jerusalem, destroyed a century earlier, still retains a central place. Laws concerning the Temple service constitute one of the Mishnah's six divisions.

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Also noteworthy is the Mishnah's lack of citation of a scriptural basis for its laws. It is said that the Oral Law was given simultaneously with the Written Law (Torah), and so does not derive directly from it. Connecting the Mishnaic law with the Torah law was a major enterprise of the later Midrash and Talmuds.

Related Topics:
Torah - Midrash - Talmud

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The Rabbinic sages whose views are recorded in the Mishnah are called Tannaim, the plural of Tanna; Tanna is an Aramaic term for the Hebrew word shana, which also is the root-word of Mishnah. The verb shano (שנה) literally means 'to repeat ' and is used to mean 'to learn'.

Related Topics:
Aramaic - Hebrew

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The word mishna can also indicate a single paragraph, i.e., the smallest unit of structure in the Mishnah. The plural is mishnayot. Thus, a number of mishnayot make up a perek (chapter), a number of perakim (chapters) make up a masechet (tractate), a number of masechtot (tractates) make up a seder (order) and the Shas (acronym for Shisha Sedarim - the six orders) make up the Mishnah. (The term Shas is also used to refer to a complete Talmud, which follows the structure of the Mishnah.)

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