Mishnah

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Mishnah, order Sera'im , Vilna 1921 edition, title page

The Mishnah ( Heb. מִשְׁנָה, "Repetition") is the first larger version of the oral Torah and as such one of the most important collections of religious legal traditions of Judaism , based on the codification of the Tannaim . The Mishnah forms the basis of the Talmud . It is the first canonical work of the oral tradition of Judaism and is also called the "Code of Law". The Mishnah represents the most important collection of traditions of religious law ( Halacha ) of the rabbinical period and thus forms the basis of the later Talmudic arguments ( Gemarah ). It was edited at the beginning of the 3rd century in Galilee in the vicinity of Rabbi Jehuda ha-Nasi and written in the so-called Mishnah Hebrew , Aramaic sentences are rare in it.

term

The term Mishnah is a root from the Hebrew verbשׁנה šnh , German 'repeat' derived noun. The meaning “repetition” describes the process of oral transmission of the tradition. Mishnah describes both the work as a whole ("the Mishnah") and its smallest structured units (one Mishnah, several Mishnahot).

The Aramaic equivalent is the verb root תנא tn ' or תני tnj . Hence the name Tannaiten (Heb.תַּנָּאִים tannā'îm ) of the rabbis of that time. The time of the creation of the Mishnah is also known as the Tannaitic epoch .

History of origin

According to the orthodox Jewish view, God has the Torah (תורה) revealed to the mosque on Mount Sinai in two forms: on the one hand as a "written Torah "תּוֹרָה שֶׁבִּכְתָב( Torah shah-bichtaw ), in the form of the five books of Moses, which also form the beginning of the Christian Bible ; on the other hand as "oral Torah"תּוֹרָה שֶׁבְּעַל-פֶּה( Torah shah-be'al-pe ), which deals with the interpretation of the written Torah. The oral Torah was initially passed down orally by a generation of Jewish scholars. Believing Jews passed the oral teaching of Moses down through the generations. It was not written down until a later date. Then when the second Jerusalem temple was destroyed ( 70 AD ) the question of religious cohesion became more significant. The process of writing down the originally oral teaching began. This oral teaching is the Talmud.

The Talmud in turn consists of two parts: Mishnah and Gemarah . The Mishnah is the oldest part of the Talmud and the text in the real sense. Comprehensive for all areas of life, the central question is how people should act in a world that was created by YHWH , so that it represents the essence and intentions of YHWH. The Gemarah, in turn, is the discussion and commentary on the Mishnah. Two different Gemara versions were created for the individual Mishnah texts, such as the “Gemara of Jerusalem” by argumentators from schools on Israeli territory and the “Gemara of Babylon” in which the ideas of rabbis from the schools of Babylon were written down.

At the time of the occupation of Judea by Roman troops , especially after the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple in 70 AD, the rabbis recognized the danger of the Jews being dispersed into the diaspora . Accordingly, one saw the need to codify this tradition in writing. Several generations (assignment sometimes fluctuating) of rabbis (i.e. here: Tannaites ) were involved, for example

The respected Torah scholar Yehuda ha-Nasi, who was usually only called "Rabbi" because of his unique authority, is of particular importance.

Since new knowledge about the Torah tradition emerged during the editing process, but a revision of the Mishnah editions already in circulation did not appear opportune, two versions of the work were circulated at times, a "Mishnah Rischona" (older version) and a "Mishnah Acharona" (Younger version). A binding edition was finally available around the year 220.

At the same time or shortly after the Mishnah, the Tosefta was created , a supplementary collection of traditions and traditions of Judaism.

construction

→ Main article: List of mixed natracts

The Mishnah is in six "orders" (S e darim,סדרים) divided into seven to twelve tracts (mass dead, מסכתות). The total of 63 tracts in turn consist of sections (perakim) and ultimately of individual Mishnayot. At the beginning of the Mishnah there is the Berakhot tract, formally assigned to the Sera'im order, with blessings, prayers and the order of worship.

The titles of the orders are:

  • Seraʿim סֵדֶר זְרָעִים (seeds, seeds): eleven treatises on agricultural taxes to priests, the socially needy, strangers.
  • Mo'ed סֵדֶר מוֹעֵד (feast days, feast days): twelve treatises on feast days and fast days.
  • Naschim סֵדֶר נָשִׁים (women): seven treatises on family law.
  • Nesiqin סֵדֶר נְזִיקִין (injuries): ten treatises on criminal and civil law, especially compensation law, plus the ethical treatise Avot .
  • Qodaschim סֵדֶר קָדָשִׁים (Sacred Things): eleven treatises on sacrificial rites, dietary regulations, etc. a.
  • Teharot סֵדֶר טְהָרוֹת (purifications): twelve treatises on the purity / impurity of persons, things and places.

character

The Mishnah mainly contains provisions on the Jewish religious law, the Halacha (הלכה). There are only a few narrative or edifying considerations ( Aggada ,אגדה) usually at the end of a treatise.

Nevertheless, the Mishnah is not a legal code in the modern sense. Rather, it is a synthesis of the then prevailing opinions among the scholars in the academy and at the court in their entire breadth and contradiction. One of the six orders is completely dedicated to temple service, although the Jerusalem temple had already been in ruins for over a century at the time the Mishnah was made. Numerous discussions seem to end openly, with rabbinical literature having certain rules of interpretation as to which authority is to be used in case of doubt.

What is also noteworthy about the Mishnah is the lack of justification for the laws from the sacred writings of Judaism which it brings together. According to Jewish tradition, the oral law was passed down at the same time as the written law, so it is not derived directly from it. Establishing a connection between the laws of the Mishnah and the Torah was an essential field of activity of the Talmud and Midrash in the centuries that followed .

language

The Mishnah is predominantly written in a form of Hebrew which is named after it as Mishnic Hebrew . There are also some Aramaic sentences z. B. Hillel's sayings .

Lecture and discussion

Students of the Mishnah

The Mishnah is traditionally studied by speaking out loud. Numerous medieval Mishnah editions were vocalized for this purpose and some were provided with Tiberian cantillation . In many Jewish communities around the world, local melodies and different pronunciation norms have been preserved for the mixed presentation.

Most of the vocalized editions of the Mishnah today are based on the Ashkenazi standard vocalization and often contain errors. The so-called Albeck edition by Chanoch Albeck was vocalized by Hanoch Yalon , who carried out a careful synthesis between the medieval manuscripts and local modern pronunciation traditions. The Albeck edition also contains an entire volume on Yalon's methodology.

The Hebrew University in Jerusalem maintains extensive archives with recordings of Jewish Mishnah chants based on various melodies and pronunciation.

Text transmission

Excerpt from the most important Mishnah manuscript, the Codex Kaufmann

A complete text-critical edition of the Mishnah is still not available. All statements on the form and development of the text are therefore of a provisional nature. Given this assumption, it can be observed that the textual form is divided into two main reviews: an Eretz-Jisra'elian and a Babylonian version. The (first) print Naples 1492 is compiled from various manuscripts. All later prints refer to him, but have been further and more mutilated by Christian censorship . The preserved manuscripts are therefore of particular importance:

  • The so-called Codex Kaufmann is the most important handwriting. He probably comes from Eretz-Jisra'el or Italy and was born on 10/11. Century written. A puncture has been added from the second hand .
  • Codex Parma once formed a unit with manuscript Vatican 31, a Sifra Codex. The year of writing can be determined as 1073 based on a colophon . Eretz-Jisra'el or southern Italy can be assumed as the country of origin.
  • Codex Cambridge probably dates from the 14th / 15th centuries. Century from the Sephardic area.

The three mentioned manuscripts belong to the Eretz-Jisra'elischen review.

  • Munich manuscript is the only complete Talmud manuscript . It contains a mixed text that is close to the Babylonian version.
  • There are also some Mishna fragments from the Cairo Geniza .

Impact history

Talmud

The Mishnah formed the basis for a further discussion among rabbinical scholars, which, however, developed differently in Eretz-Jisra'el and the Babylonian diaspora . Accordingly, there are two different Gemarot (Aramaic:גמראTeaching, science), collections of commentaries, which together with the Mishnah itself - possibly supplemented by further commentaries such as by Rashi - today form the Palestinian or Babylonian Talmud .

Later comments

The Mishnah also received extensive commentary on the Mishnah commentaries entered in the Talmud:

Historical Mishnah research

Mishnah and Talmud rarely contain historically reliable information about the people named in them. At least biographical abstracts of the Mishnah scholars themselves can be reconstructed on this basis.

Modern historians mostly focus on the history and time of the Mishnah's origins. The question of the extent to which the editors used contemporary, older or more recent sources is of particular importance. It is also of interest to what extent theological and regional boundaries can be drawn in the Mishnah discussions and to what extent the various sections can be assigned to different schools of ancient Judaism. Various approaches to solving the above questions have been developed:

  • Some of the statements in the Mishnah were viewed as historically accurate and absolutely reliable. They were written down under the influence of divine inspiration . Any textual criticism is therefore prohibited and is heretical per se. This view is mainly held by Orthodox Judaism .
  • Other scholars point out that the historical statements of the Mishnah mostly have no equivalent in non-Jewish sources. No binding statements can therefore be made about the origin and authorship of the Mishnah prescriptions. Against this background, the above questions could not be answered either. Representatives of this view include Louis Jacobs , Baruch M. Bokser , Shaye JD Cohen and Steven D. Fraade .

See also

literature

Text and translations

  • David Hoffmann et al. a .: Mishnayot. The six orders of the Mishnah. Hebrew text with punctuation, German translation and explanation. Berlin 1887ff, new edition: Basel 1968 3 ) (very widespread, although a little out of date)
  • Georg Beer , Oscar Holtzmann (founder): The Mishnah. Text, translation and detailed explanation with detailed historical and linguistic introductions and text-critical appendices. Gießen (later Berlin): Töpelmann (later: Berlin, New York: de Gruyter), 1912–1991 (so-called "Gießener Mischna", incomplete) ( digitized UB Frankfurt)
  • Herbert Danby: The Mishna. Oxford 1933, ISBN 0-19-815402-X .
  • Jacob Neusner : The Mishnah - A New Translation. New Haven 1991, ISBN 0-300-05022-4 .
  • Dietrich Correns (transl.): The Mishnah. The basic encyclopedic set of rules of rabbinical tradition. Marix, Wiesbaden 2005, ISBN 3-86539-016-1 , G. Stemberger: Review ( RTF ; 33 kB).
  • The Mishnah, a new translation with commentary. Mesorah publishers, Brooklyn, New York 1982ff.
  • Michael Krupp (Ed.): The Mishnah. Critical edition with German translation and commentary. Jerusalem 2002ff (now also published: Verlag der Weltreligionen, Frankfurt 1st vol. 2007)

concordance

  • Chayim Yehoshua Kasovsky: Thesaurus Mishnae. Concordantiae verborum quae in sex Mishnae ordinibus reperiuntur. 4th vol. Jerusalem: Massadah Publishing 1956/1957/1958/1960 (first published in 1927)
  • Emil Schürer : Directory of personal names in the Mishnah. Leipzig 1913.
  • Hugo Duensing: Directory of personal names and geographical names in the Mishnah. Stuttgart 1960

Introductions

language

  • Moses H. Segal: A Grammar of Mishnaic Hebrew. Oxford 1927 (various reprints).
  • Hanoch Yalon: Introduction to the Vocalization of the Mishna. Jerusalem 1964.
  • Miguel Pérez Fernández: An Introductory Grammar of Rabbinic Hebrew. (Transl. John Elwolde), Leiden, New York, Cologne 1997.

Web links

Wikisource: Text of the Mishnah at Wikisource  - Sources and full texts (Hebrew)
Commons : Mishnah  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Alexander Dubrau: Mishnah. created: January 2009, www.bibelwissenschaft.de, keyword 27829 [1]
  2. ↑ Günter Stemberger: Introduction in Talmud and Midrash , pp. 104-105.
  3. ↑ The excerpt gives Mishnah Avot 1,6f. (after counting by MS Kaufmann 1.6) again. At the end of line 4, note the typical mixed-Hebrew spelling “Adan” instead of “Adam”.
  4. ↑ [2]