Mishna

Mishna (Heb. מַשׁנָה, Mishndh)', the code of Jewish laws arranged about the year A.D. 200 or 220, at Tiberias, in Palestine, by R. Jehudah, surnamed Hakkadosh (q.v.). The title is by some understood as importing "second," like מַשׁנֶה in Ge 43:23, the rabbinical code being second or next to the Pentateuch; it is so interpreted in the rabbinical lexicon Schulchan Aruch, but we think it is more likely derived from שׁנה, to study, also to teach, which perhaps at first meant only "to repeat." In the Talmud (q.v.), quotations from the Mishna are introduced by the Aramaic word תּנִן, Tenan, i.e., we have studied; and the book itself is called מִתנַיתַין Amathnithin; while the rabbins who lived before the publication of the Mishna are spoken of as, learners, or perhaps teachers; and their sayings, not found in that collection, are quoted תניא, "it was learned or taught." The version "learners" for Tannain is not unnatural, as the Heb. official name for Rabbins is תִּלמַידַי חֲכָמַים disciples of the wise. The sons of R. Jehudah are named among the Tannain, and they most probably assisted in the completion of the work of the Mishna.

The sayings recorded in the Mishna reach back to the times of Simon the Just, a contemporary of Alexander the Great; and it expounds also some religious and political usages introduced by Ezra; but the bulk of the book is made up of the decisions or opinions of the rival schools of Hillel and Shammai, who arose at the beginning of the 1st century of the Christian sera, and of the subsequent teachers, who followed generally the rulings of Hillel's school, and among whom Hillel's descendants were prominent. In a few instances a case (מִעֲשֶׂה) is stated to have arisen, and the decision of the Sanhedrin (q.v.) upon it, or of some prominent rabbi, is given; very often the names of the teachers who taught any particular point are mentioned, even where no disagreement is spoken of; but much oftener in cases of disagreement. Still oftener, however, the text of the law appears without any one to propound it: these parts of the Mishna are ascribed to R. Meir, who flourished about A.D. 145, and it is therefore probable that R. Meir made an older collection, of which the .Mishna as now found is only an enlargement.

The authority for the laws of the Mishna is, best explained in the first section of the first chapter of its treatise, אָבוֹת(Aboth, fathers): "Moses received the law from Sinai, and handed it over to Joshua, and Joshua to the elders, and the elders to the prophets, and the prophets to the men of the Great Synod" (the companions and followers of Ezra down to about B.C. 300). The meaning hereof is, that Moses received not only the written law from God, but also certain rules for its construction and application; and that even in the most corrupt times of Israel's history there were always some pure and holy men, who kept up the study of this tradition, and handed it over unbroken to their successors. Moreover, it was inferred from De 17:9 that the supreme judges for the time being might make authoritative decisions on facts as they arose; and that these decisions must serve as precedents for the future, unless reversed by a court of "greater wisdom and greater number." The words "priests and Levites" in that verse were construed by the Pharisees merely to indicate the place at which tie supreme judges must hold their sessions. The rules of construction of the Pentateuch are stated as thirteen, among which the foremost are קִל וחֹמֶר, Kal ve-chomer, a minori ad majus, and גּזֵרָה שָׁוָה, Gezerah shavah, "like decision." The latter, however, rests generally on the arbitrary comparison of the same word in two wholly disconnected passages, and is not allowed unless tradition itself sanction it. Besides these rules of construction, certain ceremonies in their full form were also believed to have thus been handed down, while the letter of the law only hinted at the manner of performing them. Thus Ex 13:9,16; De 6:10; De 11:18, command the tying of those respective passages to the hand and between the eyes of the Israelite; but tradition supplied the manner of doing it, that is, the construction of the phylacteries. The second section of the above-quoted chapter proceeds: "They (the men of the great synod) said three things: . . make a fence to the law." That is, put around the law a wall of restrictions and injunctions, which the Israelite will have to break through before he feels tempted to break the law itself. This was, in fact, done to a great extent by the teachers whose sayings are recorded in the Mishna. Many of their so-called גּזֵרוֹת(decisions) — a name given to the extra-Mosaic laws — refer to a stricter observance of the Sabbath, and these are comprehended under the name of שַׁבּוּת which decisions Selden renders Sabbathismvus; forbidding, for instance, the handling on the Sabbath of anything that has been unlawfully made on that day; the causing a Gentile (unless in case of necessity) to work on the Sabbath for the Israelite; to play musical' instruments on that day, etc. Others refer to Levitical cleanness; among these are numberless rules about the washing of hands, of cups, etc., at the ordinary meals, in imitation of the rules which the Aaronitic priesthood had to observe at their sacrificial meals. It was principally by these observances that the followers of the rabbins, whom Christian writers generally denote as the Pharisaic sect, but who called themselves חֲבֵרַים (companions), distinguished themselves not only from the Sadducees (q.v.), but also from the indifferent mass, who are known in the Mishna as עִם הָאָרֶוֹ. (people of the land), and are often spoken of with a great deal of bitterness.