Mishnah
The earliest codification of the Oral Torah (c. 200 CE), redacted by Rabbi Judah ha-Nasi. De Sola and Raphall's 1843 translation of the Eighteen Treatises (Mishnayot).
Source context· Egyptian-Hebrew stream · Greco-Latin cultural age
- Stream
- Egyptian-Hebrew
- Cultural age
- Greco-Latin (4th post-Atlantean cultural age)
- Composed
- c. 200 CE
- Soul-faculty
- Intellectual Soul
What this work carries
The Mishnah codifies the Oral Torah carried alongside the written Torah from Moses through the Tannaitic schools. It preserves the Hebrew counter-current's juridical and ritual memory — the vessel-discipline by which the people of the Old Testament was kept distinct as the bearer of the bloodline preparing the Christ Event.
Language frame
Hebrew and Aramaic legal-aphoristic prose redacted c. 200 CE by Rabbi Judah ha-Nasi. The form is terse halakhic ruling organized into six Sedarim, transmitting through written fixation what had been guarded as oral tradition.
Steiner’s engagement
- GA 41bSteiner's glossary defines Mishnah from the Hebrew shanah, to repeat, as a summary of written explanations drawn from the oral traditions of the Jews and a digest of the scriptures.
- GA 87, 1902-02-01Steiner states that without Jewish mysticism no correct understanding of Christianity is possible, placing the rabbinic-mystical stream at the root of the Christ-impulse.
- GA 87, 1902-02-08Steiner describes how the need for a savior arose within the Jewish community in diverse ways, with Old Testament teachers sensing a different impulse alongside Greek wisdom.
- GA 107, 1908-11-16Steiner traces the gradual permeation of ego-recognition through the Jewish people in the Old Testament account as the preparation for full self-consciousness.
- GA 167, 1916-05-23Steiner draws on fragments from the Jewish Haggada when treating spiritual realities preserved in the rabbinic transmission.
Cross-tradition congruence
- Vedic śruti / smṛti distinctionBoth traditions distinguish a primary revealed scripture from a secondary, codified oral commentary that secures the priestly-juridical practice.
- Zoroastrian Avesta and Zend commentaryEach preserves a sacred text alongside an interpretive oral layer later fixed in writing to guard ritual exactitude.
- 1Preface — De Sola & Raphall's 1843 translators' preface
The translators' preface to Eighteen Treatises from the Mishna. D. A. De Sola (Sephardi minister at Bevis Marks, London) and M. J. Raphall recount the synagogue debates over the divinity of the Oral Law that occasioned the first authorised English translation by Jewish hands.
531 words - 2Berakhot — Chapter I — From what time may the Shema be said in the evening?
Tractate Berakhot (Blessings) opens with the great dispute on the boundaries of the evening Shema — R. Eleazar, the Sages, and Rabbon Gamaliel each set a different terminus. Establishes the principle that the Sages set earlier limits 'to withhold man from transgression.'
18,280 words - 3Berakhot — Chapter II — Intention (kavvanah) and the Shema
Reading the Torah passage that contains the Shema vs. saying the Shema itself; the role of intention (kavvanah) in fulfilling the precept; pauses, gaps, and interruptions; the ordering of the three Shema paragraphs.
18,913 words - 4Berakhot — Chapter III — Exemptions: the mourner, the bridegroom, the bier-bearer
Who is exempt from the Shema, prayer, and tefillin: the one whose dead lies before him, those carrying the bier, the bridegroom on his wedding night, women, slaves, and minors. The principle that one occupied with one commandment is exempt from another.
20,573 words - 5Berakhot — Chapter IV — The daily liturgy — Shacharit, Mincha, Maariv
The three daily prayers. Morning prayer until noon; the Mincha (afternoon) prayer until evening; their boundaries debated by R. Jehudah and the Sages. The short prayer for one in danger; turning toward the Temple in prayer.
21,768 words - 6Berakhot — Chapter V — Standing in prayer with profound humility
The bearing required for the Amidah: 'with profound humility.' The pious of old paused a full hour before praying to direct their hearts to the Deity. The interruptions permitted; the prayer-leader's responsibility for the congregation.
11,783 words - 7Berakhot — Chapter VI — Blessings before eating — fruit, bread, wine
The Borei pri ha-etz, Borei pri ha-adamah, Borei pri ha-gefen formulas. Which blessing precedes which food; the special status of wine; the ordering when multiple foods are present; the rule for foods that change form.
8,435 words - 8Berakhot — Chapter VII — Zimmun — the call to grace after meals
Three men who have eaten together are bound to join in the zimmun (the formal invitation to bless together). The threshold of joining; women, slaves, and minors; the wording variations among the schools; whom one waits for.
9,551 words - 9Berakhot — Chapter VIII — Shammai and Hillel on the order of meal-blessings
The disputes between the schools of Shammai and Hillel over the points of mealtime conduct — washing hands and the cup, candle and incense and grace, the order of blessings. The schools' debate is the proverbial form of halakhic disagreement.
9,523 words - 10Berakhot — Chapter IX — Blessings on wonders, sights, and the past
Blessings for seeing places where wonders were wrought for Israel; for sites of extirpated idolatry; for the wise, the mighty, the strange creature; for thunder, lightning, and the sea. The blessing on good news and on evil — 'Blessed be the true Judge.'
11,222 words - 11Treatises II. Peah to III. Demai [synopses] — Synopses: Peah and Demai (untranslated)
Translators' synopses of the two tractates of Seder Zera'im they did not render in full. Peah — the corner of the field left for the poor (Lev. 23:22, Deut. 24:19); Demai — the tithing of doubtfully-tithed agricultural produce.
111 words - 12Treatises V. Shebiith to XI. Bikoorim [synopses] — Synopses: Shebiith through Bikkurim
Synopses of seven tractates: Shebiith (Sabbatical year), Terumoth (heave-offering), Maaseroth (first tithe), Maaser Sheni (second tithe), Hallah (first dough), Orlah (uncircumcised trees), Bikkurim (first fruits).
156 words - 13Introduction — Introduction to Tractate Shabbat
The translators' introduction to Tractate Shabbat. The fourth commandment of the Decalogue; the rabbinic enumeration of the thirty-nine forbidden labours (avot melakhah) derived from the construction of the Tabernacle; the rabbinic gerade-fence raised against Sabbath-violation.
3,886 words - 14Shabbat — Chapter X — Carrying out from one domain to another
The boundary of forbidden carrying on the Sabbath — the quantities that incur guilt for transporting seed, samples, and medicines. The principle that the labour of carrying is only Toraitically forbidden when the object is of a certain minimum quantity.
6,708 words - 15Shabbat — Chapter XII — Building, hewing, hammering — the construction-derived labours
The minimum measures of work that incur guilt for building, hewing stone, hammering, planing, boring — labours derived directly from the building of the Tabernacle as the avot melakhah of the Sabbath.
2,936 words - 16Shabbat — Chapter XIII — Weaving and the textile labours
R. Eleazar and the Sages on the minimum threads required to incur guilt for weaving, on the beginning vs. middle of the weft, on tearing and stitching and dyeing — the principal textile labours from the Tabernacle's curtains.
4,781 words - 17Shabbat — Chapter XIV — The eight kinds of vermin — trapping on the Sabbath
The eight kinds of vermin mentioned in Leviticus 11:29-30 and the laws of trapping and wounding them on the Sabbath. Distinctions between catching, wounding, killing — and what counts as healing-work for the sick.
1,519 words - 18Shabbat — Chapter XV — Knots that incur guilt — the camel-driver's, the boatman's
Knots considered melakhah for Sabbath purposes — the camel-driver's knot, the boatman's knot, and the principle that any knot intended to remain permanently incurs guilt by both tying and untying. Distinctions for women's knots and clothing-ties.
2,045 words - 19Shabbat — Chapter XVI — Saving sacred writings from fire
The priority of saving sacred writings from a Sabbath conflagration; what may and may not be saved; the limits of saving one's own goods; the rabbinic decree extinguishing the lamp on the Sabbath only when life is endangered.
2,320 words - 20Shabbat — Chapter XVII — Vessels and their lids on the Sabbath
Which vessels may be moved on the Sabbath together with their lids and detached parts; what is permitted to move with the hand vs. only with the body; the disputed cases of broken vessels and tools whose function has lapsed.
499 words - 21Shabbat — Chapter XVIII — Moving for guests, for teaching, for childbirth
Permission to move quantities of straw or grain to make room for guests or for disciples studying Torah; the relaxation of carrying-restrictions for the laboring woman and the newborn; the principle of kavod ha-beriot (human dignity) modifying rabbinic prohibition.
396 words - 22Shabbat — Chapter XIX — Circumcision on the Sabbath
The brit-milah that falls on the Sabbath and the labours it permits — R. Eleazar's view that all instruments needed for the circumcision are brought through the public domain. The interleaving of the eighth-day commandment with Sabbath rest.
697 words - 23Shabbat — Chapter XX — Filtering and pouring on the Sabbath
Permitted and forbidden ways of straining wine and other liquids on the Sabbath; the distinction between separating mixed kinds (borer) and ordinary serving. Brief chapter of practical kitchen-rulings.
426 words - 24Shabbat — Chapter XXI — Carrying through indirect means
A man may lift up his child even when the child holds a stone; he may move a hamper containing a stone; unclean heave-offering may be moved together with clean food. The principle of bi-tzevi'a (the prohibited item being secondary to the permitted).
355 words - 25Shabbat — Chapter XXII — Salvage from a broken cask
Should a cask break on the Sabbath, three-meals'-worth may be saved; the owner may call others to save for themselves on condition the saved portion is not a quantity that constitutes forbidden carrying. The Mishnah's lenient treatment of accidental damage.
611 words - 26Shabbat — Chapter XXIII — Borrowing without business-language on the Sabbath
A man may borrow wine or oil from his acquaintance provided he does not use the language 'lend me' (which implies repayment with interest); a woman may borrow bread from her friends; the Sabbath restriction on commercial speech (dabbur).
602 words - 27Shabbat — Chapter XXIV — Caught by dusk on the road
The traveller overtaken by Sabbath dusk on the road — he gives his purse to a heathen; failing that, places it on his ass; failing that, drops it. The progression of Sabbath leniencies for the wayfarer; the prohibition on the rider; feeding one's beasts.
482 words - 28Yebamot — Chapter XI — Levirate marriage: the prohibited near relatives
From Tractate Yebamot (Levirate Marriage). On marrying the near relatives of a woman one has violated or seduced; the contrary prohibition on marrying the near relatives of one's own wife; the case of the proselyte's sons. The forbidden degrees of affinity.
2,897 words - 29Treatises XXX. Babah Kaman to XLI. Minchoth (synopses) — Synopses: the Bavot (Gates) and the criminal-civil tractates
Synopses of twelve tractates of Seder Nezikin (Damages): Bava Kamma (First Gate), Bava Metzia (Middle Gate), Bava Batra (Last Gate) on civil law; Sanhedrin, Makkot, Shevuot, Eduyot, Avoda Zara, Avot, Horayot; then Zevahim and Menahot from Seder Kodashim.
220 words - 30Treatises XLIII. Bechoroth to LX. Tebul Yom (synopses) — Synopses: from the Firstborn to the Tebul Yom
Synopses of the last eighteen tractates: Bekhorot (firstborn), Arakhin (valuations), Temurah (substitution of consecrated animals), Keritot (excisions), Meilah (sacrilege), Tamid, Middot, Kinnim, then the laws of ritual purity through Tebul Yom (one immersed but awaiting sundown).
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