Egyptian-Hebrew stream·Mishnah·Introduction

Source context

Theme

Foundational orientation to the Mishnah as the codified oral tradition of Tannaitic Judaism

Steiner

• GA 41bSteiner's glossary defines the Mishnah as a summary of oral traditions derived from the Hebrew root meaning 'to repeat,' situating it as a digest of scriptural and oral teaching within Jewish practice.
• GA 87, 1902-02-01Steiner identifies Jewish mysticism as indispensable for a correct understanding of Christianity, implying that the broader body of Jewish transmitted teaching — of which the Mishnah is a foundational stratum — carries genuine esoteric content.

Cross-tradition

• Islamic hadith scienceCross-tradition congruence exists between the Mishnah's function as codified oral transmission and the Islamic science of hadith, which similarly preserves and authorises prophetic oral teaching through chains of transmission and systematic compilation.
• Vedic shruti / smriti distinctionCross-tradition congruence appears in the Vedic distinction between shruti (directly heard revelation) and smriti (remembered, transmitted teaching), paralleling the Mishnah's role as the authoritative recension of orally transmitted legal and doctrinal material.

Introduction

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# CONTAINING PRECEPTS FOR THE DUE OBSERVANCE OF THE SABBATH-DAY.

Introduction.

The commandments on which these precepts are founded, or from which they are derived, are contained in various places of the Pentateuch. The fourth commandment of the Decalogue enacts:—"Remember the Sabbath-day to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour and do all thy work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy man-servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates. For in six days, the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is therein, and rested the seventh day; wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath-day and hallowed it." (Exod. xx. 8–11.) And again: "Keep the Sabbath-day to sanctify it, as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee: Six days thou shalt labour, and do all thy work; but the seventh is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy man-servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thine ox, nor thine ass, nor any of thy cattle, nor thy stranger who is within thy gates; that thy man-servant and thy maid-servant may rest as well as thyself: and remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the Lord thy God brought thee out thence, through a mighty hand, and by a stretched-out arm; therefore the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the Sabbath-day" (Deut. v. 12–15.)

[paragraph continues] In various other parts of the Pentateuch the due observance of the Sabbath is again and again enforced; sometimes briefly mentioning the day as one to be kept inviolate and holy: and sometimes with greater emphasis, referring to the history of creation, and establishing the observance as a sign and covenant between the Lord and Israel. Such texts are Exod. xiii. 12; xvi. 15; xxxi. 13–17; xxxiv. 21; xxxv. 1–3: Lev. xix. 29; xxiii. 32: Num. xv. 9, &c. But while the general principle is thus frequently inculcated, its special application, and specific enactments as to what constitutes a violation of the Sabbath, are nowhere carried out fully in the Pentateuch, so that there are but few texts of the law which serve as a direct basis for the minute and numerous enactments of the oral law.

The Mishna enumerates 39 aboth, or principal occupations, the carrying on of either of which constitutes a violation of the Sabbath. Every other kind of work becomes illegal, only when it can be ranged under one or other of these principal occupations. Thus, for instance, under the principal occupation of ploughing, every analogous kind of work, such as digging, delving, weeding, dunging, &c. must be ranged. In addition to these thirty-nine principal occupations, and their accessaries and derivatives, there are certain other acts which are especially prohibited in the oral law, as tending to violate the Sabbath-rest [‏שְׁבוּת‎]. In the violation itself various degrees of culpability are established, and of punishment awarded. All these subjects relating to the due observance of the Sabbath, and pointing out its violation in every possible way, form the contents of the Treatise Sabbath.

In order properly to understand this Mishna, and to avoid tedious repetitions, it is necessary to begin by noticing certain general principles, and technical expressions, which predominate in the text,

Wherever, throughout the Mishna, the expression ‏הַיָיב‎ guilty or ‏פָּטוּר‎ absolved, is used, the meaning is:—of the first [guilty] that the wanton transgressor forfeits his life: if there be evidence sufficient to convict him, he is stoned to death: in the absence of proper evidence, should the offender, after having been cautioned, repeat his guilt, he is liable to be "cut off from his people" [‏כָּרוֹת‎]: 1 and that he who unwittingly or inadvertently offends, must bring the sin-offering prescribed in the law. The second expression [absolved] means that the accused is absolved from either of these extreme

punishments, but not from the stripes which the Beth-Din has the power to inflict. So that (with some few exceptions only) the deed he has been charged with is in no instance sanctioned, or declared to be permitted.

If through the doing of something not prohibited, some other (prohibited) occupation is inadvertently entered upon, it constitutes no offence. But this must not be done intentionally, nor the lawful occupation be entered upon, with the covert purpose of making it serve as a cloak to do that which is prohibited.

In the degrees of violation, the nature of the occupation is to be considered, as various kinds of work may be required to carry out and complete one occupation; so that the offender becomes amenable to several punishments. On the other hand, the rule is laid down, that such occupations as only destroy, but do not produce, do not constitute guilt, (in the rigorous sense of the word); nor yet does such work, of which an imperfect or incomplete part only has been done.

The prohibition to carry or convey any object from one place to another, which, in Chap. I, § 1, of this treatise, is called ‏יְצִיאַת הַשַּׁבָּת‎ and forms the thirty-ninth of the principal occupations, requires particular attention and explanation, from the complexity of cases to which it gives rise. All space was, by the Tanaim, divided into four classes:—1st, ‏רְשׁוּת הָרַבִּים‎, public or common property, to which all men have an equal right: as a highway; any street not less than sixteen amoth wide, uncovered and open at top and bottom; every market-place, &c. 2nd, ‏רְשׁוּת הַיָּהִיד‎, private property: any place surrounded or inclosed by a wall or a ditch ten hands wide and four deep; also the ditch itself; any city encompassed by walls with gates that are closed at night, &c. 3rd, ‏כַּרְמֵלִית‎, (derived either from the Hebrew Carmel, forest or lonely spot, or from the Greek κηραμις keramis, a corner, or hollow way), that which does not belong to either of the other two; because it lies entirely open, like the sea or a plain; or because it is enclosed on three sides only, and open on the fourth, &c. 4th, ‏מָקוֹם פָּטוּר‎, a free place, one which. is more than three hands deep or high, but not more than four hands square in width, such as a column or small cavity, &c. When in the text of the Mishna the question is about carrying and conveying from one place to another, it does not apply to the "free place," as that is not subject to any legal enactments. Moreover, the open air above private property has no legal limitation, whereas that over public property, or carmelith, only belongs thereto to the height of

ten hands. The carrying or conveying from one reshuth to another does not constitute a complete or perfect action, unless the same person who takes a thing from the place it occupies, deposits it in another place.

These preliminary remarks, so much more extended than those prefixed to any other treatise, are absolutely required to obtain a correct and comprehensive view of general principles, and will serve as references, to avoid frequent and tedious repetitions.

Footnotes

35:1 By the act of God.

Introduction

# OR, THE COMBINATION OF PLACES AND OF LIMITS.

Introduction.

The word ‏ערוב‎ [erub] signifies commixture; and is used here to express the means through which the extreme rigour of the Rabbinical enactment of ‏שבות‎ [the Sabbath-rest] may in some degree be alleviated; inasmuch, as by these means, places are combined together, which otherwise would be distinct and separate, so that, without erub, it would be unlawful to carry any thing from one of them to another. And the distance which [without erub] it is unlawful to exceed, becomes enlarged: and thus, by this commixture, or combination of places, an extension of immunities or privileges is obtained.

The present Treatise contains regulations for the ‏ערובי חצרות‎, the combining of courts; also for ‏ערוב תחומין‎, the combining of limits; and for ‏ערוב מבוי‎, the combining of streets, also called ‏שתוף‎, junction. 1 The combining of courts treats of the rules and regulations by the observance of which the various houses standing in one court, each of which houses forms a distinct private reshuth, 2 are combined into one general reshuth. This is done, through all the householders in the court joining together in some article of food, which they

deposit in a certain place; by doing which they are, in law, considered to declare and proclaim the whole of the court, and all the dwellings therein to be one general and common abode for all its inmates; who thereby become entitled to carry and convey from one house to another, within the limits of the court, on the day of rest.

The combining of limits treats of the rules and regulations, by the observance of which the distance which may lawfully be traversed on the day of rest becomes extended. According to the Mishna, no man is allowed to go beyond 2000 paces from the bounds of his domicile on the day of rest. He who intends to go further, must deposit food for two meals in any particular place before the coming in of the day of rest; by doing which, he is, in law, considered to declare that particular place as his domicile, and he may then go 2000 paces beyond it.

The combining of streets, treats of the rules to be observed with respect to narrow streets, which otherwise would be considered as a private reshuth. And also with respect to public places, inclosed on three sides, which otherwise would be considered as carmelith; 3 but which, by means of a cross-beam, or a wire, or a rope, are converted into a private reshuth.

In the practice of these rules the utmost nicety and strictness is required, which it is the object of this Mishna to teach and to enforce.

Footnotes

70:1 There is another commixture called ‏ערוב תבשילין‎, combining of cookery; for which, vide Treatise Yom-tob.

70:2 Vide Introduction to Treatise Sabbath.

71:3 Vide Introduction to Treatise Sabbath.

Introduction

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OR, OF THE PASSOVER; RELATING TO THE LAWS CONCERNING THE PASSOVER FESTIVAL, AND THE SACRIFICE OF THE PASCHAL LAMB ON THE FOURTEENTH OF THE MONTH NISSAN.

INTRODUCTION.

It treats more particularly of all matters relative to the removal of leaven from our houses, or places under our jurisdiction or control; it defines what constitutes leaven, and how to banish or annul it before or during the festival; what bitter herbs were to be eaten with the paschal sacrifice; laws relative to the proper observance of the festival, the middle days thereof, and of the 14th of Nissan; also, respecting the observance of the Second Passover, by those who could not observe it at its proper time (Num. ix.), and other laws incidentally mentioned, or directly relating to the subject.

Introduction

# OR, THE DAY OF ATONEMENT.

INTRODUCTION.

The first seven chapters treat of the manner in which the day of atonement 1 was celebrated in the second temple; the different sacrifices brought on that day, the preparation of the high priest for his ministry, and the order of service, as he performed it, entering fully into minute details of every circumstance connected therewith. The eighth chapter treats of the general observance of the day, with respect to fasting, penitence, &c., and the rules and regulations thereunto appertaining. As the precepts contained in the first seven chapters are at present in abeyance, the eighth chapter only has been translated.

Footnotes

126:1 Levit. xvi. 1–34. Levit. xxiii. 26–32. Numb. xxix. 7–11.

Introduction

# OR, OF TABERNACLES.

Introduction.

This book contains rules and regulations for the due observance of the festival of tabernacles. The law instituting this festival is to be found in the Pentateuch, Levit. xxiii. 33–43. "And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, On the fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the feast of tabernacles for seven days unto the Lord. On the first day shall be a holy convocation unto you: ye shall do no servile work therein. … Also, in the fifteenth day of the 7th month, when ye have gathered in the fruit of the land, ye shall keep a feast unto the Lord, seven days: on the first day shall be a Sabbath, and on the eighth day shall be a Sabbath, And ye shall take you on the first day the fruit of the tree Hadar, branches of palm-trees, and the boughs of myrtle-trees, and willows of the brook, and ye shall rejoice before the Lord your God seven days: and ye shall keep it a feast unto the Lord seven days in the year. It shall be a statute for ever in your generations: ye shall celebrate it in the seventh month. Ye shall dwell in booths seven days; all that are Israelites born shall dwell in booths: that your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord."

The precise manner in which these various enactments and observances are to be carried out, is the subject of the present Treatise; it also treats of certain ceremonies and public rejoicings that were celebrated at Jerusalem, and which have given rise to the Simchath Torah of later ages.

Introduction

# OR, OF THE FESTIVAL.

Introduction.

This book, which is commonly called ‏ביצה‎, or egg [from the word with which it commences], contains laws and regulations for the proper observance of the festivals. It explains the works forbidden on the Sabbath, but which may be done on the festival; and prescribes the restrictions and mode in which they may be done.

It is necessary, for the proper understanding of this Treatise, to explain here three phrases which will often occur therein; viz. ‏נולד‎, i.e. whatever was born or has come into existence, has been produced, or become fit for use, on the very day of the festival, is thus called. Such are the egg that was laid on the day of the festival, the fruit which thereon had fallen from trees, &c. All these may not be used on the festival, because thereon those things only may be used which have been ‏מוכן‎, or prepared before the festival. The third term, ‏מוקצה‎, designates those articles of food, &c. which have not been thus previously "prepared," or set apart for the festival; and which, therefore, may not be used thereon.

Introduction

# OR, OF THE NEW YEAR.

Introduction.

In this Treatise are enumerated various periods of commencement of the year for different objects, during the existence of the second Temple. The mode of determining the day of the feast of new moon from the observation of witnesses, as also the manner of examining them, and other matters incident thereunto, is related next; and finally, this Treatise treats of the feast of new year, and whatever is peculiar to it, such as the sounding of the cornet ‏שופר‎, and the prayers and service of that festival.

Introduction

# OR, OF THE FASTS.

Introduction.

This Book treats of public fasts, and the manner in which they are to be observed. These fasts are either occasional, or annual and permanent: occasional fasts are those instituted as means of public repentance, humiliation, and prayer, to beseech the Almighty's protection and help in respect to some calamity which then had happened, and which fasts, of course, cease with the occasion for which they were ordered. The annual and permanent fasts are those observed on the anniversaries of unhappy events, which, in former periods of the history of the nation, had befallen them.

This Treatise is chiefly occupied with the first kind of fasts above mentioned, particularly with those formerly kept in Palestine on account of a continued drought, which in that, and in other countries having the same climate, is one of the greatest calamities that can happen to the inhabitants; the Mishna, therefore, opens with that subject.

Introduction

# OR, OF THE ROLL OF THE BOOK OF ESTHER.

Introduction.

THIS Treatise, according to its title, treats of the periods appointed for the reading of the book, of the manner in which it is to be written, and read on the feast of lots ‏פורים‎. A considerable part of this Treatise, however, is taken up with matters not immediately connected with the subject of its title, such as laws relating to synagogues, the public readings of the Holy law on various solemn days, &c. and with other matters incidentally mentioned.

Introduction

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Introduction.

This Treatise contains laws relating to the precept of Yeboom, i.e. the obligation of marrying the childless widow of a deceased brother (see Deut. xxv. 5–11), and the ceremony of Chalitzah, or the taking off the shoe by the widow to her brother-in-law, in case he refuses to marry her (Deut. xxv. 9).

In the first place, it must be premised that a surviving brother can marry only one of his brother's widows, and when the deceased brother has left several wives, and many brothers, the obligation of Yeboom is incumbent on one of the brothers, and of the widows only, and when that duty has been observed by them, all the others are released therefrom (Maimonides Hilchoth Yeboom, vol. ii. chap. i. § 9).

Secondly, that when circumstances exist which would render such marriage unlawful; as, for instance, if the parties were related to each other within the degree of consanguinity prohibited by the Holy Law to intermarry, the precept of Yeboom is superseded, and even the ceremony of Chalitzah is unnecessary.

Thirdly, that when the brother-in-law cannot marry the widow on account of near affinity, he may not marry any of the other wives of his deceased brother, who in the technical term of the Mishna are called rivals, ‏צרות‎ (see our first note).

This Treatise contains also many regulations having reference to the marriage laws in general, and is the first of the class or division of the Mishna called ‏נשים‎, or laws relating to women [i.e. to marriage, divorce, &c.], because Yeboom is not a voluntary action, like marriage, or divorce, as the person on whom that duty devolves can be judicially compelled either to marry his widowed sister-in-law, or to allow her to perform the ceremony of Chalitzah to him.

We have found it indispensable, in order to avoid the almost constant

repetition of tedious circumlocution and periphrase, to retain a few Hebrew terms which recur in almost every section, viz. ‏יבום‎ Yeboom; and ‏חליצה‎, Chalitzah; which have already been explained; also ‏גט‎, get, letter of divorce; and ‏כתובה‎, ketoobah; or marriage contract.

Introduction

Contains laws regulating marriage contracts, dowries, and settlements, the matrimonial rights, duties and obligations of husband and wife, and various other matters appertaining to the married state.

The word ‏כתובה‎, in its primary signification, denotes a writing or document generally; but its use is technically restricted to marriage contracts, which are invariably drawn up according to a set form in the Chaldee (Aramaic) language. The jointure settled on the wife by virtue of the marriage contract is called her Ketubah, and in all cases amounts to a fixed and standing sum which remains of the same amount whether the parties are rich or poor, though by special covenant it may be enlarged. The whole of a man's property is liable to the payment of the Ketubah, and whatever portion of his real property he sells continues subject to that liability should the remainder of his estate prove insufficient.

Footnotes

241:1 The plural of Ketubah.

Introduction

# OR, OF BETROTHING.

Introduction.

Under this title, several laws relative to the acquisition of a woman as a wife are mentioned. It is called ‏קדושין‎ from ‏קדש‎ "to consecrate, or set apart;" as by that act a woman is "set apart," as it were, for her husband only. Several other regulations, not immediately connected with the subject of the treatise, are (as is usual in the Mishna) occasionally introduced.

Introduction

Contains various laws and regulations in respect to the killing or slaughtering of cattle and fowl for profane or domestic use. It is called ‏חולין‎, or [of] profane [slaughtering], to distinguish it from the slaughtering of holy sacrifices, ‏קדשים‎, which were treated of in ‏זבחים‎ and ‏מנחות‎, the two preceding Treatises of this series of the Mishna. In the first chapter is treated of, the persons qualified, the instruments to be used, the mode and place of slaughtering. In the following chapters the ‏סימנים‎, or signs [so called, because they indicate the limits of the place on the throat of the animal where it is to be cut] are described, and the cases mentioned which render the animal or bird ‏טרפה‎ [Terefá], or unlawful to be used as food. The characteristic marks are then indicated by which the [legally] clean fowl, fish, and locusts, may be distinguished from the unclean. The remainder of the Treatise contains laws relative to an animal fœtus; it treats of the prohibition of slaughtering an animal and its young on the same day (Lev. xxii. 28); of the precept of covering the blood of wild animals and fowl (ibid. xvii. 13); of the ‏גיד הנשה‎, or "sinew which shrank" (Gen. xxxii. 32); of the prohibition of eating flesh boiled in milk (Exod. xxiii. 19, xxxvii. 26, and Deut. xiv. 21); and contains the Rabbinical explanations of the quoted texts, of the sacerdotal oblations from slaughtered animals, and from the wool of the first shearing; and in the last chapter are mentioned laws relative to the obligation of setting the parent bird at liberty when taken with her young from their nest. Some other laws not immediately connected with the subject of this Mishna are incidentally mentioned.

Introduction

Contains regulations for purifying the hands from uncleanness. These regulations rest entirely on the authority of tradition, or the oral law, as no commandment of the Pentateuch is quoted or adduced in their support by the Mishna. In order to eat bread baked of Cholin, 1 the hands must undergo ablution up to the wrist; the quantity of water to be used for this purpose must not be less than a quarter of a lug. 2 In order to eat Teroomah 3 of any kind, the hands, in addition to this first ablution, must undergo another one: hence they are respectively called the first and second ablution: the last named does not absolutely require a quarter of a lug of water.

The third chapter of the Treatise points out certain objects that render the hands [legally] unclean. The last chapter treats of various subjects, and also mentions some objections advanced by the Sadducees, and how the Tanaim [sages of the Mishna] met these objections.

Footnotes

357:1 Non-consecrated food, used by any man.

357:2 The lug is equal to five eggs, a quarter-lug equals one and a quarter egg.

357:3 Consecrated food, used by the priests and their household.

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