Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
  1. Home
  2. Search

Refine search

Refine search

Access:
Content type:
Publication date:
Apply   From and To filters
Subject: Show more
Journals Show more
Publishers: Show more
Societies Show more
Series: Show more
Collections: Show more

Actions for selected content:

Select all | Deselect all
  • View selected items
  • Export citations
  • Download PDF (zip)
  • Save to Kindle
  • Save to Dropbox
  • Save to Google Drive

Save Search

You can save your searches here and later view and run them again in "My saved searches".

Please provide a title, maximum of 40 characters.
Cancel
×

1 results

  • 12 - The Mishnah

    • By David Kraemer, Department of Talmud and Rabbinics, Jewish Theological Seminary of America, New York
  • Edited by Steven T. Katz, Boston University
  • Book:
    The Cambridge History of Judaism
    Published online:
    28 March 2008
    Print publication:
    22 June 2006, pp 299-315

  • Summary

    The Mishnah, universally attributed to the editorial hand of Rabbi Judah, Patriarch of the Jewish community in Palestine in the late second to the early third century, is the earliest redacted record of rabbinic opinion. Most of the abundant Jewish literature from the late Second Temple period organizes its expression by reference to Scripture. The Mishnah's six orders include: Zeraim, Moed, Nashim, Neziqin, Kodashim and Toharot. The way one interprets the Mishnah's rhetoric concerning its relationship with Scripture depends upon the capacities of its assumed audience. A variety of factors suggest powerfully and unambiguously that the Mishnah was formulated for rabbinic sages and their disciples and not for a mass audience. Because it was formulated more than a century after the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple, perhaps the Mishnah's most surprising feature is the proportion of its laws dedicated to the Temple cult.