Although there are many English language translations available of The Mishnah, there is only one English language translation of The Tosefta, two very often forgotten and misunderstood texts of Ancient Rabbinical Judaism. Translated by Jacob Neusner, Research Professor of Religion and Theology at Bard College, The Mishnah and The Tosefta provide historical perspective to both Jewish and Christian Scholars interested in the ancient practices of Judaism.
The Mishnah and The Tosefta are Separated into Six Parts
The Mishnah in Judaism is a collective of Ancient Jewish Laws on everything from Agriculture to Ritual Purity which derive from the first and second century sages who came at the very end of the great 1,000 year reign of the Jewish people as the great temple in Jerusalem was destroyed.
The Mishnah is a very precise taking apart of the Five Books of Moses also known as The Torah in defining precisely the laws of action and non-action regarding all aspects of human life.
The Tosefta is an expansion on The Mishnah and is separated into the same six parts:
- First Division: Zeraim, The Order of Agriculture;
- Second Division: Moed, The Order of Appointed Times;
- Third Division: Nashim, The Order of Women;
- Fourth Division: Neziqin, The Order of Damages;
- Fifth Division: Qodoshin, The Order of Holy Things; and
- Sixth Division: Tohorot, The Order of Purities.
The Jerusalem and Babylonian Talmuds
The Mishnah, also referred to as The Jerusalem Talmud or the Palestinian Talmud, came to be shortly after the destruction of the first Temple. The Jewish people were led into exile and migration and this was the time context in which the first Talmud, The Jerusalem Talmud, was written. The Babylonian Talmud was to follow shortly thereafter.
Understanding the Order of Rabbinic Literature
It might be surprising to the average reader to note that the order of the ancient rabbinical documents starts with The Mishnah (which is the same text that is often referred to as the Jerusalem Talmud) and follows towards The Tosefta, a supplementary writing that bore some influence in the formation of the Babylonian Talmud. Ironically, it is The Mishnah and The Tosefta to whom the original Talmudic Sages referred to in the commentaries that later became the basis of The Babylonian Talmud.
The Mishnah laid out a system of law based on scripture that was expanded upon in The Tosefta. The Sages of the Babylonian Talmud took those original law books and created the commentary on these laws of action and non-action, which are known collectively today as the Babylonian Talmud.
This system of Ancient Rabbinical Literature unifies The Torah with all rabbinical thought that was to follow. As is stated by Rev. Dr. A. Cohen in Everyman’s Talmud, “From the theory of Torah which underlies the whole of Talmudic doctrine, it inevitably follows that the way to the living of the moral life must be sought, and could only be found, in the Divine Revelation (of the Torah). What the Torah commands and prohibits is the sure guidance, and morality consists in compliance with its precepts.”
As laid out above, all Jewish Laws branch out from The Torah, are defined in The Mishnah (or Jerusalem Talmud), are expounded upon in The Tosefta and are further expounded upon and made into commentary in the Babylonian Talmud.
How the Sefer haHinnuch Came into Being and Simplified Judaic Law
In the thirteenth century, an anonymous scholar wrote another popular Jewish classic entitled Sefer haHinnuch. He wrote it to introduce his son to the 613 Mitzvoth, or good deeds, from the Torah. The Mitzvoth are a system of laws derived originally from The Torah and explained in greater detail in The Mishnah, The Tosefta and the Babylonian Talmud. But the Sefer haHinnuch provided easy to understand explanations of the origins of each of the Torah laws and the means in which a practitioner of Judaism could act or not act in accordance with these scriptural admonitions. The Sefer haHinnuch remains available in a five-volume commentary on these laws.
Sources:
- The Tosefta – By Jacob Neusner.
- The Mishnah – By Jacob Neusner.
- The Babylonian Talmud – Edited By Michael L. Rodkinson.
- Everyman’s Talmud – By Dr. A. Cohen.
- Sefer haHinuch: The Book of Mitzvah Education – Feldheim Publishers.
