2. Mén&hoth, n\in3s> ‘ Meat-Offerings,’ including also the laws regarding libations (Ly 2° etc., Nu 153), 12 chapters.
3. Hullin, pen (also poan ny ny) ‘Things Secular,’ regarding the mode of killing animals and birds for ordinary use, as well as the various diseases disqualifying them from being eaten, and many other dietary laws. 12 chapters.
4, Békhéréth, n\722 ‘Firstborn,’ of men and animals (Ex 132-128. etc.), including also the laws regarding the tithes of animals (Lv 2726. 82f.), 9 chapters.
5. ‘Arakhin, )2w, ‘Valuations,’ of persons and things dedi- cated to the temple (Ly 272#-), also including some laws relating to the year of Jubilee (Ly 2515). 9 chapters.
6. Témtra, DA ‘Change,’ the laws bearing on cases of substituting a secular animal for one already dedicated to the altar (Lv 279. 33), 7 chapters. ;
"7, Kértthoth, nin’72 ‘ Excisions,’ treating of sins subject to the punishment of ‘the ‘soul being cut off’ (Gn 1714, Ex 1215 ete. etc.). 6 chapters. : ' 8, Mé‘tla, ayn ‘Trespass,’ treating of sacrilege committed by secularizing things belonging to the temple or to the altar (Ly 515f), 8 chapters.
9. Taméd, 7D" ‘Continual’ sacrifice, describing the temple service in connexion with this daily sacrifice (Ex 2938, Nu 283f), '7 chapters.
10. Middéth, ni7'> ‘Measurements,’ of the temple, describing its courts, halls, chambers, and gates, etc. etc. 5 chapters.
11. Kinnim, 073) ‘ Nests,’ of birds, or pairs of doves brought as sacrifice by the poor (Ly 114#. 57), 3 chapters.
VI. Touiroru, niiny ‘ Purifications.’
1. Kélim, md ‘Vessels,’ furniture, garments, and all kinds of utensils subject to Levitical impurity (Lv 1182), 30 chapters.
2. ’Ohaloth, mibnkk ‘Tents’ and habitations as conductors of Levitical impurity (Nu 1914), 18 chapters.
3, Nega'im, D’y33 ‘Leprosy,’ in all its various degrees (Lv 13- 14). 14 chapters.
4, Para, 775 ‘Red Heifer,’ the use made of its ashes for the purpose of purification (Nu 192), 12 chapters.
5. Toharéth, ni» ‘ Purifications,’ used euphemistically for MND ‘defilements’ of all sorts and their various degrees. 10 chapters.
6. Mikwa’éth, nixypd ‘ Wells’ and cisterns to be used as means of ritual purification (Lv 1511-12 etc. etc.). 10 chapters.
7. Niddd, 773 the ‘ Menstruous,’ the Levitical impurity attach- ing to women under certain physical conditions (Ly 151%), 10 chapters.
8. Makhshirin, PVPIH ‘Preparers,’ respecting the conditions under which certain articles became (by coming in contact
with liquids) prepared for eventual defilement (Ly 1137), 6 chapters.
9. Zabim, 0°31 ‘Persons afflicted with running issues,’ the im- purity arising thereof (Lv 1524), 5 chapters.
10. Tébal Yom, o'” pay ‘Immersed during the day,’ 7.e. the condition of a person who had taken the ritual bath prescribed
but has still to wait for sunset to be considered as quite pure (see Ly 226.7). 4 chapters.
11. Yddayim, 0:7; ‘Hands,’ respecting the ritual impurity attaching to them (according to the Oral Law), and the mode of cleansing them by pouring water over them. 4 chapters.
12. ‘Ukzin, {3D ‘Stalks,’ how far they are considered a part of the fruit so as to convey impurity when touched by anything unclean. 3 chapters.
The idiom in which the Mishna is compiled is the New Hebrew, interspersed with occasional Greek and Latin words; its diction is fluent and easy when not disfigured, as all works coming to us from antiquity are, by interpolations and textual corruptions. The date of its compilation may be fixed about A.D. 220. This was undertaken and accomplished by R. Jehuda the Patriarch, not with the purpose of providing the nation with a legal code, but with the intention of furnishing them with a sort of thesaurus, incorporating such portions of the traditional lore as he considered most important. Hence the ground for his includ- ing in the work the opinions of the minority (e.g. of the school of Shammai), which only in a few exceptional cases were accepted as a norm for practice. A preliminary acquaintance with the contents of the Scriptures bearing upon the topic expounded by tradition is always assumed; so that, ¢.g., the tractate Sukka commences: ‘ A booth (the interior of which is) higher than 20 cubits is disqualified,’ thus premising the duty of living in booths for seven days according to Lv 23”. In many cases even a knowledge of the institutions established by the Oral Law is presupposed. Hence such a statement as that with which the Mishna commences: ‘When do they begin to read the Shéma‘ in the evening (i.c. the 3 paragraphs in the Scriptures, Dt 6*° 11% 71, and Nu 15°7#1, the first paragraph of which begins with the word Shéma‘ yo)? From the time the priests (in the case of defilement) come back (from their ritual baths) to eat their heave-offering’ (2.¢. after sun- set, see Ly 22+”), The duty or the custom of daily reading the Shéma‘is thus assumed as something generally known though not mentioned in the Scriptures.
The works after which R. Jehuda modelled his compilation and the sources upon which he drew were probably the older Mishna collections, the first composition of which was, as there is good reason to believe, begun by the first successors of Shammai and Hillel, then compiled by R. ‘Akiba, and continued by his disciple R. Meir, who en- riched it by additions of the later Tannaim. This Mishna became the groundwork of that of RK. Jehuda, apart from various other collections of a similar kind (e.g. the Mishna of Abba Shaul), which were equally known to the ened and utilized by him.* The strata of these older com- positions are still in many places discernible, either by their style and phraseology or by the nature of their contents. An instance of the former is the passage illustrating the prohibition against trans- porting things on Sabbath from a space belonging to a private individual to that constituting a part