founded on the Poman Hilaria (q. v.\ or feast in honor ! pherim = Scribe.s_heginningwithKzra.and terminating of('vbele,the mother of the gods. who. the legend tells ! ^v.th Simon the Just-were for centuries transmuted us, was converted by Christianity into the mother orally, and hence are also called .SV(m((///ff(Xrr-^r\i.e. Church, whence, in the second step, the Aiitif/ui/atrs that which was heard, or that which M-as received by F«i^a?es deduces the origin of Midlent. Sec Brough ' ' " -'^-•- ^ -— •= ^i i,.i..t^-„
members of the chain of tradition. Those prohibitory
MIDRASH
241
MIDRASH
laws or fences (S'^D, "i15, later n^U) which the So- pherim were obliged to make on their own account in consequence of the new wants of the times, without being indicated in the Pentateuch, and which are called Sopheric precepts (CIEIO "^^^n), and in the-N. T. Tradition of the Elders {itapaSoaiQ tmv Trpsafivrsptjov, Matt. XV, 2; Mark vii, 3), are distinguished from the traditional laws which are deduced from the Bible. The latter are designated Deductions from the Lmo ("pS" XTT^illS^), and are of equal authority with the Bibli- cal precepts. The few learned men who during the period of the Sopherim (B.C. 450-300) wrote down some of these laws, or indicated them by certain signs (a";^0) or hints (D'^T^I) in their scrolls of the Penta- teuch, only did so to assist their memory, and the docu- ments are called »S'ec?-e<»S'cro&(n"i"irD r^hM). These marginal glosses in the MSS. of the Law became the basis of the Masorah (q. v.). Gradually, however, these Halachoth were fully written down, and are embodied in the foUo^ving works.
(1.) It was not till the period of the Tanaim (an hon- orable appellation given to those doctors who transmit- ted the oral law), B.C. 220-A.D. 220, that the fixing, col- lecting, and final redaction of ^^e llalachuh — this mass of juridico-political and religious practice, or doctrine of human and divine law (liumani et divini juris) — took place. The first attempt at a compilation and rubrifi- cation of it was made by Hillel I (B.C. 75-A.D. 8), who classified and arranged the diverse laws under six sedarim (D'^IID) or orders. In this he was followed by 'Akiba (A.D. 20-120), and Simon III b.-Gamaliel II, who was the president of the Sanhedrim A.D. 140-163, and whose son K. Jehudah I the Holy, called Rabbi KUT t^oxrp' (died A.D. cir. 193), completed the final re- daction of the code called Mishna (q. v.).
(2.) The Mishna, however, like the Pentateuch, soon became the subject of discussion or study, as many of its expositions and enactments are not onh' couched in obscure language, but are derived from antagonistic sources. Hence, like the di\'ine code of the law, which it both supplements and expounds, the Mishna itself was expounded during the period of the Amoraim. or expositors ; an appellation given to the public expos- itors of the oral law (nizbn), recorded by the Tanaim, A.D. 220-540, both in Jerusalem and Babylon. The re- sult of these expositions is the two Talmuds, or more properly Gemaras, \'\z. the Jerusalem and the Babylon. See Talmud.
(3.) Prior in point of age to the compilation of the Mishna is the commentary on Exodus, called Mechilta, which is composed of nine Tractates (nriD'^D'O), sub- divided into sections (nl"'i3"iS), and treating on select sections of Exodus in the following order : The first tract treats on Exod. xii, 1-xiii, 6, in eighteen sections ; the second is on xiii, 7-xiv, 31, in six sections ; the third is on XV, 1-21, in ten sections ; the fourth is on xv, 22-xvii, 7, in seven sections ; the,^/i is on xvii, 8-xviii, 27, in four sections ; the sixth is on xix, 1-xx, 22, in eleven sections ; the seventh is on xxi, 1-xxii, 22. in eight sec- tions ; the ei(/htk is on xxii, 23-xxiii, 19, in two sections ; and the ninth tract is on chap, xxix, 12-17 ; xxxv, 1-3, in two sections. The first compilation of the Mechilta was most probably made under the influence of R. Ish- mael b.-Elisa, A.D. cir. 90 [see Ishmael B.-Ei.isa], which accounts for the many maxims contained in it, and not to be found elsewhere. It was re-edited after- wards, and greatly altered (com p. Geiger, Urschrift, p. 434 sq.). It was printed at Constantinople in 1515 ; then again at Venice in 1545 ; then, with a commentary and revised text by M. Frankfurter (Amst.), in 1712 ; but the best edition is that by Landau (Vilna), in 1844. A Latin translation of it by Ugolino is given in his The- saurus Antiquitatum Sacrum, vol. xiv (Venice, 1752).
(4.) Commentary on Leviticus, called Siiihra, Sifra VL-Q
(N1B0), the Booh ; also Siphra D'ba Bab CtSI X-lSO 31), Siphra of the school of Rah, because i?((5 = Abba Areka, the first of the Amoraim, and founder of the celebrated school at Sora, of which he was president twenty-eight years (A.D. 219-247), is its author; and by some it is denominated Boraitha shel Torath Coha- . nim (D'^SriD n"nn ?^ Xn^in), because the book of Leviticus which it expounds is called by the Jews the Code of the Priests {WiJlD Tr^V.,Jehamoth,T2h\ Rashi, on, Levit. ix, 23). The Siphra is divided into treat- ises (n'^mni'l), which are subdvided into sections (nillJIS), and these again into chapters (D'^p"iE). The first edition of it appeared, together with the Mechilta and Sijihri, at Constantinople in 1515; then at Venice in 1545 ; and, with a very extensive commentary by Ibn Chajim, at Venice in 1G09-11; with the commentary Ha-Tora Veha-Mitzva, by M. L. IMalbim; at Bucharest in 18G0. The best edition, however, is that by Schloss- berg, with the commentary of Abraham b.-David, and the Massoreth Ha-Talmud of Weiss (Vienna, 1862). A Latin translation of it by Ugolino is given in his The- saurus A ntiquitatum Sacrum (Venice, 1752), vol. xiv.