MISHNA
335
MISimA
until midnight, the command reaches to dawn, etc.; and whv have they said till midnight? in order to keep man from transgression."
The style of the jNIishna is, with very few exceptions, dry and crowded, with not a word to spare ; and the book is written for men who already know the great principles of wliich they only seek the details. Histor- ical or legendary notices are rare ; and the few dogmatic passages— for instance, the chapter about a future life- run in the same style as if they were given for the guid- ance of an ordinary court of justice; the chapter. Who has no share in the world to come? follows naturally upon the chapters. Who are to be hanged ? W^ho are to be stoned ? A few instances will be given below.
The language of the Mishna is in the main not Ara- maic, but Hebrew ; stripped, however, of all that is idio- matic about Hebrew, such as the use of the conversive vav, and filled with many Aramaic forms, such as the masculine plurals in ","1 for the truly Hebrew D"^. That the people of Palestine generally spoke pure Aramaic as early as the days of Christ, and even long before, is well enough known from other sources ; but the Mishna attests it by quoting terse sayings in that language, e. g. C^S3 J<"i;iX N"i":^ — "like the toil is the reward." A very large number of Greek words are also found : thus G"'3::DN (cicrSti'/yf) is always put for "sickly;" W^'jdb (Xijarai) for " robbers." Latin words also occur, but not so frequently, and generally in a somewhat corrupt form, while the Greek words are rendered about as exactly as the Hebrew alphabet will allow. (Comp. Bondi, "liX "iPpX, Beleuchtung der in Talmud, v. Babylon u. Jeru- salem, in d. Targumim u. 2Iidraschim vorTcommenden fremden, hesonders lateinischen Worter [Dessau, 1812, 8vo] ; Hartmann, Supplementa [Rost. 1813, 4to] ; espe- ciallv his Thesaurus linguce Hehraicm e Mishna augendm [o pts. 18-25-26, 4to]).
We proceed to give an analysis of the Mishna, keep- ing strictly to it, and leaving out of view anything that may be taught by the Tannain, but which is regarded as KPi'^^a, Baraijtha, i. e. "outside," although known to be sayings of these teachers, because they are not col- lected in the Mishna, and simply occur either in quota- tions in the Talmud or elsewhere.
The Mishna is divided into six parts (D'^'IIO, Seda- 7-i»i, arrangements), which contain 62 treatises (ni:&'D, Massakotli), and 514 chapters (Zij?'n3, Peruldni). The latter, again, are divided into numbered sections, each of which is called a Mishna. The great parts and the treatises are named after their contents, the chapters after their opening words. (The figures set after each treatise show its number of chapters.)
i. The first part — 3"^:^ 'IT, Zerd'im, seeds — contains elev- en treatises. The first of these — m:"i3, Berakoth, ben- edictions (9) — treats of the reading of the Shema (see above), daily prayers, and grace before and after meals, the purgations to be made as a preparation for prayer, and like subjects. The ten other treatises refer to the laws of the field and of its produce : ilN3, Peak, corner (8), treats of the field corners, gleanings, etc., to be left to the poor ; '^N'^'l, Demai, doubtful (7), of corn or fruits coming from the indifferent, who might have failed to tithe it; CiX^S, Kilii//im, mixtures (9), of the prohibited mingling of fruit and grain crops on the same field or vineyard, and incidentally of the forbidden mixture of wool and flax in garments (Lev. xix, 19) ; ni"i3d, SkebVith, seventh (10), of the Sabbatic year; ni^np, Terumoth, tributes (11), of the tributes from the crop', which were due to the Aaronitic priests, including the tithe of tithe due them from the Levites; mi^S'Tg, Ma\iseroth, tithes (5), of the tithes due to the Levites; "^id "it3".p, Ma'aser Sheni, second tithe (5), of the tithe which was
eaten or otherwise spent in the joy of the yearly feasts, hut which in the third year was given to the poor; fliitl, Challah, dough (4), refers to the tribute from the baking-trough, which was given to the priests; '^^"'^", 'Orlah, literally foreskin (3), of the forbidden fruits of the trees in Palestine during the first three years of their growth (Lev. xix, 23) ; Si"i!l33, Bikkurim, first- fruits (4), treats in its first three chapters of the first- fruits which were to be brought to the tabernacle and given to the priests (Deut. xxvi, 5), while the fourth chapter is only added to it to bring it to the close of one of the six great parts, and is called ' kvSpoyvvoc, undro- gynos, spelled in Hebrew OlS'^STmSN, the man-woman, and contains a few laws as to persons of doubtful sex.
ii. The next great division, 13;i'3, Mo'ed, season, con- tains twelve treatises. The first, T-lt'iJ, Sabbath (24), treats of the duties of that day ; remarkable for the enumeration of thirty-nine different kinds of work, by each of ^vhich, separately, the guilt of Sabbath-breaking may be incurred. Of each kind a type is given, to which many other actions may be compared as falling within the same reason. A very great proportion of the treatise is taken up with the laws of mere " Sabba- thismus" (see above). The next treatise, "p3*l"i>, 'Eru- bin, mingling (10), deals with those ceremonies by which the Sabbath boundary was extended, " mingling" a whole town into one fictitious yard, so that carrying within it should not be unlawful ; or how the Sab- bath boundary of a town, within which one might walk on the Sabbath-day, can be extended. Then comes DTIOQ, Fesachim (10), which relates to the Passover, and all things connected with its celebration; n^P|^D, Shekalim, shekel -pieces (8), about various tributes, going to the Temple, and various rites in it, at differ- ent seasons of the year; i*^!"^, Yonia, the day (8), on the service of the day of Atonement; SlS^O, Sukka/i, hut (5), about the hut and festival bunch of the Feast of Tabernacles, and the rules about reading the Psalms of Praise (cxiii-cxviii) on that and other feasts; Ti^'^^.Bet- sah, egg (5), so called from its first word. An egg laid on a feast-day, the school of Shammai says, ma\' be eaten ; the school of Hillel says, may not be eaten (i. e. on the same day) — this being one of the very few cases in which the latter school is stricter than the other. It is not pretended that "guilt" under the law is incurred by eating fresh-laid eggs on holidays. The treatise deals mostly with what may or may not be done on the great holidays in the preparation of food, actions which on the Sabbath would be clearly unlawful. Next, dxi tlDli-'il, Eosh ITash-shanah, New-year (4), gives the laws of the feast which goes by that name among the later Jews, but which in the Bible (Lev. xxiii, 24) is called the first of the seventh month ; it also teaches \\o\s to fix the days of new moon. The treatise n'i3"Pl, Ta'an- ith, fast (4), refers principally to the praj'ers for rain, and to the fasts, private anil public, that were kept in years of drouth ; flijp, Megillah, the scroll (4), refers to the feast of Purim, the reading of (the scroll of) the Book of Esther, then of the reading of the Pentateuch and Prophet lessons, and denounces as heretical certain variations in the liturgy and certain sf)iritual modes of construing passages of the law ; for instance, " He who takes the law of incest figuratively should be silenced;" that is, he who extends it to the disgracing his father or mother. This passage is evidently directed against the earh' Christians, and their modes of teaching. The treatise "pp l^lb, Mo'ed Katan, small holiday (3), treats mainly of the mourning rites; these being forbid- den on all feasts, even on the half-holidays between the first and last day of Passover and of the Feast of Huts ; while the last treatise, !i;"i5ri, Chagigah, feasting (3), speaks of the voluntarj"- sacrifice — other than the Pas-