2. Halakah {I'lZ'^fi), the usages and customs of Juda- ism, as sanctioned and confirmed by time and general ac- quiescence.
3. Dibrey Chakamlm {W^TZ^n '^111), law principles of the wise men or sages, i. e. the ancient, and at that time tlie more recent, teachers, to whose decisions the people's respect for them gave a greater or less weight.
4. Maassiyoth (m^U:3."^\ practical fiicts, conclusions ar- rived at by the course of events.
5. Geziroth (niT^Ta), extemporaneous decisions de- manded by emergencies.
6. Tekaiii'th (mipD), modifications of usages to meet existing circumstances; and
7. Kclallvi (D^bbD), universal principles, nnder which a multitude of particular cases may be provided for.
According to Maimonides, there were five classes into which the traditional law is divided, viz. :
1. Piritshiin (O'l^aiT'i: ), "interpretatiims" given to Moses by God, the authority of which has never been
disputed (D"'2s uvci snn rpibn^ -px).
2. Halakah le-Musheh mis-Sinay C'^^'O'Q iTUIsb lizbn), "precepts delivered to Moses on Mount Sinai," a distinc- tion which gained the applause of all the classical rabbins, because it belongs to the class of undisputed decisions.
3. Those which have admitted of discussion, and the value and weight of which have been mainly determined by an extensive consent anionj; the authorities.
4. Gezaroth (m"lTa), "decisions" which have been made by the wise men re^ardins some of the written laws, and which decisions are designed to insure more fully the ob- servance of such laws (or to make a fence about the law,
5. Tekanbth (niJpri), "experimental suggestions," re- ferring to things recommended or enjoined by particular masters, which though they may not possess the stringent force of laws, nevertheless exert a great influence in the formation of social and religious habits and usages.
In constructing his work, Jehudah, or Judah, arranged these manifold materials under six general classes, called Sedarim (D^"l10), or orders. The first is called Zeraim (D*'""1T), or " seeds," and treats of agricultural laws ; the second, Moed {^V^^0), or "festivals," or "solemnity," treats of the Sabbath and the annual festivals and holy- days, the duties of their observance, and the various en- actments and prohibitions thereunto pertaining; the third, Nashim (D''^3),or "women," treats of the inter- course between the sexes, of husband and wife, the duties of a brother-in-law towards his widowed and childless sister-in-law, the right of untying the shoe (Dent. XXV, 5), of dowry and marriage settlements, of espousals, divorces, and of all the laws to these sidyects respectively appertaining; the huxt\\, Nezikin ("pp^TJ;,
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or " injuries," treats of the laws of property (movable as well as immovable) and of commerce; the tifth, Koda- sh'uii (D'^'JTp), or "consecrations," treats of sacritices and their laws; the sixth, Tuhardlh [or rather Toho- i-6t}i\ (m~ini3), or " purifications," treats of the laws of pureness, legal cleanness, and that both positively and negatively. The initial letters of these titles combined, for the sake of memory, give the technical word Ztmdn neket (MpJ ""^T), "a time accepted."
The regulations thus generally classified are further arranged uniier a multitude of subsidiary topics, each Seder, or order, being divided into a number of tracts or treatises, called Massiktolh (mrzD"2), and these were again subdivided into Perakim (D^pIS), chapters. The latter again are divided or broken up into para- graphs. Altogether there are 63 Massiktoth, with 525 chapters and 4:187 paragraphs, in the Mishna. The whole is called Shas (O'J), after the initials of iTil'';^ n"'"nD, i. e. the six orders. Since a general analysis of the contents of the Mishna has already been given under the art. IMishn'a (q. v.), we must refer the reader to it, while a more minute analysis will be given farther on.
K. Judah's Mishna, however, did not contain all j\Iid- •rashim. Main- others existed, which are contained in part in the Siphra on Leviticus, Siphre on Numbers and Deuteronomy, Mechilta on Exodus ( see the art. Midrash), the Mishnas made by individual teachers for the use of their pupils, w^ith the addition to the offi- cial Mishna collected by R. Chiya and his contempora- ries. All the Halakoth of this sort, which were ex- tra-Mishnaic, were called Boraithas (riin'i''"l3 ; Heb. mJliSin) or Tosiphtas (ninSDin). As has been stated, R. Judah the Holy collected the great mass of traditions in the work called ]Mishna; but even this copious work could not satisfy, for the length of time, the zeal of the rabbins for the law, for all casuistry is endless in its details. There were a great multitude of all kinds of possibilities which were treated in the Mishna, and yet, again, each single sentence left open divers pos- sibilities, divers doubts, and considerations not yet fin- ished. Thus it was an inner necessity of the matter that the text of the Mishna should again become the point of learned discussion. Partly by means of logic (that is, Rabbinical), partly with the help of the traditional mat- ter, which had not yet been included in the Mishna, all open questions were now discussed. This task was car- ried out by the Amoraim, or Gemarical doctors, whose very singular illustrations, opinions, and doctrines were subsecpiently to form the Gemaras, i. e. the Palestinian and Babylonian: a body of men charged with being the most learned and elaborate triflers that ever brought discredit upon the republic of letters —
"For mystic learning, wondmns able In magic, talisman, and cabal — Deep-sighted in intelligences, Ideas, atoms, influences."