1. The Rabbis and their Literature
Part I – Historical Background

2. King David BCE
1 Samuel 16:12

3. Destruction of Temple I 586 BCE by Nebuchadnezzar

4. Cyrus the Great conquers the Babylonians and permits the Jews to return to Israel and rebuilt the Temple
539BCE

5. Building of Temple II 516 BCE under Zerubabel

6. Purim Story – under Persians

7. Alexander the Great

8. Hanukah Story – 164 BCE

9. Destruction of Temple II – 70 CE

10. Arch of Titus

11. Rabbis Reconvene at Yavneh after 70 CE

12. Bar Kokhba Revolt - 132 CE Front: Trumpets. "לחרות ירושלים"
Other coins include Eleazar the priest, a second Messianic figure. Perhaps R. Eleazar Hamoda’i.
Front: Trumpets. "לחרות ירושלים"
Back: Lyre. "ש[נה] ב לחר[ות] ישראל"

13. Texts and Time Periods 1000BCE King David
586 BCE Destruction of Temple I
539 BCE Cyrus the Great – Persian rule
516 BCE Second Temple Built
332 BCE Alexander the Great – Greek rule
164 BCE Maccabean Revolt
150BCE-70CE Pharisees
70 CE Second Temple Destroyed
132 CE Bar Kokhba Revolt
CE Tannaitic Period
220 CE Mishnah & Tannaitic Midrash Compiled
CE Amoraic Period
400 CE Yerushalmi & Amoraic Midrash Compiled
CE Savoraim in Babylonia
600 CE Bavli Completed

14. Rabbinic Texts Tannaitic Mishnah Midrashim Tosefta 200CE Talmud
Yerushalmi
400CE
Amoraic
Midrashim
Talmud
Bavli
600CE
See

15. Generations of Tannaim1
40-80CE
Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai's generation 2
80-110
Rabban Gamliel of Yavneh, Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Yehoshua's generation, the teachers of Rabbi Akiva. 3
The generation of Rabbi Akiva and his colleagues, R. Ishmael. 4
The generation of Rabbi Meir, Rabbi Yehuda and their colleagues. Live in Usha. 5
Rabbi Judah haNasi's generation

16. Tannaitic Midrash רבי עקיבא רבי ישמעאל ------ בראשית
מכילתא דרבי שמעון בר יוחאי
מכילתא דרבי ישמעאל
שמות
ספרא
(רק קטעים)
ויקרא
ספרי זוטא
ספרי
במדבר
מדרש תנאים
דברים

17. Why is it called the “Mishnah”?
The Hebrew root "ShNH" means "to repeat," (ושננתם לבניך) and refers to memorization by repetition. "Mishnah" therefore has the sense of "that which is memorized by rote," as distinct from the Rabbinic designation for the Bible: "Miqra,"that which is read and recited from a written text.
The Jewish sages whose statements are quoted in the Mishnah are known as Tanna'im (singular: "Tanna"), derived from the Aramaic root related to the Hebrew "ShNH". The era in which the Mishnah was developed is therefore referred to as the "Tanna'itic" era.

18. “Our” Mishnah
On the Talmud page, the passages from the Mishnah (for which the Talmud serves as a commentary) are introduced with the abbreviation "MTNY'," short for the Aramaic “Matnitin," "our mishnah." It is customary for the Babylonian Talmud to refer to "our Mishnah" (or: We learned), to distinguish it from other, "external," mishnahs, referred to in Aramaic as "baraita.“ Some of the bataitot are collected in the Tosefta.

19. Contents of the Mishnah
First Order: Zeraim ("Seeds"). 11 tractates. It deals with agricultural laws and prayers.
Second Order: Moed ("Festival"). 12 tractates. This pertains to the laws of the Sabbath and the Festivals.
Third Order: Nashim ("Women"). 7 tractates. Concerns marriage and divorce.
Fourth Order: Nezikin ("Damages"). 10 tractates. Deals with civil and criminal law.
Fifth Order: Kodshim ("Holy things"). 11 tractates. This involves sacrificial rites, the Temple, and the dietary laws.
Sixth order: Tohorot ("Purities"). 12 tractates. This pertains to the laws of purity and impurity, including the impurity of the dead, the laws of ritual purity for the priests (cohanim), the laws of "family purity" (the menstrual laws) and others.

20. Order of Masechtot within a Seder
Rambam tries to explain order of tractates in the Mishnah based on either chronological or logical progression.

21. SEDER MOED Shabbat Eruvin Pesachim Shekalim Yoma Sukkah Beitzah
Rosh Hashanah
Ta'anint
Megillah
Moed Katan
Hagigah

22. SEDER MOED Shabbat 24 Eruvin 10 Pesachim 10 Shekalim 8 Yoma 8 Sukkah 5
Beitzah 5
Rosh Hashanah 4
Ta'anint 4
Megillah 4
Moed Katan 3
Hagigah 3

23. SEDER NASHIM Yevamot 16 Ketubot 13 Nedarim 11 Nazir 9 Sotah 9 Gittin 9
Kiddushin 4

24. SEDER NEZIKIN Bava Kamma 10 Bava Metzia 10 Bava Batra 10 Sanhedrin 11
Makkot 3
Shevuot 8
Edutoyot 8
Avodah Zarah 5
Avot 5 (6)
Horayot 3

25. SEDER KODASHIM Zevahim 14 Menahot 13 Hullin 12 Bekhorot 9 Arakhin 9
Terumah 7
Keritot 6
Me'ilah 6
Tamid 6
Middot 5
Kinnim 3

26. SEDER TOHOROT Keilim 30 Oholot 18 Negaim 14 Parah 12 Tohorot 10
Mikvaot 10
Niddah 10
Makshirin 6
Zavim 5
Tevul Yom 4
Yadaim 4
Uktzin 3

27. SEDER ZERAIM Berakhot 9 Peah 8 Demai 7 Kilaim 9 Sheviit 10 Terumot 11
Ma'asrot 5
Ma'aser Sheini 5
Hallah 4
Orlah 3
Bikkurim 4
See Elman in Anthology quoting Geiger

29. The most reliable
complete manuscript
of the Mishnah.

30. Save one life… משנה מסכת סנהדרין פרק ד משנה ה
לפיכך נברא אדם יחידי ללמדך
שכל המאבד נפש אחד מישראל מעלה עליו הכתוב כאילו איבד עולם מלא
וכל המקיים נפש אחת מישראל מעלה עליו הכתוב כאילו קיים עולם מלא
ומפני שלום הבריות שלא יאמר אדם לחבירו אבא גדול מאביך

31. Mishnah Sanhedrin 4:5 – Ms. Kaufman

32. Purpose of Mishnah Book of Textbook of Practical Halakha
Oral Tradition
Quotes the opinion of
a single Rabbi in the
Tosefta as “the Sages”
in order to say that
he represent the Halakha.
There are still multiple
opinion and contradictions
within the Mishnah.
Also, Mishnah includes
impractical temple and
purity laws.

33. Why Include Controversy?
Eduyot ch. 1, Mishnah 5. And why do they record the opinion of a single person among the many, when the Halachah must be according to the opinion of the many? So that if a court prefers the opinion of the single person it may depend on him. For no court may set aside the decision of another court unless it is greater than it in wisdom and in number. If it was greater than it in wisdom but not in number, in number but not in wisdom, it may not set aside its decision, unless it is greater than it in wisdom and in number.
Mishnah 6. R. Judah said: if so, why do they record the opinion of a single person among the many to set it aside? So that if a man shall say, thus have I learnt the tradition,’ it may be said to him, ‘according to the [refuted] opinion of that individual did you hear it.

34. Amoraim Eres Yisrael Bavel 1 220-260 Yehoshua ben Levi Rav (Sura)
Shmuel (Nehardea) 2
R. Yohanan
Rav Yehuda
Rav Huna 3
R. Zeira
Rabbah
Rav Nahman 4
R. Yirmiah
Abaye and Rava 5
R. Yehuda Hanasi IV
Rav Papa
Rav Ashi

35. Texts and Time Periods 1000BCE King David
586 BCE Destruction of Temple I
539 BCE Cyrus the Great – Persian rule
516 BCE Second Temple Built
332 BCE Alexander the Great – Greek rule
164 BCE Maccabean Revolt
150BCE-70CE Pharisees
70 CE Second Temple Destroyed
132 CE Bar Kokhba Revolt
CE Tannaitic Period
220 CE Mishnah & Tannaitic Midrash Compiled
CE Amoraic Period
400 CE Yerushalmi & Amoraic Midrash Compiled
CE Savoraim in Babylonia
600 CE Bavli Completed

36. The Rabbis and their Literature
Part II – Methodology

37. Charles James Ball
We have to bear in mind a fact familiar enough to students of the Talmudic and Midrashic literature, though apparently unknown to many expositors of Scripture, whose minds conspicuously lack that orientation which is an indispensable preliminary to a right understanding of the treasures of Eastern thought;
I mean, the inveterate tendency of Jewish teachers to convey their doctrine not in the form of abstract discourse, but in a mode appealing directly to the imagination, and seeking to rouse the interest and sympathy of the man rather than the philosopher.

38. The Rabbi embodies his lesson in a story, whether parable or allegory or seeming historical narrative; and the last thing he or his disciples would think of is to ask whether the selected persons, events, and circumstances which so vividly suggest the doctrine are in themselves real or fictitious. The doctrine is everything; the mode of presentation has no independent value. To make the story the first consideration, and the doctrine it was intended to convey an afterthought, as we, with our dry Western literalness, are predisposed to do, is to reverse the Jewish order of thinking, and to do unconscious injustice to the authors of many edifying narratives of antiquity.