The Tosefta (Aramaic Aramaic is a Semitic language belonging to the Afroasiatic language family. Within this family, Aramaic belongs to the Semitic subfamily, and more specifically, is a part of the Northwest Semitic group of languages, which also includes Canaanite languages such as Hebrew and Phoenician. Aramaic script was widely adopted for other languages and is: תוספתא. Additions, Supplements) is a compilation of the Jewish oral law from the period of the Mishnah The Mishnah or Mishna (Hebrew: משנה, "repetition", from the verb shanah שנה, or "to study and review", also "secondary") is the first major written redaction of the Jewish oral traditions called the "Oral Torah" and the first major work of Rabbinic Judaism. It was redacted c. 220 CE by Judah haNasi.
Contents |
Overview
In many ways, the Tosefta acts as a supplement to the Mishnah (tosefta means "supplement or addition"). The Mishnah The Mishnah or Mishna (Hebrew: משנה, "repetition", from the verb shanah שנה, or "to study and review", also "secondary") is the first major written redaction of the Jewish oral traditions called the "Oral Torah" and the first major work of Rabbinic Judaism. It was redacted c. 220 CE by Judah haNasi is the basic compilation of the Oral law of Judaism Judaism is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people. Judaism, originating in the Hebrew Bible and explored in later texts such as the Talmud, is considered by Jews to be the expression of the covenantal relationship God developed with the Children of Israel. According to traditional Rabbinic Judaism, God revealed; it was compiled around 220 CE. The Tosefta closely corresponds to the Mishnah, with the same divisions for sedarim ("orders") and masekhot ("tractates"). It is mainly written in Mishnaic Hebrew The term Mishnaic Hebrew refers to the Hebrew dialects found in the Talmud, excepting quotations from the Hebrew Bible. The dialects can be further sub-divided into Mishnaic Hebrew , which was a spoken language, and Amoraic Hebrew (also called Late Rabbinic Hebrew or Mishnaic Hebrew II), which was a literary language, with some Aramaic Aramaic is a Semitic language belonging to the Afroasiatic language family. Within this family, Aramaic belongs to the Semitic subfamily, and more specifically, is a part of the Northwest Semitic group of languages, which also includes Canaanite languages such as Hebrew and Phoenician. Aramaic script was widely adopted for other languages and is.
At times the text of the Tosefta agrees nearly verbatim with the Mishnah. At others there are significant differences. The Tosefta attributes laws that are anonymous in the Mishnah to named Tannaim The Tannaim were the Rabbinic sages whose views are recorded in the Mishnah, from approximately 70-200 CE. The period of the Tannaim, also referred to as the Mishnaic period, lasted about 130 years. It came after the period of the Zugot ("pairs"), and was immediately followed by the period of the Amoraim. It also augments the Mishnah with additional glosses and discussions. It offers additional aggadic Aggadah (Aramaic אגדה: tales, lore; pl. Aggadot or Aggados) refers to the homiletic and non-legalistic exegetical texts in the classical rabbinic literature of Judaism, particularly as recorded in the Talmud and Midrash. In general, Aggadah is a compendium of rabbinic homilies that incorporates folklore, historical anecdotes, moral and midrashic Midrash is a homiletic method of biblical exegesis. The term also refers to the whole compilation of homiletic teachings on the Bible material, and it sometimes contradicts the Mishnah in the ruling of Halakha (Jewish law), or in declaring in whose name a law was given.
Origins
According to rabbinic tradition, the Tosefta was redacted by Rabbis Ḥiya and Oshaiah (a student of Ḥiya). [1] Whereas the Mishna was considered authoritative, the Tosefta was supplementary. The Talmud often utilizes the traditions found in the Tosefta to examine the text of the Mishnah.
The traditional view is that the Tosefta should be dated to a period concurrent with or shortly after the redaction of the Mishnah The Mishnah or Mishna (Hebrew: משנה, "repetition", from the verb shanah שנה, or "to study and review", also "secondary") is the first major written redaction of the Jewish oral traditions called the "Oral Torah" and the first major work of Rabbinic Judaism. It was redacted c. 220 CE by Judah haNasi. This view pre-supposes that the Tosefta was produced in order to record variant material not included in the Mishnah.
Modern scholarship can be roughly divided into two camps. Some, such as Jacob N. Epstein theorize that the Tosefta as we have it developed from a proto-Tosefta recension which formed much of the basis for later Amoraic debate. Others, such as Hanokh Albeck, theorize that the Tosefta is a later compendium of several baraitot collections which were in use during the Amoraic period.
More recent scholarship, such as that of Yaakov Elman, concludes that since the Tosefta, as we know it, must be dated linguistically as an example of Middle Hebrew 1 The term Mishnaic Hebrew refers to the Hebrew dialects found in the Talmud, excepting quotations from the Hebrew Bible. The dialects can be further sub-divided into Mishnaic Hebrew , which was a spoken language, and Amoraic Hebrew (also called Late Rabbinic Hebrew or Mishnaic Hebrew II), which was a literary language, it was most likely compiled in early Amoraic times from oral transmission of baraitot.[2], Professor Shamma Friedman, has found that the Tosefta draws on relatively early Tannaitic source material and that parts of the Tosefta predate the Mishnah.[3]
Alberdina Houtman and colleagues theorize that while the Mishnah The Mishnah or Mishna (Hebrew: משנה, "repetition", from the verb shanah שנה, or "to study and review", also "secondary") is the first major written redaction of the Jewish oral traditions called the "Oral Torah" and the first major work of Rabbinic Judaism. It was redacted c. 220 CE by Judah haNasi was compiled in order to establish an authoritative text on halakhic tradition, a more conservative party opposed the exclusion of the rest of tradition and produced the Tosefta to avoid the impression that the written Mishnah was equivalent to the entire oral Torah. The original intention was that the two texts would be viewed on equal standing, but the succinctness of the Mishnah and the power and influence of Yehuda Ha-Nassi made it more popular among most students of tradition.[4]
Ultimately, the state of the source material is such to allow divergent opinions to exist. These opinions serve to show the difficulties in establishing a clear picture of the origins of the Tosefta.
Manuscripts / Editions / Commentaries
Manuscripts
Three manuscripts exist of the Tosefta, they are:
- 'Vienna' (late 13th C.; Oesterreichische Nationalbibliothek Cod hebr. 20),
- 'Erfurt' (~ 14th C.; Berlin - Staatsbibliothek (Preussischer Kulturbesitz) Or. fol. 1220), and,
- 'London' (15th C.; London - British Library Add. 27296).
The Editio Princeps was printed in Venice in 1521 as an addendum to Isaac Alfasi Isaac ben Jacob Alfasi ha-Cohen (Hebrew: ר יצחק אלפסי) - also known as the Alfasi or by his Hebrew acronym Rif (Rabbi Isaac al-Fasi), was a Talmudist and posek (decisor in matters of halakha - Jewish law). He is best known for his work of halakha, the legal code Sefer Ha-halachot, considered the first fundamental work in halakhic's Halakhot.
Many Geniza The Cairo Geniza is an accumulation of almost 280,000 Jewish manuscript fragments that were found in the genizah or store room of the Ben Ezra Synagogue in Fustat, presently Old Cairo, Egypt, the Basatin cemetery east of Old Cairo, and a number of old documents that were bought in Cairo in the later 19th century. It is dispersed among a number of fragments have been published online by Bar Ilan University Bar-Ilan University (Hebrew: אוניברסיטת בר-אילן Universitat Bar-Ilan) is a university in Ramat Gan, Israel. Established in 1955, Bar Ilan is now Israel's second largest academic institution. It has nearly 26,800 students (including 9,000 students in its affiliated regional colleges) and 1,350 faculty members. Bar-Ilan University. [5]
Editions
Two critical editions have been published. The first was that of Moses Samuel Zuckermandl in 1882. Which relied heavily on the Erfurt manuscript of the Tosefta. Zuckermandl's work has been characterized as a "a great step forward" for its time.[6]
In 1955 Saul Lieberman began publishing his monumental Tosefta ki-Feshutah. Between 1955 and 1973, ten volumes of the new edition were published, representing the text and the commentaries on the entire orders of Zera'im, Mo'ed and Nashim. In 1988, three volumes were published posthumously on the order of Nezikin, including tractates Bava Kama, Bava Metziah, and Bava Basrah. Lieberman's work has been called the "pinnacle of modern Tosefta studies."[7]
Commentaries
Major commentaries on the Tosefta include those by:
David Pardo: Chasdei David; Originally published in Livorno (1776), and printed in editions of the Vilna Shas.
Yehezkel Abramsky: Hazon Yehezkel (24 volumes, 1925-1975 in Hebrew Extinct as a regularly spoken language by the 4th century CE, but survived as a liturgical and literary language; revived in the 1880s).
Saul Lieberman: Tosefet Rishonim, Jerusalem 1937.
Translations
The Tosefta has been translated into English by Rabbi Jacob Neusner Jacob Neusner is an American academic scholar of Judaism who lives in Rhinebeck, New York and his students. They have also produced a commentary on Seder Zeraim.
Eli Gurevich's English translation and detailed commentary on the Tosefta is in the progress of being written.[8]
Notes
- ^ Rashi Shlomo Yitzhaki , better known by the acronym Rashi (RAbbi SHlomo Itzhaki), was a medieval French rabbi famed as the author of the first comprehensive commentary on the Talmud, as well as a comprehensive commentary on the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible). He is considered the "father" of all commentaries that followed on the Talmud (i.e., the in his commentary on Talmud The Talmud is a central text of mainstream Judaism, in the form of a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, philosophy, customs and history Sanhedrin The Sanhedrin was an assembly of twenty-three judges appointed in every city in the Biblical Land of Israel 33a, s.v. v'afilu ta'ah b'rebbi Hiyya.
- ^ Yaakov Elman, Authority & Tradition, Yeshiva Univ. Press, 1994; "Babylonian Baraitot in Tosefta and the `Dialectology' of Middle Hebrew," Association for Jewish Studies Review 16 (1991), 1-29.
- ^ S.Y. Friedman, Le-Hithavvut Shinnuye ha-Girsaot be'Talmud ha-Bavli, Sidra 7, 1991.
- ^ Alberdina Houtman, Mishnah and Tosefta: A Synoptic Comparison of the Tractates Berakhot, Mohr Siebeck, 1996
- ^ Available at: http://www.biu.ac.il/js/tannaim/
- ^ Stephen G. Wald, Tosefta in the Encyclopaedia Judaica. Ed. Michael Berenbaum and Fred Skolnik. Vol. 20. 2nd ed. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA, 2007. p70-72
- ^ Stephen G. Wald, Tosefta in the Encyclopaedia Judaica. Ibid.
- ^ It can be downloaded for free from his website http://www.toseftaonline.org/.
See also
- Oral law
- Mishnah The Mishnah or Mishna (Hebrew: משנה, "repetition", from the verb shanah שנה, or "to study and review", also "secondary") is the first major written redaction of the Jewish oral traditions called the "Oral Torah" and the first major work of Rabbinic Judaism. It was redacted c. 220 CE by Judah haNasi
- Baraita Baraita (Aramaic ברייתא: "external", "outside"; pl. Baraitot . Also Baraitha, Beraita, Ashkenazi Beraisa) designates a tradition in the Jewish oral law not incorporated in the Mishnah. "Baraita" thus refers to teachings "outside" of the six orders of the Mishnah. Originally, "Baraita"
- Talmud The Talmud is a central text of mainstream Judaism, in the form of a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, philosophy, customs and history
- Gemara The Gemara (from Aramaic גמרא gamar; literally, "[to] study" or "learning by tradition") is the part of the Talmud that contains rabbinical commentaries and analysis of the Mishnah. After the Mishnah was published by Rabbi Judah the Prince (c. 200 CE), the work was studied exhaustively by generation after generation of
- Rabbinic literature Rabbinic literature, in its broadest sense, can mean the entire spectrum of rabbinic writings throughout Jewish history. But the term often refers specifically to literature from the Talmudic era, as opposed to medieval and modern rabbinic writing, and thus corresponds with the Hebrew term Sifrut Hazal . This more specific sense of "Rabbinic
- Halakha Halakha — also transliterated Halocho (Ashkenazic Hebrew pronunciation) and Halacha — is the collective body of Jewish religious law, including biblical law (the 613 mitzvot) and later talmudic and rabbinic law, as well as customs and traditions
External links
- Tosephta in the Catholic Encyclopedia The Catholic Encyclopedia, also referred to today as the Old Catholic Encyclopedia and the Original Catholic Encyclopedia on the Catholic Answers web site, is an English-language encyclopedia published in the United States. The first volume appeared in March 1907 and it was completed in April 1914. It was designed "to give its readers full
- ToseftaOnline.org - A new free English translation, commentary and edited Hebrew text of the Tosefta, as well as MP3 shiurim (lectures) and various commentaries available for free download
- Full text at Mechon-Mamre
- Treasury of Talmudic Manuscripts, Jewish National and University Library
|