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Terms & Definitions

Talmudic Tractates

The Mishna & later rabbinic collections & commentaries on oral Torah [talmudim & tosefta] are arranged in six general "orders" [sedarim], each of which contains several named tractates [massektoth] reporting tannaitic traditions vaguely related to a central theme. The bulk of the traditions recorded in the Mishna have to do with rules o...

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Pirqe Aboth

Hebrew: "Sayings of the Fathers" The only tractate in the Mishna that is devoted entirely to transmitting non-legal opinions. Aboth catalogs the wisdom sayings of rabbinic sages, including several of the 2nd temple period, without providing any connecting narrative frame. It was probably composed before & originally published independently of ...

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Tannaim

Term used to designate rabbinic scholars of the first two centuries CE. Prior to definitive publication of the Mishna, rabbinic tradition had been transmitted primarily orally, with a heavy emphasis on memorization of precepts formulated by eminent Jewish sages of previous generations. The tanna committed to memory the opinions not only of his own ...

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Torah

The Hebrew word for "Teaching" or "Instruction." After the Babylonian exile [6th c. BC], the term was used by Jews to designate a written text containing commandments [mitzwoth] of God. By extension, Torah became the collective term for the five scrolls [Greek: Pentateuch] of Hebrew scripture that were traditionally ascribed to Moses. These scrolls...

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Rabbinic Academy

Since the Pharisees lacked a central authority, prior to the destruction of the temple there was no fixed form or content to the oral instruction communicated by each rabbi. Yet, during the early 1st c. CE, two schools of interpretation became influential among Judean Pharisees: the school of Shammai & the school of Hillel. After the destructio...

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Tractates

The Mishna & later rabbinic collections & commentaries on oral Torah [talmudim & tosefta] are arranged in six general "orders" [sedarim], each of which contains several named tractates [massektoth] reporting tannaitic traditions vaguely related to a central theme. The bulk of the traditions recorded in the Mishna have to do with rules o...

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Midrash

Hebrew term for "Interpretation" or "Exposition." The word generally used for any written or oral commentary on a biblical text. The original purpose of midrash was to resolve problems in the Hebrew text of the Bible. As early as the 1st c. CE rabbinic principles of hermeneutics & philology were used to bring the interpretation of difficult pas...

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Josephus

The historian known to posterity by the Latinized name Josephus was a member of Jerusalem's priestly aristocracy who, at age 30, was taken hostage in the great Jewish revolt against Rome [66-70 CE] & spent the rest of his life in Roman circles as a protégé of three emperors [Vespasian, Titus & Domitian]. His constant need to explain his r...

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List of Abbreviations

Used in Reference to Rabbinic Writings by Alfred Edersheim. The Mishnah is always quoted according to Tractate, Chapter (Pereq) and Paragraph (Mishnah), the Chapter being marked in Roman, the paragraph in ordinary Numerals. Thus Ber. ii. 4 means the Mishnic Tractate Berakhoth, second Chapter, fourth Paragraph. The Jerusalem Talmud is distinguished...

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Mishna

The Hebrew term meaning "Repetition." The oral Torah of the Pharisees was not recorded in a set written form before the 2nd c. CE. Instead this body of tradition was preserved primarily through recitation & memorization. Standardization of the form & content of rabbinic tradition became necessary after the destruction of the temple in Jerus...

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