Читать книгу Judaism I - Группа авторов - Страница 29

Professor Emeritus at the University of Vienna, Günter Stemberger writes that the first generations of the rabbis, from 70 CE to the early third century, are called tannaim (plural), derived from Aramaic tanna, ›to repeat, learn.‹ Traditionally, these masters begin with Hillel and Shammai in the first century CE, and their ›houses‹ or schools. They were followed by masters of Yavneh after 70 CE: Yoḥanan ben Zakkai, Rabban Gamaliel, Rabbis Yishmael and Aqiva. The Tannaim continued through the rabbis of Usha, after the Bar Kokhbah-revolt (132–135): Simeon ben Gamaliel, and R. Meir, culminating with Yehudah ha-Nasi, called Rabbi (ca. 200 CE).

Rabbi edited the Mishnah, the most important literary product of the rabbis. It consists of six ›orders‹ (seder, plural: sedarim), each divided into tractates. The work used pre-existing sources and traditions and was ›published‹ in oral form. Some of mishnaic halakhah is from the Bible, but the relationship of the Mishnah to Scripture does not imply a direct line of development from biblical times. Many tractates of the Mishnah depict rituals of the Temple. R. Yehudah and his co-workers reformulated the traditions they received. Repetitions and contradictions within the book and the inclusion of opinions with which Rabbi does not agree, led scholars to consider the Mishnah as a collection or a teaching manual.

The Tosefta (Aramaic) means ›supplement.‹ It denotes additional teachings supplementing the Mishnah, having the same six orders and tractates. The Tannaitic halakhic midrashim are on Exodus through Deuteronomy, interpreting their biblical texts verse by verse and often word by word. Their main interest is halakhah, which they derive from Scripture instead of independently, as do the Mishnah and Tosefta. They do not bypass the narrative parts of biblical sections and therefore are also haggadic.

Baraita de-melekhet ha-mishkan, a work in Mishnaic Hebrew quoting Tannaitic masters, describes in the construction of the tabernacle, the dimensions and history of the ark, the placement of the tablets and Torah scrolls, the showbread table, and other items of the sanctuary. The last work to be considered is Seder ʿOlam, a midrash whose main interest is chronographic.