What is the Mishnah? What is a midrash?

Answer

The Mishnah represents the oral law in Judaism, distinct from the written Torah or the Mosaic Law. It was compiled and documented around AD 200 and constitutes a component of the Talmud. A specific teaching in the Mishnah is referred to as a midrash.

Within Orthodox Judaism, there is a belief that Moses directly received the Torah (comprising Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy) from God and transcribed all the words spoken to him. Nevertheless, it is also believed that God provided Moses with interpretations and illustrations on how to interpret the Law, which Moses did not put in writing. These unrecorded interpretations are recognized in Judaism as the Oral Torah. The Oral Torah was believed to have been transmitted from Moses to Joshua and subsequently to the rabbis until the rise of Christianity, when it was eventually documented as the authoritative legal code known as halakha (“the way”). The two primary divisions of the Oral Torah are the Mishnah and the Gemara.

The Mishnah (מִשְׁנָה, “repetition”) essentially documents the discussions of the post-temple sages from AD 70–200 (referred to as the Tannaim) and is regarded as the initial significant work of “Rabbinical Judaism.” It consists of six orders (sedarim), organized thematically:

• Zeraim (“seeds”) – discussions concerning prayer, diet, and agricultural laws

• Moed (“festival”) – discussions about holidays

• Nashim (“women”) – discussions about women and family life

• Nezikin (“damages”) – discussions about damages and compensation in civil law

• Kodashim (“holy things”) – discussions regarding sacrifices, offerings, dedications, and other temple-related matters

• Tohorot (“purities”) – discussions regarding the purity of vessels, foods, dwellings, and people

Following the publication of the Mishnah, it was extensively studied by successive generations of rabbis in both Babylonia and Israel. Between AD 200–500, additional commentaries were added.

Essays on the Mishnah were compiled and put together as the Gemara. In fact, there are two different versions of the Gemara, one compiled by scholars in Israel (c. AD 400) and the other by the scholars of Babylonia (c. AD 500). Together, the Mishnah and the Gemara form the Talmud. Due to the two different Gemaras, there are two distinct Talmuds: the Babylonian Talmud and the Jerusalem (or Palestinian) Talmud. The Talmud can be viewed as rabbinical commentaries on the Hebrew Scriptures, similar to commentaries written on the Bible from a Christian perspective.

In Judaism, the Talmud holds as much significance as the Hebrew Bible. It is utilized to elucidate the laws that may not be explicit in Scripture. For instance, Deuteronomy 21:18–21 contains the law governing the punishment of a rebellious son. However, what behaviors constitute a son being “rebellious”? The Scripture only mentions gluttony and drunkenness. Are there other behaviors that could be deemed rebellious? What if only one parent perceives the son as rebellious? At what age is a son considered accountable for his rebellion? Numerous questions are not directly answered in the Law, prompting the rabbis to refer to the Oral Law. The midrash on Deuteronomy 21:18–21 stipulates that both parents must view the son as rebellious for him to be brought before the elders for judgment. The Talmud also specifies that for a son to be considered rebellious, he must be old enough to grow a beard.

Another category of writings in the Talmud is known as the Aggadah (also spelled Haggadah). Aggadah is not classified as law (halakha) but rather as literature comprising wisdom and teachings, stories, and parables. The Aggadah are occasionally used alongside halakha to convey a principle or illustrate a legal point.

For instance, one Aggadah recounts the tale of baby Moses being held by Pharaoh at a banquet. While seated in Pharaoh’s lap, baby Moses reaches up, takes Pharaoh’s crown, and places it on his own head. Pharaoh’s advisors inform him that this act signifies that Moses will.

One day, someone suggested to usurp the king’s authority and kill the baby. However, Pharaoh’s daughter, believing the baby is innocent, proposed a test. She advised her father to place the baby on the ground with both the crown and some hot coals. If baby Moses takes the crown, he is guilty; but if he takes the hot coals, he is innocent. The Aggadah continues to narrate that an angel guided Moses’ hand to the coals. Moses then burned his mouth with the coal, which explains why Moses was described as “slow of speech and tongue” as an adult «And Moses said unto the LORD, O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant: but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue. », (Exodus 4:10).

The Talmud contains numerous Aggadah that prophesy about the Messiah. One such story is about the White Ram. It is told that God created a pure White Ram in the Garden of Eden and instructed it to wait there until called upon. The White Ram patiently waited until Abraham was prepared to sacrifice his promised son, Isaac. When God intervened to stop the sacrifice of Isaac, the White Ram was provided as a substitute. This White Ram, created before the foundations of the earth, was sacrificed, symbolizing our Messiah as the Lamb of God sacrificed from the beginning of time (1 Peter 1:20;Ephesians 1:4;Revelation 13:8). The White Ram willingly gave up its life for Isaac. Additionally, the ram’s two horns were transformed into shofars (trumpets). According to Aggadic tradition, one shofar sounded when God revealed Himself to Moses «And when the voice of the trumpet sounded long, and waxed louder and louder, Moses spake, and God answered him by a voice. », (Exodus 19:19), and the other horn will sound at the coming of the Me.Ssiah «For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: », (see 1 Thessalonians 4:16).

Various sects of Judaism hold differing views on the Talmud. The Orthodox sect maintains that the Oral Law or Talmud is equally inspired as the Bible, whereas Conservative and Reform Jewish sects do not. Reform and Conservative sects believe they can interpret the Talmud as authored by rabbis but are not necessarily obligated to adhere to it. Karaite Jews do not adhere to the Talmud or rabbinic teachings at all, focusing solely on the Hebrew Bible.

While Christians can indeed study the Talmud for contextual information, it should not be regarded as inspired Scripture.