Hebrew Literature. Various

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СКАЧАТЬ of Rabbi Judah the Holy. These Receivers were qualified by ordination to hand it on from generation to generation. Abarbanel and Maimonides disagree as to the names of these Receivers. While the Temple still stood as a centre of unity to the nation, it was considered unlawful to reduce these traditions to writing. But when the Temple was burned, and the Jews were dispersed among other peoples, it was considered politic to form them into a written code, which should serve as a bond of union, and keep alive the spirit of patriotism. The Jewish leaders saw the effect of Constitutions and Pandects in consolidating nations—the advantage of written laws over arbitrary decisions. Numberless precedents of case law, answering to our common law, were already recorded: and the teachings of the Hebrew jurisconsults, or “Responsa prudentium” which were held to be binding on the people, had been preserved from former ages.

      All these traditions Rabbi Judah the Holy undertook to [pg 004] reduce into one digest. And this laborious work he completed about a.d. 190, or more than a century after the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus. Rabbi Judah was born on the day that Rabbi Akibah died. Solomon is said to have foretold the event: “One sun ariseth, and one sun goeth down.” Akibah was the setting and Judah the rising sun. The Mishna of Rabbi Judah, afterward revised by Abba Areka in Sura, is the text of the Babylon Talmud. The commentaries written on this text by various Rabbis in the neighborhood of Babylon, until the close of the fifth century, are called the Gemara (completion), and are published in twelve folio volumes, called the Babylon Talmud—the Talmud most esteemed by the Jews. The Jerusalem Talmud contains commentaries written partly by Rabbis in Jamnia and partly in Tiberias, where they were completed by Rabbi Jochanan in the beginning of the fourth century. As now published it has only four out of the six orders or books of the Mishna, with the treatise Niddah from the sixth. In the time of Maimonides it contained five orders. On twenty-six treatises it has no Gemara, though in the treatise on shekels the Gemara of Jerusalem is used for the Babylon Talmud. The six books of the Mishna are subdivided into sixty-three treatises, in the following manner:

      Book I

      This book, called Order of Seeds, contains the following treatises:

      1. “Blessings,” together with prayers and thanksgivings, with the times and places in which they are to be used.

      2. “A Corner of a Field” (Lev. xxiii. 22; Deut. xxiv. 19) treats of the corners of the field to be left for the poor to glean them—the forgotten sheaves, olives, and grapes—and of giving alms, etc.

      3. “Doubtful” treats of the doubt about the tithes being paid, as the Jews were not allowed to use anything without its being first tithed.

      4. “Diversities” (Lev. xix. 19; Deut. xxii. 9–11) treats of the unlawful mixing or joining together things of a different nature or kind—of sowing seeds of a different species in one [pg 005] bed—grafting a scion on a stock of a different kind, suffering cattle of different kinds to come together.

      5. “The Sabbatical Year” (Exod. xxiii. 11; Lev. xxv. 4) treats of the laws which regulated the land as it lay fallow and rested.

      6. “Heave Offerings” (Num. xviii. 8) treats of separating the heave offering—who may eat it, and who may not eat of it—of its pollutions, etc.

      7. “The First Tithes” (Lev. xxvii. 30; Num. xviii. 28) treats of the law of tithes for the priests.

      8. “The Second Tithes” (Deut. xiv. 22; xxvi. 14) treats of those which were to be carried to Jerusalem and there eaten, or to be redeemed and the money spent in Jerusalem in peace offerings.

      9. “Cake of Dough” (Num. xv. 20) treats of setting apart a cake of dough for the priests; also, from what kind of dough the cake must be separated.

      10. “Uncircumcised Fruit” (Lev. xix. 23) treats of the unlawfulness of eating the fruit of any tree till the fifth year. The first three years it is uncircumcised; the fourth year it is holy to the Lord; the fifth year it may be eaten.

      11. “First Fruits” (Exod. xxiii. 19; Deut. xxvi. 1) treats of what fruits were to be offered in the Temple, and in what manner; also of the baskets in which they were to be carried.

      Book II

      The Order Of The Festivals:

      1. “Sabbath” treats of the laws relating to the seventh day.

      2. “Mixtures,” or combinations, treats of the extension of boundaries, whereby all the inhabitants of the court, or entry, where the mixture is made, are counted as one family inhabiting one domicile; and are therefore allowed to carry victuals from one house to another. It also treats of the mixtures for a Sabbath day's journey, whereby the distance may be extended for an additional 2,000 cubits.

      3. “Passovers” treats of all rites and ceremonies relating to the Paschal Lamb.

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      4. “Shekels” (Exod. xxx. 13) treats of the half shekel, which every Jew, rich or poor, was obliged to pay every year to the daily sacrifice.

      5. “Day of Atonement” treats of the solemnities peculiar to it.

      6. “Tabernacles” teaches how they are to be built, and how to be used.

      7. “The Egg Laid on a Festival” treats of the works which may or may not be done on any of the festivals, which are called days of holy convocation, on which no servile work may be done.

      8. “New Year” treats of the laws and solemnities of the feast of the New Year, as also of the feasts of the New Moons.

      9. “Fasts” treats of the various fasts throughout the year.

      10. “The Roll” treats of the feast of Purim, and gives instructions how and in what manner the Book of Esther and other Lessons are to be read. The Gemara directs Jews to get so drunk on this feast, that they cannot discern the difference between “Blessed be Mordecai and cursed be Haman,” and “Cursed be Mordecai and blessed be Haman.”

      11. “Minor Feasts” treats of the works that may and that may not be lawfully done on the 2d, 3d, 4th, 5th, and 6th days, when the first and seventh are holy; these intermediate days being lesser festivals.

      12. “Sacrifices on Festivals” treats of the three great festivals, when all the males were obliged to appear before the Lord, and of the sacrifices which they were to bring. It also lays down rules for the dissolution of vows, which it says “are like mountains hanging on a hair, for the text is slender and the constitutions many.”

      Book III

      On Women:

      1. “Brother's Widow” (Deut. xxv. 5–11) treats of the law obliging a brother to marry the relict of his deceased brother; also, when the obligation is to take place, and the ceremonies to be used at its performance.

      2. “Marriage Settlements” treats of dowries and women [pg 007] who happen to obtain estates, either real or personal. From this tract the baptism of infant proselytes can be proved.

      3. “Vows” (Num. xxx. 4–16) shows when vows are binding and when null and void. When a married woman makes a vow the husband can confirm or annul it. This tract points out what vows fall under his cognizance and what do not.

      4. “The Nazarite” (Num. vi. 21) treats of the laws relating to the different sorts of Nazarites.

      5. “Trial of Jealousy” (Num. v. 11–31) treats СКАЧАТЬ