“Who studies the Mishnah, explores the mind of judaism, the heart of the Talmud, and the context of the Bible”
To study the Mishnah is not simply to study a text of historical or religious. It is, in essence, to study the code that read the Torah. The Mishnah is the key that opens the teaching of the Torah, because the Torah, the pentateuch of Moses is like a gift from the Creator, and as every good gift comes wrapped, and your, just your, you have to open it because it is a special gift and that is specific to you.
The Torah —the Written Law— offers the commandments, the stories and the fundamental laws of the people of Israel and of mankind. But the Mishnah —the Oral Law systematized— explains how they should be understood, applied, and interpreted these commandments, stories, and teachings.
Without the interpretive framework that provides the Mishnah, the biblical texts would be incomplete, out of context, or even contradictory. That's why, in rabbinic judaism, states that “without the oral Torah, the written Torah cannot be understood”.
The study of the Mishnah teaches that without context there is no truth, because the biblical text is anchored in a legal reality, social and spiritual that only the oral tradition was preserved. To study the Mishnah, therefore, is to penetrate into the original context of the biblical thought.
The Mishnah as the DNA of judaism
The Mishnah, constitutes the DNA of rabbinic judaism. In it are preserved the debates, principles, customs and norms transmitted orally from ancient times.
It was written around the year 200 and.c. by rabbi Yehuda Hanassi (Judah the Prince), who collected and organized the oral tradition that came from the sages of the Second Temple.
This tradition not only explained the Torah: it also served as a guide to keep alive the identity of the jewish people during the dispersal. Therefore, the study of the Mishnah, one not only studies religion, culture, ethics, philosophy and sociology of the people of Israel.
The Mishnah is the foundation on which you build the Talmud, Halachah, and spirituality jewish post. It is, in other words, the genetic basis of jewish thought.
The Mishnah as a gateway to the Talmud
The Talmud —the heart of the study of jewish— is composed of two parts:
- The Mishnah, which is the collection of laws and oral teachings; and
- The Gemara, which is the commentary and analysis of the Mishnah.
Therefore, without the Mishnah there is no Talmud, and without Talmud there are no questions, and no questions asked there is no learning because the questions are the hypotheses of science. The Gemara is born precisely to question, to discuss, develop and deepen the Mishnah.
Who wants to become a talmudist, must necessarily dominate first the Mishnah, because the text base on which to build all the dialectics talmudic.
Thus, to study the Mishnah is introduced in the analytical thinking rabbinical, where logic, legal reasoning and hermeneutics textual intertwine in a search for divine truth.
The Mishnah and the judaism of the Second Temple
The Mishnah was written shortly after the destruction of the Second Temple of Jerusalem (70 e.c.), but its content reflects the teachings, customs, and discussions of that time. Therefore, to study the Mishnah is to revive the spirit of the judaism of the Second Temple, a crucial period in which there were also pharisees, sadducees, essenes, zealots and early followers of Jesus. For example, if you want to know the real message and context of the New testament, you have to study and know the Mishnah. There is a better way to do this.
To understand the Mishnah allows us to understand the dynamics of religious, social, and theological, which gave way to rabbinic judaism as the primitive christianity. It is a direct testimony of the transition of judaism biblical judaism post-temple.
The Mishnah and the Kabbalah: tradition of hidden
Although the Mishnah is a legal text, its structure reveals principles of thought that then the Kabbalah developed.
Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, considered the author of the Zohar, was a disciple of the sages of the Mishnah. Your training mishnaica enabled him to build a mystical view of the universe based on the deep interpretation of the Torah.
Therefore, to study the Mishnah not only opens the way to legal reasoning, but also to the dimension of esoteric judaism. The student of the Mishnah can, over time, to understand the levels of symbolic and spiritual, the Kabbalah, and the Zohar extract of the same texts.
The Mishnah and the primitive christianity
The historical context of the Mishnah coincides with that of Jesus of Nazareth and his disciples. The discussions recorded in the Mishnah —on purity, law, shabbat, sacrifice, and justice— reflect the same religious framework and legal in which Jesus taught. All this is also known as protocristianismo.
Therefore, to study the Mishnah helps to understand the primitive christianity not as a separate religion, but as a current in judaism of the Second Temple.
The Gospels, the parables and teachings of Jesus charged a much deeper sense when read in the light of the discussions mishnaicos. Why? Because as we understand the teachings mishnáicas then understand the context of what they are talking about. Without context there is no truth, that is a maximum of the science of communication.
To study the Mishnah is the study of the soul of the text of the Bible itself
To study the Mishnah is to penetrate the soul of the Hebrew Bible. Is to learn the hidden language behind the words, the context that gives meaning to the commandments and the ideas that shaped the entire civilization jewish. The Mishnah is the door to a comprehensive understanding of judaism, the Talmud, the Kabbalah, and of the historical roots of christianity.
