This phrase evokes the value of the hidden knowledge and the oral transmission:

“Not everything that was left outside was forgotten; sometimes, the external save the soul of the internal”
— Maximum rabbinic anonymous inspired by the tradition of the Baraitot

Another way of putting it is this:

“Learn from everyone, even if it is not written in your book”
— Pirkei Avot 4:1, paraphrase, of the thought of Ben Zoma

Complete study on the baraita (pl. baraitot)

1) essential Definition and etymology

• What is: Teaching tannaita (season of the tanaím, s. I–III) not included in the Mishnah of Rabbi Yehuda hanassi. That is why it is called “external” (baraita = “outside”). In the Talmudim usually be introduced with tanyá, tenú rabanán or tanna, while tenán enter Mishnah.
• Etymology: Aramaic barrāythā (“outer”, “extrinsic”). Some medieval sources recorded attempts of hebraizarla as ḥitzoná (“external”).

2) Location in the corpus of rabbinical

• Relationship with the Mishnah: The Mishnah was deliberately selective and concise; the baraitot preserve alternative versions, clarifications and materials that were left out. Authority: in the beginning a lesser degree the Mishnah, but with the weight of evidence in the discussion talmudic.
• Where they appear:
  1. Babylonian Talmud and Jerusalem Talmudcited as support, objection (tiyuvtá), or parallel source. 2) Compilations own (v. §3). In the Yerushalmí are less common in the Bavlí.

3) Main collections of baraitot

• Tosefta (“Supplement”): systematic collection of baraitot ordered according to the sedarim and masejtot the Mishnah (with several differences of content). Is more extensive the Mishnah and sometimes supporting, sometimes discussed.
• Midrash halachic tannaita (also baraitot):
  • Mekhilta of R. Ishmael (Exodus), Sifrá (Leviticus), Sifré (Numbers/Deuteronomy). Work as exegesis legal early as cited by the Talmudim.
• Avot de-Rabbi Nathan (RNA): expansion Pirkei Avot; transmitted along to the “masejtot minor” and is often classified as a baraita “of Avot”. (Two reviews, A and B).
• Masejtot Qetanot (Tractados Minor): compendiums pos-tannaitas (e.g., Sopherim, Kallá, Derech Eretz). Meet legal material and agadá not canonized in Mishnah/Talmud; many pieces are described as baraitot by its nature as an “external”.

4) How to recognize within a suguiá

• Formulas of opening: תניא (tanyá), תנו רבנן (“were taught by our sages”), תנא/תנא דבי (“it is taught in the school of...”).
• Function arguments:
  • Proof or as a backup the reading of the Mishnah.
  • Objection/contradiction to a position amoraica (sometimes concludes in tiyuvtá).
  • Expansion of cases, definitions, and lists mnemonic. (Doctrinal summary from standard definitions on baraita and their use).

5) analytical Perspectives

A. Historical-structural

• Context: During the crystallization of the Mishnah (c. 200 CE), they were out of multiple traditions of rival schools or local variants; these traditions continued to circulate, and were collected as baraitot. The Tosefta serves as a reservoir more of that material for both Talmudim.
• Transmission: Writing and fixing textual gradualwith layers; the exact relationship between the version of the Tosefta and baraitot cited by the Talmudim is the object of philological study of the contemporary.

B. Philological

• Variants: There are often parallel between a baraita cited in Bavlí/Yerushalmí and its corresponding in Tosefta or in midrash halachic, with differences of wording, order, or attribution. Textual criticism compare families of versions to reconstruct the stratum tannaita.
• Language: Hebrew mishnaico and aramaic western/eastern, depending on the route of transmission; this fact is useful in studies of dialectology and stratification.

C. Halachic

• Hierarchy of authority: The Mishnah it prevails is a prima facie case; a baraita can clear or limit the Mishnah, and sometimes to support a psak (failure) when in harmony with the dominant tradition. Encyclopedias, academic described his role as supplement and solve problems not covered by the Mishnah.

D. Literary/Agádica

• Although the term is used especially for halachahalso there is baraitot agádicas (e.g., sections narratives in RNA), lists of rules of hermeneutics (the “13 Middot” attributed to R. Ishmael, transmitted in collections outside), and materials from ethical.

6) Typology practice

• Baraita cited in the Talmud: a brief, used in the dialectic of a suguiá.
• Baraita compiled: long pieces in the works, “external”: Tosefta, Midrash halachic tannaita, Avot de-Rabbi Nathansome sections of masejtot minor.

7) Examples of use in the study of talmudic

1. Locate parallel: to find tanyá or tenú rabanán in Bavlí, check if there is parallel in Tosefta or midrashim halájicos and compare variants.
2. Ponder authority: if contradicts to the Mishnah, to explore if the baraita reflects minority opinion or local tradition; review of how to resolve the posqim classic (methodology derived from the definitions and functions referred to above).
3. Contextualizing gender: distinguish baraita legal of baraita agádica (e.g., RNA) to not extrapolate rules from the material to the ethical narrative.

8) Baraitot and Treaties “Under”

• The Tractados Minor (ed. Romm-Vilnius, 1886) gather materials outside of the canon talmudic classic; include rules of scribes, modesty, conduct (Derech Eretz), duel, etc., Work as receptacles external teaching, and often printed alongside RNA.

9) academic Debates current

• Tosefta vs. baraita “said”: what the baraita talmudic reflects the same tradition that the version of the Tosefta, or a rewrite later? Recent studies show the composite structure and reuse editorial.
• Geography and dialect: id baraitot babylonians within Tosefta, and its value to the dialectology of the Hebrew rabbinic.

Conclusion

Baraita appoints all material tannaita external to the Mishnahaired on dating loose within the Talmud or in corpus as the Tosefta and the midrash halachic. Its role is to supplement, clear and sometimes discuss the Mishnah; his authority, although generally secondary, is determinant in the dialectic talmudic. For a rigorous study should: (i) detect the formulas of appointment in sugiot, (ii) to confront with parallel of Tosefta/midrash, and (iii) to gauge their status in front of Mishnah and psak later.