“Study the Mishnah is not to repeat the past, but to understand how the human thought became the faith in the wisdom and tradition in knowledge.”
“The critical study does not destroy faith; the purified.” — Gershom Scholem
The Mishnahcompiled by rabbi Yehuda Hanassi towards the end of the II century d.C., is the core foundation of the Talmud and one of the most influential jewish thought. Beyond its religious value, is also a source of historical, legal, linguistic, and sociological of the first order.
Study it requires a look that transcends what dogmatic: the academic perspective allows you to understand it as a cultural phenomenon, and civilization, not only as a sacred text.
The difference between the religious reading and academic reading
The traditional study, own of the yeshivotit focuses on the interpretation rules (halachah), and theological. In contrast, the academy deals with the Epistemology from scientific methods —textual criticism, comparative linguistics, history of ideas, anthropology of religion, seeking to reconstruct the context in which it was composed.
Both perspectives are valid, but the academic broadens the horizon: it allows to understand how, why and under what conditions gave rise to the laws and debates rabbinic, as well as the social tensions of the Israel post-temple.
Scientific methodology applied to the study of the Mishnah
Academic research employs techniques rigorous:
- Textual criticism and philological: analysis of manuscripts, versions and translations to identify older versions, and its evolution.
- Study of historical-comparative: the contrast between the Mishnah and sources greco-roman, Persian or hellenistic to place your legal concepts and moral.
- Sociology and anthropology: understanding family structures, hierarchies, rabbinical and everyday life reflected in the treaties.
- Linguistics and semantics: the Hebrew mishnaico is a language in transition, in which the structure illuminates the evolution of the Hebrew and aramaic rabbinic.
These tools reveal dimensions that the study of purely religious often not looking for: how to rabbinic thought interacted with their environment, political and cultural.
Value interdisciplinary and universal
From the academic perspective, the Mishnah does not belong only to judaism, but to the intellectual heritage universal. Their study in universities, institutes of history, or comparative philosophy allows for dialogue with disciplines such as:
- Right: due to its legal structure and logic of interpretation.
- Philosophy: by its treatment of the duty, justice and behavior.
- History of religions: their role in the configuration of the monotheism of ethics.
So, anyone —believer or not— can approach to the Mishnah as an essential document for understanding western civilization.
Critical thinking and the formation of the researcher
Adopt an academic perspective fosters the intellectual autonomy. To study the Mishnah scientifically involves questioning, comparing sources, search for coherence and contradictions, and to recognize the human processes behind the formation of the text.
This exercise develops the discipline, analytical, comparative thought and the historical sensitivity: essential skills for journalists, theologians, historians or philosophers.
The Mishnah as a bridge between faith and knowledge
The Mishnah, approached from the academic perspective, it becomes a laboratory of thought, ethical, legal and social. It allows you to understand how a people prepared responses to the loss of the Temple and the dispersion, and how those responses are shaped centuries of western culture.
For this reason, their study is not exclusive to the believer: any curious mind, with rigor and respect for the sources, you can find in the Mishnah a school of reasoning, history, and humanity.
