Daily Rambam (1) Hakdama: Rambam’s introduction to Mishnah Torah Part 2 (Wednesday, 17th Shevat)

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Hakdama-Rambam’s introduction to Mishnah Torah – Part 2

The chronological order of the teaching of Torah from Moshe on Sinai until today

  1. The writing of the Mishna, and the history of Jewish literature:
  • It’s author: Rabbeinu Hakadosh wrote the Mishnah.
  • The history of Jewish literature until the writing of the Mishna: From the time of Moshe until Rabbenu Hakadosh there was no published documentation of the oral tradition made available for the sake of teaching the public.
  • Every leader of that generation would compile a personal documentation of the oral tradition: Nonetheless, despite there being no published literature on the oral tradition, the head of the court or prophet of each generation would take personal notes of the teachings which he received from his masters. He would then in turn verbally teach them to the public.
  • Every student would also compose notes of the teachings: Likewise, each student would write notes for himself of the teachings that he heard. This included the details and explanations of the oral tradition and Torah laws, as well as the novelties in Torah law that were deduced in each generation.
  • The 13 principles of deduction: Certain principles of Torah law which were not included in the oral tradition, were deduced by each generation using the 13 principles of deduction. These deduced teachings would become law after they were accepted by the Supreme Court. These teachings and principles were documented by the students of each generation.
  • This order of personal notetaking, versus published literature remained until the times of Rabbeinu Hakadosh.

  1. The compilation of the Mishna:
  • What it includes: The Mishna which was compiled by Rabbeinu Hakadosh includes the entire oral tradition. He gathered in it all the teachings and laws and explanations and commentaries that were heard from Moshe and taught by the courts in each generation, regarding the entire Torah.
  • Teaching it to the masses: Rabbeinu Hakadosh taught the Mishna publicly to the Sages and hence had a disseminated to the entire Jewish people, who in turn wrote it all down. It was disseminated to all areas in order so the Oral tradition would not be forgotten by the Jewish people. He spent his entire life together with his court teaching the Mishna to the masses.
  • The reason for its compilation: The reason that Rabbeinu Hakadosh changed from the status quo, and decided to publish and disseminate the Mishna is because he saw that otherwise the oral tradition was at risk of being extinct. As the generations passed, there were less and less students, and due to the exile of the Jewish people caused by the Roman Empire, Jews became scattered throughout the far ends of the world. This threatened to cease the continuity of the oral tradition which was aurally handed from generation to generation. He therefore compiled a publication that would be available to everyone, so that everyone can learn it and not forget the tradition.

  1. The students of Rabbeinu Hakadosh and their compilations:
  • The following 11 Sages were part of the court of Rabbenu Hakadosh and received the oral tradition from him: His sons, Shimon and Gamliel, Rabbi Effess, Rabbi Chanina ben Chama, Rabbi Chiyya, Rav, Rabbi Yannai, bar Kafra, Shemuel, Rabbi Yochanan who was the youngest of the students, Rabbi Hoshaia. Thousands and myriads of other sages received the oral tradition from Rabbenu Hakadosh together with these great sages.
  • Rabbi Yochanan and Rav later became a student of Rabbi Yannai and received Torah from him.
  • Sifra and Sifir compilation: Rav composed the Sifra and the Sifri to explain the foundations and sources of the Mishnah.
  • Shmuel received the oral tradition from Rabbi Chanina ben Chama.
  • Tosefta: Rabbi Chiyya composed the Tosefta to further expound on the subjects discussed in the Mishnah.
  • Beraisos: Rabbi Hoshaia and bar Kafra composed the Beraisos to further expound on the words of the Mishnah.
  • The Jerusalem Talmud: Rabbi Yochanan compiled the Jerusalem Talmud in Eretz Yisrael. It was compiled approximately three hundred years after the destruction of the second Temple.

  1. The order of the sages from Rav and Shmuel until the writing of the Talmud:
  • Students of Rav and Shmuel: Of the great sages who received the oral tradition from Rav and Shmuel were: Rav Hun: Rav Huna, Rav Yehudah, Rav Nachman, and Rav Kahana.
  • Students of Rabbi Yochanan: Some of the great sages who received the oral tradition from Rabbi Yochanan were: Ravah bar bar Channah, Rav Ami, Rav Assi, Rav Dimi, and Rav Avin.
  • Students of Rav Huna: Of the Sages who received the oral tradition from Rav Huna and Rav Yehudah were: Rabbah and Rav Yosef.
  • Students of Rabah: Of the sages who received the oral tradition from Rabbah and Rav Yosef were: Abbaye and Rava. Both also received the oral tradition from Rav Nachman.
  • Students of Rava: Among the Sages who received the oral tradition from Rava were Rav Ashi and Ravina.
  • Mar bar Rav Ashi received the oral tradition from Rav Ashi, his father, and from Ravina.

  1. The order of the sages from Rav Ashi until Moshe:
  • There was a total of forty generations from Rav Ashi until Moshe. The following is the list of individuals each one having received from the Rabbi preceding him, unless stated otherwise:
  • Rav Ashi
  • Rava
  • Rabbah
  • Rav Huna
  • Rabbi Yochanan, Rav, and Shmuel
  • Rabbenu Hakadosh
  • Rabbi Shimon
  • Rabban Gamliel
  • Rabban Shimon
  • Rabban Gamliel
  • Rabban Shimon
  • Hillel and Shammai
  • Shemayah and Avtalion
  • Yehudah and Shimon Ben Shetach
  • Yehoshua and Nittai Harbeili
  • Yosse ben Yo’ezer and Yosef ben Yochanan
  • Antignos
  • Shimon Hatzadik
  • Ezra
  • Baruch
  • Yermiyahu
  • Tzefaniah
  • Chabbakuk
  • Nachum
  • Yoel
  • Michah
  • Yeshayahu
  • Amos
  • Hoshea
  • Zechariah
  • Yehoyada
  • Elisha
  • Eliyahu
  • Achiyah Hashiloni
  • David
  • Shmuel
  • Eli
  • Pinchas
  • Yehoshua
  • Moshe who received the Torah from Hashem.
  • Thus, the source of all the knowledge that these individuals contained goes all the way back to the God of Israel.

  1. The Talmud and its purpose:
  • The position of the above-mentioned scholars: All the above-mentioned scholars were all considered leaders of their generation, with some of them serving as the heads of yeshivas and other serving as the leaders of the exile and other serving as members of the Supreme Court. Together with them were tens of thousands of other students who absorbed their teachings, and amongst these students were Ravina and Rav Ashi who lived in the end of the Talmudic era, and were the last of their sages.
  • The compiling of the Talmud: Rav Ashi compiled the Babylonian Talmud in the land of Shinar. It was compiled approximately 100 years after the Jerusalem Talmud was compiled by Rabbi Yochanon. The Talmud was later completed in the days of the son of Rav Ashi.
  • The purpose of the Talmud’s: The purpose of both the Jerusalem and Babylonian Talmud is to elaborate on the Mishna, and explain its deep and cryptic statements. Likewise, it comes to document the various new Torah laws that were adapted in each court of each generation from the days of Rabbeinu Hakadosh until the Talmud was compiled.
  • The main source for Jewish law: The above two Talmuds, as well as the Tosefta, Sifra and Sifri, serve as the main source in Jewish literature for determining the forbidden versus the permitted, the impure versus pure, those liable versus those exempt, the invalid versus the valid, as was handed down from generation to generation all the way back to Moshe.
  • Documents the rabbinical decrees: In addition to the above, the Talmud documents all of the decrees that were decreed by the sages and prophets in each generation for the sake of making a fence around the Torah.
  • The legal mandate for making rabbinical decrees: This act of making decrees as fences around the Torah is itself based on an instruction that was heard from Moshe, as the verse states that one should make a guarding upon the guarding.
  • Customs and institutions: In addition to the above, the Talmud also documents all the customs and institutions that were enacted in each generation, in accordance to what the court of that generation saw fit to enact. These customs and institutions are binding on every generation onwards as Scripture commands us not to swerve from their words neither to the writer to the left.
  • New biblical laws based on the 13 principles of expounding: In addition to the above, the Talmud compiles all the laws and rules that were not received from Moshe but were rather discussed and accepted into law by the elders of the court of each generation based on the principles in which the Torah can be expounded upon.
  • All of the above from the times of Moshe until his day was included by Rav Ashi in his compilation of the Talmud.
  • Other books of Jewish law: There were also other books of Jewish law that were composed by the sages in the times of the Mishnah, and these include the following books:
  • Rebbe Hoshiyah who was a student of Rabbeinu Hakadosh authored a commentary on the book of Bereishis.
  • The Mechilta: Rebbe Ishmael authored a commentary on the book of Shemos until the end of the Torah. This book is known as the Mechilta. Rebbe Akiva also authored a book known as the Mechilta.
  • There were sages who lived after their time that also composed books on the Torah. All these books preceded the writing of the Babylonian Talmud.

  1. The post Talmudic era and its loss of universal power:
  • The sealing of the oral tradition: Based on all the above, it is found that Ravina and Rav Ashi and their colleagues were the last of the sages of Israel who recorded and documented the oral tradition.
  • The expiry of making rabbinical decrees: They were also the last to enact decrees, institutions, and customs upon the Jewish people, as they were the last to have the capability of influencing for the rabbinical decrees institutions and customs to be spread throughout all the Jewish people and all their lands and settlements and be accepted by them.
  • The dispersion of the Jewish people into exile: In the era after the court of Rav Ashi and his son who completed the Talmud, the Jewish people were dispersed into exile throughout all the lands, including very distant islands. The world also experienced many wars, and the ability to travel had become very difficult and dangerous.
  • The state of Torah knowledge in the exile: The above exile and state of war caused the learning of Torah to be diminished, and diminished the number of students who would gather in the yeshiva to learn Torah. No longer were there tens of thousands of Torah students, and rather there were only a few individuals in each city and country who would gather to study the Torah, and understand the Talmud and the resulting Jewish law.
  • The lack of ability to make decrees during exile: The courts of law that were established after the Talmudic era in each country were unable to spread their decrees and customs and institutions throughout all the Jewish people due to the distance of their settlements and the lack of ability of travel. Accordingly, no court of one country can enforce their institutions upon the residents of another country, as they do not have the status of the Supreme Court but rather of individuals. They also cannot instruct the court of another country to enact the same decrees that they enacted.
  • Ability for a later generation to reject their interpretation of law: Likewise, if one of their leaders interpreted the law in a certain way, and a later court rejects this interpretation and interprets it differently based on the Talmud, then one is not obligated to adhere to the interpretation of the first leader. Rather, a person may follow whichever opinion seems more plausible in his eyes, whether it be the former or the latter.

About The Author

Rabbi Yaakov Goldstein is a 6th generation descendent of the famous Chief Rabbi of Izhmir, Rav Yehoshua Avraham Krispin, who authored a number of Sefarim, and was a colleague of Rav Chaim Falagi, and father in-law of the Pesach Hadvir. He currently lives with his wife Shayna, and twelve children K”H, in Tzfas, Israel. Rabbi Goldstein received Semicha from Rabbi Schneur Zalman Labkowski of the Tomchei Temimim headquarters in 2005 and served as a chaplain in the Lotar/Kalatz and K9 unit of the IDF from years 2005-2008. He is also a certified Shochet, and has performed Hashgacha work in slaughterhouses. Rabbi Goldstein is the director of Shulchanaruchharav.com, the world’s leading web-based Halacha database, and is the director of the Home Study Semicha Program, a self-study web-based Semicha program. He is a prolific author of over 50 Sefarim studied by a wide range of readers throughout the world, which is used regularly in Semicha programs around the globe. He is a world renowned Posek, answering questions to a web-based market, and serves as a local Posek, Rav, and Lecturer, in the Tzemach Tzedek community Shul in Tzefas, Israel. His many classes can be heard both from his website, Vimeo and YouTube channel. Students can join live to classes given in the Tzemach Tzedek Shul, through the “בית חבד צפת Chabad Tsfat” YouTube channel.