In his brilliant introduction on the Mishnah, Jacob Neusner asks:How do you read a book that does not identify its author, tell you where it comes from, or explain why it was written – a book without a preface? And how do you identify a book with neither a beginning nor end, lacking table of contents and title? The answer is you just begin and let the author of the book lead you by paying attention to the information that the author does give, to the signals that the writer sets out.As Neusner goes on to explain, the Mishnah portrays the world in a special way, in a kind of code that makes it a difficult work for the modern reader to understand. Without knowing how to decode the Mishnah, we may read its works without receiving its message.Neusner, one of the world’s foremost Mishnaic scholars, demonstrated that the Mishnah’s own internal logic and structure form a solid foundation on which to build an understanding of this vitally important Jewish work. Using examples of how the Mishnah’s language, logic, and discourse associate and categorize behaviors, events, and objects, Neusner opens the Mishnah to readers who would not otherwise be able to grasp its most fundamental concepts.Since the Mishnah forms the basis of both the Babylonian and the Palestinian Talmuds (which are, in Neusner’s elegant terms, “the core curriculum of Judaism as a living religion”), study of the Mishnah is essential to an understanding of Judaism. Drawing on his own new translation of the Mishnah and displaying the enthusiastic dedication that has sparked a whole new body of Mishnaic research, Neusner allows readers with no previous background to join Jews who have studied, analyzed, and delighted in the wisdom of Mishnah for centuries.In addition to giving us a thorough exploration of the Mishnah’s language, contents, organization, and inner logic, Neusner also provides us with a broad understanding of how it communicated its own world view – its vision of both the concrete an spiritual worlds. The Mishnah: An Introduction gives us a tour of this sacred Jewish text, shedding light on its many facets – from its view of life to its conception of God and His relation to our world.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum:1988-12-01
Mått:163 x 236 x 25 mm
Vikt:567 g
Format:Inbunden
Språk:Engelska
Antal sidor:235
Förlag:Jason Aronson Publishers
ISBN:9780876688762

Utforska kategorier

Religion: allmänt inom Filosofi och religion
Judendom inom Filosofi och religion

Mer om författaren

About the AuthorJacob Neusner is a member of the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton University and the Ungerleider Distinguished Scholar of Judiac Studies at Brown University. The author of over 300 books on Judaism that have been translated into many languages, Dr. Neusner holds nine honorary degrees and has lectured throughout the world.

Recensioner i media

“For 70 years I have studied Mishnah virtually every day of my life. Yet there is hardly a page in Professor Neusner’s monumental work, The Mishah: An Introduction, that did not reveal for me a new and often exciting insight.”-Emanuel RackmanChancellor, Bar-Ilan University

Innehållsförteckning

Table of ContentsPrefaceixAcknowledgements and Permissionsxiii1. The Mishnah as Literature 1Identifying the Mishnah1Mishnah Tractate Berakhot 1:12Mishnah Tractate Uqsin 3:112Using the Evidence in Hand6The Contents and Organization of the Mishnah10An Outline of the Topical Program of the Mishnah13The Rhetoric of the Mishnah: Patterning Language17The Logic of the Mishnah: Proving Propositions26The Meaning of the Mishnah’s Rhetoric and Logic34The Purpose of the Mishnah: Law Code or Schoolbook?372. The Mishnah as Religion40Defining a Religion and a Judaism40The Mishnah’s Judaism before 70 C.E.42The Mishnah’s Judaism after the Destruction of theTemple: 70-132 C.E.45The Mishnah after 135 C.E.: The System Seen Whole51The Judaism of the Mishnah533. The Mishnah’s Social Vision: Means of Production, Market, Wealth61The Building Block of Society in the Mishnah’s Social Vision61The Household: Baba Batra Chapter 364The Market: Baba Mesia Chapter 479Wealth: Baba Mesia Chapter 597The Steady-State Economy in a Static Social World1184. The Mishnah’s Social Vision: Woman and Caste121Women in the Household121Women: Yebamot Chapter 10123Case Structure: Qiddushin Chapter 4131The Social Vision of the Mishnah1405. The Mishnah’s Theological and Philosophical Vision149History and the Laws of History: Rosh HashanahChapter 4, Taanit Chapter 4, Zebahim Chapter 14,Sotah Chapter 9149Israel and God, Partners in the Land: Maaserot Chapter 1172Intention: Makhshirin Chapter 4181Humanity in Crisis: What Can Israel Do?1986. The Mishnah and the Torah: The Impact of the Mishnah on the Formation of Judaism200The Problem of the Mishnah200Tractate Avot Chapter 1206The Mishnah and the Torah: The Theory of Tractate Avot211The Yerushalmi Talmud’s Theory of the Mishnah214The Mishnah and the Judaism of the Dual Torah220The Relevance of the Mishnah to Judaism in the Twenty-First Century227Structure of the Mishnah230Index231