Towards the end
of the 2nd century the Pharisaic doctrine of Hillel as it had been
further matured by Akiba was codified and elevated to the position
of statute law by the patriarch Rabban Judah the Holy (Mishna). /1/
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1. The Mishna succeeded almost, but not quite, in completely doing
away with all conflicting tendencies. At first the heterodox
tradition of that time was also committed to writing (R. Ishmael
ben Elisha) and so handed down,--in various forms (col]ection of
the Baraithas, that is, of old precepts which had not been received
into the Mishna, in the Tosephtha). Nor did the active opposition
altogether die out even at a later period; under favouring
circumstances it awoke to new life in Karaism, the founder of which,
Anan ben David, lived in Babylonia in the middle of the 8th century.
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But this was only the first stage in the process of systematising
and fixing tradition. The Mishna became itself the object of
rabbinical comment and supplement; the Tannaim, whose work was
registered in the Mathnetha (Mishna, DEUTERWSIS = doctrine), were
followed by the Amoraim, whose work in turn took permanent shape
in the Gemara (= doctrine).
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