Jewish Law: Reading Assignment from Primary Sources

The Mishnah is a collection of Halakha, legal rules, compiled in the 2nd century. Other than the Old Testament, it is the earliest surviving Jewish law code. The Babylonian Talmud consists of the Mishnah plus extensive commentary, apparently representing arguments about the Mishnah occurring in the Babylonian Academies in the third through fifth centuries. The Mishneh Torah is a treatise on the law based on the Talmud, written in the 12th century by Maimonides.

You are going to read selections from the three sources, starting with Maimonides for reasons that may become obvious. Your assignment is:

Read at least fifty pages from books XI, XII, or XIII of the Mishneh Torah (on reserve in the library, also available online). Read at least ten pages from a section of the Mishnah that covers some of what you have just read in Maimonides. Read at least five pages from a section of the Talmud that includes some of what you have just read in the Mishnah. In selecting sections to read, you can either choose one of the suggested readings below, or:

First look at the table of contents of the Mishneh Torah in order to decide what subject or subjects you want to read about. Then look through the translation of the Mishnah on reserve in the library, or one of the webbed partial translations listed below, to locate a chunk corresponding to some part of what you have just read. You may find it helpful to look at the introduction to the volume of Maimonides you read from to find information about what parts of the Mishnah it is based on.

Then look through the volumes of the Talmud on reserve in the library, or translations online, to find a chunk corresponding to that part of the Mishnah--it will actually quote the Mishnah passage in question. This approach is more work but will give you a broader picture of the sources and let you choose material of particular interest to you.

The objective is to get some feel for the nature of three of the principal sources of Jewish law. Be prepared to discuss what you have read in class and, if appropriate, its relation to modern American law on the same subject.

Examples:

Webbed Source Material:

Mishnah: Danby translation (book preview),  Neusner translation (Google Books), Another webbed partial translation. Another.

Talmud: Webbed partial translation. Books 5-9 are the sources for most of Maimonides Books XI-XIII.

Sources for Maimonides' Mishneh Torah
Printed volumes on reserve, along with Mishnah and Torah.

Webbed in English by Chabad.org