Oral Torah: Mishnah, Tosefta, and midrashic literature
Oral Torah: Mishnah, Tosefta, and midrashic literature
This domain tests knowledge of the primary tannaitic and midrashic corpora: their date, structure, and genre. The exam expects you to distinguish a source’s function, not just name it.
The corpora
- Mishnah: edited by R. Yehuda HaNasi, c. 200 CE; six orders - Zeraim, Moed, Nashim, Nezikin, Kodashim, Taharot; 63 tractates. It is terse, often records a dispute, and is the base text for Gemara.
- Tosefta: a tannaitic collection that supplements the Mishnah; not a commentary and not simply “later.” It often preserves parallel or additional halakhot.
- Baraita: any tannaitic teaching outside the Mishnah; תניא introduces one.
- Midrash Halakha: Mekhilta de-R. Yishmael (Shemot), Sifra (Vayikra), Sifrei (Bamidbar and Devarim). It derives law from verses using the 13 middot of R. Yishmael.
- Midrash Aggadah: Bereishit Rabbah, Vayikra Rabbah, Eichah Rabbah, Pesikta de-Rav Kahana; narrative and theological interpretation.
Worked example
The Gemara (Chullin 115b) notices that גדי appears three times in the Torah’s prohibition of cooking a kid in its mother’s milk. The repeated term is not wasted: the derashah assigns one occurrence to cooking, one to eating, and one to benefit. Reasoning: (1) identify the repeated term; (2) count the occurrences; (3) state the legal extension; (4) attribute the derashah to Chullin 115b, not vaguely to “the Midrash.”
Traps
- Calling the Tosefta a commentary on the Mishnah.
- Treating Midrash Halakha as aggadah.
- Confusing Mekhilta (Shemot) with Sifra (Vayikra).
- Assuming the Mishnah has no disputes.
- Using “baraita” as if it were a single book.