“In its origin it was the result of an almost necessary development. Starting with
the axiom that the law of Moses is binding on the children of Abraham in every
generation, its precepts have been applied to the changing habits and customs of
the Jews in different ages and under various climates, by a literal interpretation
when possible, otherwise on the ci-près principle, rarely by giving a new
direction to its enactments, as instanced under the Hillel régime. It is this
application of the Law to the needs of Jewish Society, by a process slow and
gradual, that has made each successive stage of development, in Jewish opinion,
more valuable than its predecessors. Thus if the Law has been likened to water,
the Mishna, which gives a later direction to its precepts, is as wine; and the
Gemara, declaring as it does the sense in which the Mishnic Hilkoth are to be
taken, is as hippocras. It is not that the Law is less, or that the traditional
decisions and expository matter are more sacred, but the latest phase of judicial
interpretation is the most binding; and where the rule of action is clear and
decisive, no antecedent utterance need trouble the inquirer. Yet the Talmud has
always been antiquated. It has never known the sunshine of youth. It has still
been the mouldering, moss-grown ruin. In its origin it presupposed vital action
where there was nothing but death; Temple service with the Temple hopelessly
in ruins, ‘not one stone upon another;’ sacrificial rites that were impossible
without an altar, and for which certain prayers were substituted, carefully
numbered out, and made binding on the individual in lieu of public offering....
Nothing can be more completely out of place than strict Talmudism amid the
complications of modern society; it is impossible to make its precepts consist
with the social and political duties of the highly educated Jew. Our LORD, Who
came not to destroy the Law, but to fulfil it, has pointed out those modes of
dealing with the Law in its higher and more spiritual bearings, that in the end
must be accepted by Israel as his truest wisdom.”
Mr. Deutsch gives the following account of the six sections of the Mishna:—
“Section I. Seeds: of Agrarian laws, commencing with a chapter on Prayers. In
this section the various tithes and donations due to the Priests, the Levites, and
the poor, from the products of the lands, and further the Sabbatical year, and the
prohibited mixtures in plants, animals, and garments, are treated of.
“Section II. Feasts: of Sabbaths, Feast and Fast days, the work prohibited, the
ceremonies ordained, the sacrifices to be offered, on them. Special chapters are
devoted to the Feast of the Exodus from Egypt, to the New Year’s Day, to the
Day of Atonement (one of the most impressive portions of the whole book,) to
the Feast of Tabernacles, and to that of Haman.