Jacob Neusner is Research Professor of Religion and Theology at Bard College and Senior Fellow of the Institute of Advanced Theology at Bard. He has published more than 900 books and unnumbered articles, both scholarly and academic and popular and journalistic, and is the most published humanities scholar in the world. He has been awarded nine honorary degrees, including seven US and European honorary doctorates. He received his AB from Harvard College in 1953, his PhD from Columbia University and Union Theological Seminary in 1961, and rabbinical ordination and the degree of Master of Hebrew Letters from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America in 1960.

Neusner is editor of the 'Encyclopedia of Judaism' (Brill, 1999. I-III) and its Supplements; Chair of the Editorial Board of 'The Review of Rabbinic Judaism,' and Editor in Chief of 'The Brill Reference Library of Judaism', both published by E. J. Brill, Leiden, The Netherlands. He is editor of 'Studies in Judaism', University Press of America.

Neusner resides with his wife in Rhinebeck, New York. They have a daughter, three sons and three daughters-in-law, six granddaughters and two grandsons.

Table of Contents

Prefaceix
Acknowledgements and Permissionsxiii

1. The Mishnah as Literature 1

Identifying the Mishnah1
Mishnah Tractate Berakhot 1:12
Mishnah Tractate Uqsin 3:112
Using the Evidence in Hand6
The Contents and Organization of the Mishnah10
An Outline of the Topical Program of the Mishnah13
The Rhetoric of the Mishnah: Patterning Language17
The Logic of the Mishnah: Proving Propositions26
The Meaning of the Mishnah's Rhetoric and Logic34
The Purpose of the Mishnah: Law Code or Schoolbook?37

2. The Mishnah as Religion40

Defining a Religion and a Judaism40
The Mishnah's Judaism before 70 C.E.42
The Mishnah's Judaism after the Destruction of the
Temple: 70-132 C.E.45
The Mishnah after 135 C.E.: The System Seen Whole51
The Judaism of the Mishnah53

3. The Mishnah's Social Vision: Means of Production, Market, Wealth61

The Building Block of Society in the Mishnah's Social Vision61
The Household: Baba Batra Chapter 364
The Market: Baba Mesia Chapter 479
Wealth: Baba Mesia Chapter 597
The Steady-State Economy in a Static Social World118

4. The Mishnah's Social Vision: Woman and Caste121

Women in the Household121
Women: Yebamot Chapter 10123
Case Structure: Qiddushin Chapter 4131
The Social Vision of the Mishnah140

5. The Mishnah's Theological and Philosophical Vision149

History and the Laws of History: Rosh Hashanah
Chapter 4, Taanit Chapter 4, Zebahim Chapter 14,
Sotah Chapter 9149
Israel and God, Partners in the Land: Maaserot Chapter 1172
Intention: Makhshirin Chapter 4181
Humanity in Crisis: What Can Israel Do?198

6. The Mishnah and the Torah: The Impact of the Mishnah
on the Formation of Judaism200

The Problem of the Mishnah200
Tractate Avot Chapter 1206
The Mishnah and the Torah: The Theory of Tractate Avot211
The Yerushalmi Talmud's Theory of the Mishnah214
The Mishnah and the Judaism of the Dual Torah220
The Relevance of the Mishnah to Judaism in the
Twenty-First Century227

Structure of the Mishnah230

Index231