BĀRĀJTHĀ'. - “External, extraneous” teaching (cf. the Extravagantes in canon law), that is, not included in the Miñāh (v.), the code Giuda (v.) il Santo. Such legal norms are called b. in the Babylonian Talmūd (v.), mathnithā' (teaching, traditional law) in the Palestinian Talmūd. The relations between B. and Tōsephtā' (v.) are still debated, since the greater part of the b. is not included in the Tōsephtā'. Others adduce particular reasons to explain the exclusion of 76 legal norms of R. Hijjā' from the “corpus” of the Tōsephtā'. Already Amorei (v.) knowledge of the text of a b. was considered non-obligatory. The b. of R. Hijjā' and R. Hōšājāh are reported by the two Talmūds (Babylonian and Palestinian), but also by the ancient Midhāšim (v. MIDHRĀŠ), which are predominantly prescriptive in character. Like the Miñāh and the Gēmā'rā' (v.), the b. also contains many narrative (haggadic) elements.
Bārāythā'
BIBL.: H. Strack, Einleitung in Talmud und Midrasch, 2nd ed., Munich 1921, p. 2; A. Guttmann, Das redaktionelle und sachliche Verhältnis zwischen Milna und Tosefta, Breslau 1928; B. Weller, Baraita, in Eur. Ind., III, cols. 1055-57; A. Spanier, Die Toseftaperiode in der tannaistischen Literatur, Berlin 1936. Eugenio Zolli
Cite this article
“BĀRĀJTHĀ'.” Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. II (1949), p. 472. Azione Romana digital edition, https://azioneromana.com/article/barajtha.