MISHNAH. - A collection of rabbinic treatises from the 1st–3rd centuries A.D., constituting the “oral law,” i.e., the deductions drawn from the Pentateuch, originally transmitted orally. M. means “teaching,” from šanah (“to repeat, teach, learn”). The redactor of this corpus iuris was Rabbi Jehūdhāh han-Našīt; but the gathering of Mishnaic material goes back to the time of Hillel (q.v.) and Šammaj (q.v.), and its systematic arrangement was begun by R. 'Aqībā' (q.v.). The work of compiling the corpus was prompted by divergent opinions and the fear that the Torah might become “two Tōrōth.” R. Jehūdhāh presents not only the opinions he approves but also those he opposes, so as to render other collections superfluous. The M. also incorporates texts from another collection called Tōsephṭā' (q.v.). The text of the M. underwent slight variants as a result of discussions about its contents, which are collected in the gēmārā' (q.v.).
The language of the M. is post-biblical Neo-Hebrew, containing alongside numerous Aramaisms many words of Greek and Latin origin.
The M. consists of 6 “orders” (sēdher; rarely 'ērekh): šīšāh sēdharim (abbreviated šas). Each “order” comprises a given number of “tractates” (massēkhet, pl. massēkhtōth). The tractates are divided into chapters (pēreg, pl. pērāqim), and the chapters into legal norms set forth as teachings (mišnāh, pl. mišnājōth, called in the Palestinian Talmud halākhōth, “norms for practice”). The number of tractates is currently 63. The scholars mentioned in the M. are called tannaites (q.v.).
The 1st order, Zērā’Īm, “seeds,” deals with agriculture, but also with various offerings and sacrifices. It contains the following tractates:
a) Bērākhōth (q.v.) “blessings,” “thanksgivings,” in 9 chapters; in an ancient manuscript it is found at the end of the 2nd order and was placed here to begin with praise and thanks to the Lord. It prescribes the recitation of blessings: Šēma' (q.v.), the eighteen benedictions, table blessings, after meals, at the close of the Sabbath, on occasions of natural phenomena, and in extraordinary events.
b) Pērāh (“edge” of the field): treats (with reference to Lev. 19:9; 23:22; Deut. 24:19ff.) of the obligation incumbent on the owner, at harvest time, to leave the edges of the field free for the poor and strangers to glean, and to leave forgotten sheaves. It also deals with other matters concerning the poor. The tractate Pērāh is followed by the gēmārā' only in the Palestinian Talmud. It contains 8 chapters.
c) Dēmaj
Tario does not provide assurance regarding knowledge of the Law, nor does it resolve doubts about whether tithes and offerings for priests and Levites have been collected. It is therefore incumbent upon the purchaser to fulfill these obligations. If the owner is a worthy person, such obligations do not apply. It contains 7 chapters. In the Babylonian Talmud, this tractate has no gemara.
d) **Ki'ajim**: refers (with reference to Lev. 19:19 and Deut. 22:9 ff.) to the prohibition of mixed sowing, of animals, and of wool and linen in clothing. It has 9 chapters. Palestinian gemara.
e) **Šebhīt'ith** (a sabbatical year): deals with the law of the land’s rest and the remission of debts during the seventh (sabbatical) year. It has 10 chapters. It regulates purchases and sales during the seventh year, the use of spontaneously grown produce, the remission of debts, and the *prozbul*. Palestinian gemara.
f) **Térūmōth** (offerings): deals (cf. Num. 18:2 ff.) with the offerings due to the priest, who is unfit to perform this duty, and which products are exempt. It has 11 chapters. Palestinian gemara only.
g) **Ma'asīrōth**: tithes (Num. 18:21 ff.) due to the Levites. It has 7 chapters. It is also called **Ma'asīrīrōth** (first tithe).
h) **Ma'asīrēsēni** (second tithe): deals (cf. Deut. 14:22 ff.) with the tithe that the owner consumes in kind or in money in Jerusalem during pilgrimage festivals. It has 5 chapters.
i) **'Ālāth** (dough offering): an offering to the priest from the dough from which bread is to be baked (Num. 5:18–21); it determines which types of grain are subject to the offering, the housewife must give 1/24, the baker 1/48. It has 4 chapters. Palestinian gemara.
l) **'Orlāth**: produce of a tree in its first three years; "uncircumcised" (Lev. 19:23), its use is forbidden. It has 3 chapters. Palestinian gemara.
m) **Bikhīrīm** (firstfruits): Ex. 23:19; 34:26; Deut. 18:4; 26:1 ff. It has 3 chapters. It determines who may make the offering and recite the blessing to the Lord, the period for the offering, and the difference between this and other offerings. Chapter 4 is missing in some editions and is an excerpt from the *Tōsephītā*; it concerns differences between men and women regarding *bikhīrīm*. Palestinian gemara.
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The second order (**Mē'ēdāh**, "festivals") deals with the religious year’s festivals. It contains the following tractates:
a) **Šebhīth** (Sabbath): in 24 chapters, it deals with forbidden labors, from carrying objects and traveling to tying knots; 39 are the principal forbidden labors. Besides fire and circumcision, the tractate considers works performed by a non-Jew, necessary labors for sustenance, and labors for the dead. Babylonian gemara; Palestinian up to chapter 20.
b) **'Erūbīhīm** (boundaries): an ideal fusion of private and public enclosures to allow, on a festival day, one to go beyond the private enclosure without violating the law of rest. It has 10 chapters. It establishes applications of *‘erūbīhīm*: facilitations for soldiers in camp, a well in a public enclosure, roofs, carrying a child born in the open field into the house on the Sabbath, permitted Sabbath labors in the Temple. Little Palestinian gemara; abundant Babylonian.
c) **Pēsāḥīm**, "Passover": in 10 chapters, it establishes the removal of leavened matter, the grain for unleavened bread, whether the 14th of Nisan falls on the Sabbath, the Passover sacrifice, roasting the lamb, the bread components prepared for the consumption of the lamb, the "second" Passover (Num. 9:10 ff.), and the festive meal of the first evening. Abundant Babylonian and Palestinian gemara.
d) **Šeqālīm** (shekels): deals with the half-shekel tax (Ex. 30:12 ff.) for the maintenance of worship. It has 8 chapters. It regulates the time for the proclamation of payment and who has the duty to contribute, the exchange of coins and the use of surplus money, the case of one who has consecrated his goods, the offices in the sanctuary, the 13 tables and 13 gates where prostrations, sacrifices, and the Temple tent were performed.
e) **Jēmē'** (day), "disposition": an abbreviation of *jēmē' rabbā'* ("great day"), commonly called *jēmē' hak-kīppūrīm* (Day of Atonement). It deals in 8 chapters with the high priest’s preparations for the service, the drawing of lots for the assignment of individual priestly functions, the drawing of the goats, the purification of the golden altar, the confession and *‘Aṣēdā-ṣēl*, the reading of the Torah passage, and atonement.
f) **Sukkāh** (booth): in 5 chapters, it deals with the Feast of Tabernacles (v.), namely the construction and dwelling in the *sukkah*, the festive bundle (Lev. 23:40), festive ceremonies, the pouring of water, the sound of flutes, the sound of the shofar, and the sacrifices offered.
g) **Bēṣāh** (egg), so named from the first topic: Talmud (v.) it is called *jēmē' tōbīh* ("good day") (festival). It deals in 5 chapters with works that may be performed on a festival day when it precedes a festival or Sabbath.
h) **Rō'ṣḥāṣ-šānāh** (New Year): in 4 chapters, it deals with the various "New Years" within each year in which the Lord judges the world, the determination and attestation of the new moons, the blessing of the new moon, the sound of the shofar, and the liturgy of the New Year.
i) **Ta'ānīth** (fast): in 4 chapters, it deals with penitential or propitiatory occasions, namely prayer and ceremonies "ad petendam pluviam" (to request rain), occasional public fasts and those of a historical-national character (17th of Tammuz, 9th of Av), and the offering of wood for the Temple.
l) **Mēghillāh** (scroll), containing the Book of Esther: in 4 chapters, it deals with the precepts concerning the reading of the scroll, the sale of synagogues and sacred furnishings, the ten people required to determine the public character of a religious function, precepts regarding the reading of the Torah and the Prophets, and the translation of Holy Scripture.
m) **Mē'ēdāh** ("minor festivals"): on the semi-festive days inserted between the first and last days of Passover and the Feast of Tabernacles, Purim (v.), and similar occasions; permitted labors, funeral ceremonies (chapter 3).
n) **Ighāghāh**: "sacrifice": a festival offering alongside obligatory ones during pilgrimage festivals. In 2 chapters, it deals with: who has the duty to make the festival pilgrimage to Jerusalem; the prohibition of dabbling in gnosis; the laying of hands on the head of the animal to be offered, and the ritual washing of hands.
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The third order (**Nāšīm**, "women") deals chiefly with marriage law, family law, and the precepts concerning vows made by women, which the husband has the power to annul. It contains the following tractates:
a) **Jēbḥāmōth** (levirate marriages): on the levirate (v.), in 16 chapters.
b) **Kēthubōth** (marriage contracts): in 13 chapters, it deals with the days of wedding celebrations, seduction and violation, and patrimonial matters in cases of monogamy and polygamy.
c) **Nēdhārīm**, "vows" (Num. 30): in 11 chapters, it deals with the formulation of the vow; vows of abstinence of various kinds; and the dissolution of vows.
d) **Nāšīr** (Nazirite) (Num. 6): duration, value, prohibitions, purity and impurity, and the dissolution of the Nazirite vow; Naziriteship of women and slaves (9 chapters).
e) **Sōṭāh** (suspected wife): a woman suspected of adultery (Num. 5:11 ff.); it also deals with the heifer to be slain in the case of a murder by unknown perpetrators (Deut. 21:1–9); signs foretelling the advent of the Messiah; various degrees of sanctity and piety (9 chapters).
f) **Gītīm** (divorces), plural of *gēt*: documents for divorcing a wife (or freeing a slave). In 11 chapters, it deals with the precepts concerning the writing and delivery of the document that annuls the marriage.
g) **Qīdūšīn** (betrothal), i.e., the celebration of marriage: the act of *coemptio* by means of an object of value (minimum, symbolic), by proxy, or by delegation; which of the ten classes of families returned from the Babylonian exile may intermarry.
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The fourth order (**Nēṣīqīm** ("damages")) deals with civil and criminal law. In the Palestinian Talmud, it is euphemistically called **Jēšī'ōth** ("redemptions"). This order contains the following tractates of civil and criminal law:
a–c) (originally perhaps united): **Bābhā' qammā'**, "First Gate" (7 chapters); **Bābhā' mēṣṭā'**, "Middle Gate" (8 chapters); **Bābhā' bāth-rā'**, "Last Gate" (10 chapters): these are introductory in character.
d) **Sanhedrīn**, "Sanhedrin": in 11 chapters, it explains: the college of three judges, the small Sanhedrin of 23 and the great one of 71 members, the election of arbitral judges, witnesses, the death penalty, who is excluded from participation in the future life, the false prophet, and the privileges of the high priest and the king.
e) **Makhōth**, "stripes" (Deut. 25:1 ff.): in 3 chapters, it deals with false witnesses, the unintentional homicide, and the cities of refuge, and 59 actions punishable by lashes.
f) **Šēbhā'ōth**, "oaths" (8 chapters): expiation for sins against Levitical sanctity; various kinds of oaths; objects in custody.
g) **'Eḍhujōth**, "testimonies" (on 100 principal questions issued by ancient authorities).
h) **'Ābhōdīhāh zārāh**, "strange worship": the obligation to separate from pagans and pagan worship.
Roman restrictions on the buying and selling of animals and ornaments, buildings, palaces, images, and wine, as well as on pagan worship in general. h) 'Abhôt, 'fathers': sayings of ancient rabbis. io. Hôrâjôt, 'teachings', 'decisions': in 3 chapters it deals with error in a judicial sentence, the limits of responsibility of the tribunal and the judged, and genealogical values: priests, Levites, ordinary Israelites, proselytes, etc. A learned bastard is worth more than an ignorant high priest.
The 5th order (Qodhâšîm, 'sacrality, sacrificial worship') deals with sacrifices, ritual slaughter, and other dietary precepts. It contains the treatises: a) Zêbâhîm ('sacrifices'), in 14 chapters: the intentions with which the sacrifice is offered; what renders it unfit; the sprinkling of the blood; which priests are excluded from consuming the sacrificial meat. b) Mênâhôt ('grain offerings' [Lev. 2:2]), in 13 chapters: the firstfruits, the two loaves of Pentecost offered as firstfruits, the showbread on the sacred table; libations. c) Hullin ('secular [meat]', not sacrificial): in 11 chapters it deals with the slaughter of non-sacrificial animals, dietary precepts, prohibitions against slaughtering sick animals or those destined for pagan worship, the precept of Lev. 22:28 and Ex. 23:19; 34:26; Deut. 14:21 and Deut. 22:6. d) Bêkhôrôt ('firstborn'), in 9 chapters: concerns the precepts of Ex. 13:2, 12ff.; 34:19ff.; Lev. 27:26ff.; Num. 8:16ff.; 18:15ff.; Deut. 15:19ff. and 'Arâkhîn ('valuations'): concerning vows (Lev. 27:2ff.; 17:2–20) and persons who make vows. f) Têmûrâh ('substitution'), 7 chapters: substitution in the offering of animals (Lev. 27:10). g) Kêrîthôt ('extirpation'): premature natural death, often mentioned in the Torah, which transgressions are punished in this way, sacrificial precepts (6 chapters). h) Mê'îlâh: 'sacrilege' of trespass (Lev. 5:15; Num. 5:6ff.), in 6 chapters. i) Tâ-mîdîh (the 'perpetual' or 'daily' sacrifice: Ex. 29:38ff.; Num. 28:3ff.): the watches of the priests, ritual vestments, the sacrificial fire, morning prayer, incense, the psalms the priests sang on the individual days of the week (7 chapters). l) Mîddôt ('measurements' [of the Temple Mount; walls and courts]): the hall of the Sanhedrin (5 chapters). m) Qinnîm ('birds' nests'): the offering of two doves in Lev. 12:8; also Lev. 15:14ff.; 5:7; 14:22 (chapters).
The 6th order (Têhârôt, 'purities') deals with Levitical purity and impurity. It contains the treatises: a) Kêlim ('vessels' [of various kinds]): Levitical impurity of vessels (Lev. 6:20ff.; 11:32ff.; Num. 19:14ff.; 31:20ff.); the ten degrees of impurity that proceed from man and the ten degrees of holiness that extend from the Holy Land to the Holy of Holies in the Temple (30 chapters). b) 'Ôhâlôt ('tents'): the avoidance of impurity that emanates from a human corpse (Num. 19:14ff.), in 18 chapters. c) Nêghâ'îm ('plagues', leprosy [Lev. 13–14]), in 14 chapters. d) Pârâh ('heifer' [the red heifer: Num. 19]): deals with the case of an unknown slayer (Deut. 21) and the water of sprinkling, in 12 chapters. e) Tê-hârôt ('purities'): euphemism for lesser degrees of impurity. f) Mîgwâ'ôt ('baths' [ritual immersion]), in 10 chapters. g) Nîdâh ('menstruant' [and parturient; Lev. 12; 15:19ff.; 18:19; 20:18]), in 10 chapters. h) Makhîs-rîn or Maqîn, liquids by which foods can become ritually impure (Lev. 11:34, 37ff.). i) Zâbhîm ('those afflicted with gonorrhea' [Lev. 15]), in 15 chapters. l) Têbhûl jôm ('the immersion of the day'), i.e., the state of impurity of one who has performed the ritual bath and awaits sunset to be purified (Lev. 15; 22:6ff.); contact by a têbhûl jôm renders certain foods and offerings 'unfit', pâsîl (4 chapters). m) Jîdâhîm ('hands'): ritual impurity and purification of the hands; the untouchability of Sacred Scriptures; the quantity of water and manner of pouring it for purification (4 chapters). n) 'Ôq-sîn ('stems'): cases of impurity of stems, peels, and leaves of plants (3 chapters).
of Propaganda Fide. Following the publication of the Code of Canon Law, the Constitutions were revised and, with some additions and modifications, approved in 1921.
In 1947, the Constitutions were again examined. The modifications proposed by the General Chapter concerned especially the creation of provinces, their governance, and the powers of the provincial superior. In 1950, the Society numbered 85 houses in Europe and America, with 2,624 members, including 31 bishops, 2,118 priests, and 475 lay brothers, divided into nine provinces: namely, in addition to the jurisdiction of the Mother House, those of France, Germany, Belgium, Holland, England, Italy, Switzerland, Canada, and the United States of America.
The development of the Society and its works was very rapid. Initially, the missionaries cared for orphans gathered by the founder during the great famine of 1867–1869. In 1873, missions were founded in Kabylia (Algeria); in 1876, three White Fathers, sent by Monsignor Lavigne to Timbuktu, were massacred in the desert. In 1881, three other missionaries, departing from Tripoli, were killed in the region of Ghadames, in Libya. In 1878, Monsignor Lavigne accepted the foundation of St. Anne in Jerusalem, where the White Fathers attended to the formation of the Greek-Melkite clergy. In the same year, missions were founded in the Great Lakes region of Equatorial Africa, at Nyanza and Tanganyika. In Uganda, in the early years there were struggles and persecutions; in 1886, several Christians were martyred there.
In 1950, the missions entrusted to the White Fathers were divided into three regions: 1) North Africa, with missions in Kabylia and the Sahara; 2) West Africa, with missions in Bama, Bobo Dioulasso, Gao, Kayes, Nuna, Nzérékoré, Ouagadougou, Ouahigouya, Sikasso, Tamale, and Oyo; 3) Equatorial and East Africa, with missions in Uganda, Rwenzori, Masaka, Bukoba, Musoma, Maswa, Mwanza, Tabora, Kigoma, Karema, Mbeya, Bangwelo, Lwangwa, Nyassa, Northern Nyassa, Fort Jameson, Baudouinville, Kivu, Lake Albert, Rwanda, Kitenga and Ngozi in Urundi, and the mission in Mozambique.
Important is the organization of the indigenous clergy, with 368 priests and seven regional seminaries with 465 students. Several residences have been entrusted to the indigenous clergy. The vicariate of Masaka, in Uganda, of which Monsignor Giuseppe Kivanuka, a native Ugandan, is the apostolic vicar, has 58 indigenous priests.