Mishnah shortening the Shulchan?

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asked 3 years ago

I spoke with a well-known rabbi here. We got to discussing what the original purpose of the Mishnah was. I told him (following what you wrote in the article on validity) that the Mishnah was initially intended to democratize and simplify the learning of halacha for everyone, so that everyone would know the halacha, and not the other way around to make the halacha more complex and hermetic. In other words, we can say that initially the Mishnah was their shortened Shulchan Arba. Only after that was the Gemara born, etc.
And he claimed that absolutely not, and that the Mishnah is only a collection of the teachings of the Tanais who existed at that time, and a collection of their sayings and teachings.
Then he told me that’s why he’s not impressed by the authenticity. Because the Mishnah was simply written and accompanied by explanations, here and there, that explain and expand on it.

Who do you think is right?

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מיכי Staff answered 3 years ago

I didn’t understand the question. You present my opinion and then a dissenting opinion asks me who I think is right? But that is not my opinion. The Mishnah is not intended to be a summary of Sha’ar. I don’t know where you saw that in my words. The Mishnah is a collection of halakhic opinions, and its purpose is not necessarily to decide or constitute a book of halakhic law, but rather to collect traditions. In this he is right. But I didn’t understand what this had to do with the question of validity. Even if this was the purpose of the Mishnah, it is still not clear why it was written in an illogical and unclear manner. Beyond that, it is clear that the oral traditions are not the source of validity, otherwise the Gemara would have had to bring the validity directly and not as an excuse for difficulties with the Mishnah. These are common excuses and are clearly not reasonable.

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EA replied 3 years ago

I understand. More precisely, my question is:
When Rabbi wrote the Mishnah, did he write it (in a way) so that there would be a Gemara on it, meaning commentaries and disputes on it, etc. Did he write it so that it would form the basis for a broader discussion, or did he write it simply so that people would know what the opinions of the various Tanais were on various matters, and could not imagine that a Gemara and commentaries, etc. would be born because of it?

מיכי Staff replied 3 years ago

I don't know, but it's likely he didn't know in advance what would happen.