the same authority to the teachers of the people. These were delivered verbally, not being contained in the code of laws written lown by Moses, and were, it is alleged, preserved from generation to generation by tradition, and delivered solemnly and with severe injunctions to preserve them unaltered from father to son.

It is held that the existence of these traditions during the time of the first Temple may be proved from the writings of the sacred historians and prophets. After its destruction, and the return of the Jews from the Babylonish captivity, the traditions were still preserved, so that a twofold code existed, the ana (torah sebakteb), Pentateuch or the Five Books of Moses, the written law, and then byaw nin (torah sebol pe), the verbal or unwritten law, founded upon and explanatory of the former.

During the period of the second temple, the great and influential sect, the Sadducees, denied the authority of this oral law. This sect, however, was not established till long after the return of the Jews from Babylon, and the earliest writer who mentions it is Josephus. The founders of this sect were of the school of Antigonus of Socho, head of the Sanhedrin in the third century before Christ. Zadok and Baithos, two of his disciples, differed from him, joined the Samaritans, who worshipped in their temple on Mount Gerizim, and established the sect which lasted till the reign of Justinian, who denounced them as atheists, and persecuted them with great violence. They are also mentioned by Maimonides, and in the nas (Aboth) of Rabbis Nathan and Abraham ben David as schismatics, who gainsaid the divine origin of the oral law and denied the resurrection of the dead and the immortality of the soul; agreeing in many points with the doctrines of the Epicurean philosophers. They were named Sadducees (or Zadokim Dp7) and Baithosees from their founders, Zadok and Baithos.e

But after the destruction of Jerusalem and the bloody persecutions and dispersion of the Jews under Hadrian, who prohibited the practice of their rites, and declared the transmission of the oral law, or the appointing a teacher learned in the law, under the penalty of death, it was feared that the oral law might be forgotten, and that if the chain of tradition became broken it would become obsolete.

It was, therefore, the care of their teachers to prevent this rupture, and to keep their people prepared for that restoration to freedom and nationality, to be again a freeholder and a citizen in the land of their forefathers. Such were the motives that ren

e

d Jewish Antiquities, lib. iii. c. ii., and xii. and lxiii. of his Jewish Wars. Geschichte, Lehren und Meinungen aller religiösen Sekten der Juden, by P. Beer, Brün, 1822,

dered

dered the preservation of those traditions which formed the oral law. One of their great teachers, Rabbi Jehuda Hachadosh, the hanassi, prince, patriarch, or chief of the school of Tiberias, in the time of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius, collected all the legal and ritual traditions and the various established decisions and embodied them in a work called the n (Mishna) Repetition or Doctrine of the Law. His Mishnah or first Talmud, notwithstanding the inconsistencies and obscurities with which it abounds, comprehends all the laws, institutions, and rules of life, which the Jews held themselves bound to observe, and many excellent aphorisms, soon obtained credit as a sacred book. It subsequently received additions and comments by other celebrated Rabbis, which were published in the fifth century by Rabbi Jochanan-ben-Eliezer, under the title of Gemara.

Rabbi Jehuda was assisted in this compilation by several learned associates, who were designated Tanaiim, or Mishnic Doctors, the most celebrated of whom was Rabbi Jochanan, his disciple. Within a century after this compilation, four commentaries on its contents were published by disciples of his school. Rab composed the treatises Jephra and Jephri, and Rabbi Chija wrote Josephta, to expound and elucidate its principles; Rabbies Hosea and ben-Caphara jointly composed Beraitha to interpret its contents, and Jochanan embodied these various commentaries, together with the different opinions expressed by learned Rabbies his contemporaries, in the work called the Jerusalem Talmûd.

A second and more laborious and extensive compilation was undertaken about a century later by Rabbi Asher, president of the Jewish Academy at Sura, who devoted three score years of his long life to this work, which is called the Babylonian Talmûd to distinguish it from the older or Jerusalem Talmûd. In this work he embodied all the opinions and explanations of the Mishnah up to his time. After his death, his successor, Rabbi Avina, laboured with equal zeal on this immense work, which was completed by the Saburaim about a century later, and contained the commentaries of Rashi, Josaphoth, Maimonides, Rabbenu Simeon, and Rabbi Asher.

The contents of the Talmûd are classed by the author of a treatise On the Social Condition of the Jews'h under two great heads, namely, лn (Halacoth), 'Decisions,' and

f About A.D. 164.

An edition of the Mishnah was published by Surenhusius, a celebrated Hebrew and Greek professor in the university of Amsterdam, in 1688, in six volumes folio. A translation into German of the Jerusalem and Babylonian Talmûds, the Mishnah and the Gemara, by Dr. M. Pinner, of the Asiatic Society, Paris, was announced for publication, in twenty-eight large folio volumes, Berlin, 1832.

In the Magazine of Rabbinical literature, vol. iii. p. 51. 8vo. Lond. 1836.

(Hagadoth),

(Hagadoth), Dissertations.' The first form that code of legal and ritual enactments which, derived from Moses, had been preserved, as before mentioned, by tradition and subsequently embodied in the Mishnah. These having been examined by the Amoraim or Talmûdic doctors and adopted by them, are the code of the oral law. These decisions, and the disputations and reasons by which they were established, became so numerous as to tax even the best memory. To obviate this objection, Maimonides abridged the Talmûd, and gave in his Jad Hachazakah (the Strong Hand), a complete digest of the Talmudic laws.

k

i

The nature of the dissertations, which formed the second great division of the Talmûd, is so general, that there is scarcely any subject, religious, moral, spiritual, or scientific, but that the Talmudic sages have noticed it. Many, if not most, of these dissertations are written in that metaphorical style of allegory, that was at all times so prevalent in the East. Some of these allegories would match for extravagance the fables of the Papists in their legendary tales; such as, that the Creator of the Universe puts on phylacteries, and prays; that he wraps himself in a taleth, like the reader of a congregation; that he is angered every day (note ib. Tr. Berachoth, p. 7); that he weeps (note ib. fo. 59, p. 1), that he roars m like a lion, and many other similar expressions with which the Talmûd abounds; and, if taken literally, are as contrary to the dictates of common sense as they are to the fundamental principles of the divine law as given in the Pentateuch. The most pious of their Rabbis declare the study of this second division of the Talmûd profitless and vain; and Maimonides expressly declares that no man should occupy himself with these disputations or devote much time to the ethics, as neither of them are to be considered as principles of faith, not promoting the love or fear of the Lord.

The jurisprudence of the Talmud is entitled to high respect, as combining the three great qualities of any code, namely, equity, efficiency, and dignity. The criminal code is humane, and the civil code attentive to the rights of person and property. One of their axioms," The enactments of the state are law,' is held to be so binding that no Jew can plead the sanction of the Talmûd as his authority for disobeying the laws of the land in which he lives, or for not being as good a citizen and as loyal a subject as any member of the community into which he is received; and many other similar commands as to their conduct towards their fellow men.

i Talmud, tr. Berachoth. m Ib., tr. Chulia, fo. 59, p. 2.

* Talmud,, tr. Rosh-hashannah, fo. 17, p. 2.
A few

.(dina de-meleetha dina) דינא דמלכותא דינא 1

A few examples of the aphorisms or maxims of the Talmudic doctors will suffice to show the spirit of this great but inconsistent compilation, which may be correctly described as consisting of good, bad, and indifferent:

'AKABIAH, the son of Mehallel, said, " Contemplate three things, and thou wilt avoid sin; know whence thou comest, whither thou goest, and before whom thou art to render a responsible account. Whence camest thou? From a perishable atom. Whither goest thou? To a place of ashes, worms, and maggots. Before whom art thou hereafter to render an account? Before the Sovereign of the

King of Kings, the Holy One-blessed be HE."

RABBI DOSA, the son of Harchinas, said, "Sleep in the morning, wine in the forenoon, childish conversation, and frequenting the assemblies of the worldly-minded, drive a man out of the world."

RABBI AKIBA said, "Laughter and levity accustom men to lewdness; tradition forms a fence to the law; titles form a fence to riches; vows a fence for abstinence; and the fence for wisdom is science."

'He (R. Akiba) used to say, "Man is beloved, for he was created in the image of God; but that love was greater still, which made it known to him that he was made in the image of God; as it is said, In the image of God he made man.'"

6

'BEN ZOMA said, "Who is truly wise? He who is willing to receive instruction from all men: As it is written, From all my teachers I gather understanding.' Who is truly a hero? He who subdues his own passions :-As it is said, ' He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he who governs his own temper, than he who taketh a city.' Who is truly happy? He who is contented with his lot as it is said, When thou shalt eat of the labours of thine hands, then happy shalt thou be, and it shall be well with thee. Happy shalt thou be in this world, and it shall be well with thee in the world to come.' Who is truly honourable? He who honoureth the human species; as it is written, For them who honour me will I honour, and they who despise me shall be lightly esteemed.'"

'BEN AZAI said, "Run to the performance of the slightest commandment, and flee from the commission of sin; for the performance of one precept leads to another, and one sin involves the commission of another: as the reward of obeying one precept consists in the performance of another, so the recompense of sin is the evil of committing another."

He (Ben Azai) used to say, "Despise not any man, and do not spurn anything: for there is no man who hath not his hour, nor is there anything that hath not its place."

RABBI ELEAZAR ben Shamuang said, "Let the honour of thy • The name of this youthful teacher was Simeon; but as he died before he had obtained the inauguration and title of Rabbi, he is not called by his own name, but by that of his father. His rank was that of a disciple of the sages, not a sage.

P This youthful teacher, whose name was Simeon, is called by his patronymic for similar reasons to the preceding.

disciple

disciple be as dear to thee as thine own; and thy respect for thy companions as thy veneration for thy teacher; and thy veneration for thy teacher as thy fear of the Deity.'

'RABBI SIMEON said, "There are three crowns; the crown of the law, the crown of priesthood, and the crown of royalty: but the crown of a good name is superior to all of them."

6

RABBI SIMEON ben Eleazar said, "Attempt not to appease thy neighbour in the hour of his wrath, nor to console him while his dead lieth before him. Question him not at the time of his making a vow, nor be pressing to see him in the hour of his remorse."

'RABBI ELEAZAR Hakappar used to say, "Those who are born must die; the dead are made to live, and the living to be judged; to know, to make known, and to confess that HE, the Almighty God, is the former, the creator, the examiner, judge, witness, and complainant ; and HE is the judge for all times to come. Blessed is HE! in whose presence there is no unrighteousness, no forgetfulness, no respect of persons, no acceptance of bribes, for everything is his. Know also, that everything is done according to account. Let not thine

imagination feed thee with the hope that the grave is a place of refuge for thee: for without thy consent thou wert formed, without thy consent thou wert born, without thy consent thou livest, without thy consent thou must die, and without thy consent thou must hereafter render a responsible account before the Sovereign of the King of Kings, the Holy One. Blessed be HE."

Of such and of similar sentiments were the axioms and monitions of the Talmûd composed, and every one of them enlarged by scores of folio commentaries and elucidations. Many of them shew a merely childish playing upon words, and some set forth mere truisms and logical extravaganzas; such as the following:

'RABBI ELEAZAR, the son of Azariah, said, "If there be no knowledge of the law, there can be no correct worldly conduct; and if there be no correct worldly conduct, there certainly can be no law. If there is no fear of God, there can be no wisdom; and if there be no wisdom, there can be no fear of God. If there be no knowledge, there can be no understanding; and if there is no understanding, there can be no knowledge. If there is no meal there can be no study of the law; and if there be no study of the law, there is no meal."

These wise sayings have also an elaborate commentary in the na nao (Mesceth Aboth), the Ethics of the Fathers, but the last aphorism of this ethic is unexplained.

The legends, allegories and tales, with which the Talmûd abounds, are as various as their axioms and ethics, but many of them are full of poetry and imagination. Of such are the following:

THE SUN AND THE MOON.

'From the council of the Eternal the creating decree went forth, "Two lights shall shine in the firmament; and they shall rule the earth, and decide revolving times and seasons."

HE