Archives for March 2010

Printed editions of the Tosefta

The first printed edition of the Tosefta was done by the famous printer, Daniel Bomberg, in Venice, in 1521. It was printed together with the Halachot of the Rif in a 3 volume edition. The text of the Tosefta is dispersed throughout the volumes.  The editors of the Venice edition used at least two manuscripts, both of which contained many mistakes, as the editors themselves note in the end of Seder Zerayim. The editors wrote that despite many mistakes they did not change any of the text based on their own ideas, but rather kept exactly as it was in the manuscripts. Due to this strict adherence to the original manuscripts most scholars consider this edition authoritative enough to be used as one of the original references of the text together with the extant manuscripts.

Since then there have been only a few more editions of the Tosefta. Two of those editions are critical editions which contains variant readings from multiple manuscripts.

The first critical edition and the only such edition on the whole Tosefta was done by Rav Moshe Shmuel Zuckermandel, originally published in Trier, in 1882. The second edition was published in 1937, in Jerusalem. It was based on the Erfurt and the Vienna manuscripts. This edition still contained some mistakes in the text, since Zuckermandel did not write it directly from the manuscripts themselves but rather from their copies, some of which were made by him and some of which were made by others.

The second critical edition was done by Professor Saul Lieberman and published by JTS (Jewish Theological Seminary) in New York, in 1955, and then again with an additional volume in 1988. Lieberman used all of the available manuscripts and Geniza fragments and the Venice printed edition. It was proofread and compared to the facsimiles of the manuscripts multiple times, so it is very accurate. Unfortunately Lieberman did not publish the whole Tosefta. In 1955 only 3 Sedarim: Zerayim, Moed and Nashim, were published. And in 1988, already after his death, a 4^th volume of a part of Seder Nezikin with Masechtot Bava Kama, Bava Metzia and Bava Batra was published. Lieberman wrote in the introduction that he decided not to pick the best version of the text by critical analysis and instead followed the Vienna manuscript exactly as it was, since he felt that it was the best available manuscript. The variant readings from other manuscripts and the first edition are included in the notes below the main text.

The remaining editions of the text of the Tosefta are summarized in the list below. They are not really authoritative or particularly accurate as most of them are copied from the previous printed editions or the critical editions. In some cases the editors made changes to them based on the text that appears in Talmud Bavli or Yerushalmi, which made it really distorted since many times it only appears that the Talmud is quoting the Tosefta, when in reality it is quoting a different Beraita with similar content.

1)      Tosefta. Venice 1552. Complete. This is the 2^nd Venice edition by the press of Daniel Bomberg.

2)      Tosefta Magen Avraham. Amsterdam 1732. Seder Nezikin only.

3)      Tosefta Yam Yissachar. Metz 1769. Masechta Beitza only.

4)      Hatosefta. Vilna 1799. Seder Zerayim only. Published with the commentary of the Gra (Vilna Gaon).

5)      Tosefta Tosafot Bikkurim. Shklov 1809. Seder Moed only.

6)      Tosefta in the back of Talmud Bavli, Vilna Romm edition. Vilna 1835. Complete. This is the most common edition of the Tosefta as it is reprinted with every reprint of Talmud Bavli.

7)      Tosefta Tanna Tosfaa. Vilna 1837. Seder Nashim only.

8)      Tosefta Cheshek Shlomo. Presbourg 1889-1890. Sedarim Zerayim and Nashim only. The text was edited by Rav Shlomo Leib Friedlander, the author of the commentary on the Tosefta, Cheshek Shlomo.

9)      Tosefta Minchat Yitzchak. Jerusalem 1889-1914. Seder Zerayim and Masechta Shabbat only.

10)   Tosefta Higayon Aryeh. Vilna 1890 – Frankfurt Am Main 1901, 1912. Seder Zerayim and Masechtot Bava Kama and Chulin only. The text was edited by Rav Aryeh Schwartz, the author of the commentary on the Tosefta, Higayon Aryeh.

11)   Tosefta Techelet Mordechai. Paks (Hungary) 1895-1901. Seder Moed only.

12)   Tosefta Chazon Yechezkel. Vilna 1925 – Jerusalem 1975. Complete. It should be noted that the text of the Tosefta was edited by the editor of the printing press and not by Rav Yechezkel Abramsky who wrote the commentary Chazon Yechezkel, as mentioned in the introduction of the editor.

13)   Tosefta Shleima. Tel Aviv 1938. Masechta Shabbat only. The Text is vowelized.

14)   Mishna Vehatosefta. Haifa, 1939. Masechta Berachot only. The text was edited and vowelized by Yakov Meir Zelkind.

15)   Tosefta Chasdei David. Jerusalem 1970. Complete. This edition contains the text from second Venice edition of 1552.

Manuscripts of the Tosefta

There are 3 extant manuscripts of the Tosefta: Vienna Manuscript, Erfurt Manuscript, and London Manuscript. Besides the three manuscripts there are also small sections of the Tosefta that were found in the Cairo Geniza and the European Geniza and are known as the Geniza Fragments. Saul Lieberman, in his edition of the Tosefta of Seder Nezikin, considered one of these fragments a manuscript, known as the Schocken manuscript, although most scholars consider it a fragment since it is only a few pages long.

The Vienna Manuscript

The Vienna Manuscript is the only complete extant manuscript of the Tosefta. It was written approximately in the end of the 13^th, beginning of the 14^th centuries. It is written in square Sephardic script on parchment and contains 327 folios. Its catalog number is Hebrew Manuscript #20, Austrian National Library in Vienna (Cod. Hebrew 20, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Wien). The Vienna Manuscript is missing the following 10 small sections of the Tosefta due to missing folios.

1)      Demai, middle of chapter 5 – chapter 8

2)      Terumot, chapter 1 – middle of chapter 2

3)      Nazir, middle of chapter 3 – middle of chapter 4

4)      Sotah, middle of chapter 6 – middle of chapter 7

5)      Bava Batra, middle of chapter 2 – middle of chapter 4

6)      Sanhedrin, middle of chapter 8 – middle of chapter 9

7)      Makkot, chapter 2

8)      Ohalot, middle of chapter 4 – middle of chapter 5

9)      Mikvaot, middle of chapter 3 – middle of chapter 6

10)   Zavim, middle of chapter 1 – middle of chapter 3

At the end of the manuscript there is a short history of its travels. In the Jewish year 5100 (1340) it belonged to a man by the name of Rav Menachem Bar Avraham. He sold it in the month of Tamuz of that year to Rav Daniel Bar Moshe Hakohen for 10 ½ gold coins. Then in the Jewish year 5307 (1547) it was purchased by Rav Yosef Bar Yehoshua Hakohen of Genoa, Italy for 40 gold coins. This Rav Yehoshua was a known historian who wrote a book Emek Habacha on the history of the Jewish people. Then in the year 5490 (1730) it was bought by some Rav Yakov. Finally, in 1843, the manuscript was in the possession of Rav Avraham Ginsburg who sold it to the Vienna Library for 200 florins.

The Vienna Manuscript, folio 15. End of Berachot, beginning of Peah.

The Erfurt Manuscript

The Erfurt Manuscript is the oldest extant manuscript of the Tosefta, although it is not complete. According to Saul Lieberman, in his introduction to his edition of the Tosefta, it was written sometime during the 12^th century in Germany, by an Ashkenazi scribe. The Erfurt Manuscript contains the first four Sedarim (Zerayim, Moed, Nashim and Nezikin) of the Tosefta and the first four and a half chapters of Masechta Zevachim. After that the manuscript stops implying that it was never finished by the original scribe. It contains 226 folios, 222 of which is the Tosefta and the last 4 is some other material.

The history of the Erfurt manuscript is partially written on its last page and partially in the Memorial Book of the City of Erfurt. The gist of the receipt written on the last page of the manuscript is as follows. In the Jewish year 5020 (1260) it was owned by Rav Yakov Bar Simcha. This Rav Yakov owed some money to Rav Elazar Bar Yitzchak Halevi. A third of this manuscript, together with another book was given to a third party, Rav Yehudah Bar Shneur, to be held as collateral until Rav Yakov paid his debt to Rav Elazar. The story continues in the Memorial Book of the city of Erfurt, Germany. In the year 1362, the council of the city of Erfurt sold a bunch of Jewish manuscripts for 34 marks. Prior to that these manuscripts laid around for many years in the building of the city council in Erfurt, including during the Jewish pogroms in 1349 which followed the epidemic of Black Plague. In 1879, 16 of these manuscripts were found in the Erfurt Evangelical Church Library and among them was the manuscript of the Tosefta, labeled N.11V.12. In 1879 this collection of manuscripts was transferred to the German National Library in Berlin, where they remain today. The name of the Tosefta manuscript remains to be the Erfurt Manuscript, based on the city where it was originally found. The manuscript is labeled in the Berlin National Library as Staatsbibliothek (Preussischer Kulturbesitz) Or. fol. 1220.

The manuscript contains blood stains on it, which suggests that one of its owners was murdered or at least very hurt during some violent encounter, at which point the manuscript was taken away from him. I would suggest that it is very possible that this happened during one of Jewish pogroms in Germany, which is how the manuscript made its way to the Erfurt Evangelical Church, where the manuscripts stolen from Jews were collected. But this is only a theory.

The Erfurt Manuscript, folio 16. End of Berachot, beginning of Peah.

The London Manuscript

The London Manuscript is the most recent and 2^nd shortest manuscript of the Tosefta, as it contains only Seder Moed and Masechta Chulin on 73 folios. It is estimated to be written in the 15^th century in Sephardic African writing style. The manuscript is kept in the British Museum, labeled London British Library Add. 27296.

The London Manuscript. Shekalim, chapter 3.

The Schocken Manuscript

The Schocken Manuscript is not really a manuscript but rather a large fragment of the Tosefta. It contains only 4 folios with a small part of Seder Nezikin. The end of chapter 11 of Bava Kamma through chapter 5 of Bava Metzia. The fragment itself is not complete, because the pages are ripped. The manuscript is kept in the Schocken Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary in Jerusalem and is labeled Manuscript 2041.

The Schocken Manuscript. Bava Metzia, chapter 5.

The Geniza Fragments

The Geniza Fragments of the Tosefta mostly originate either from the Cairo Geniza or from the European (mostly Italian) Geniza and are dispersed throughout various collections in many libraries around the world. Among them is the oldest extant fragment of the Tosefta dating from the 10^th century, from the city of Norcia, Italy, which contains a part of Masechta Nedarim.

Geniza Fragment from the Italian Geniza. Bologna, Italy, Archivio di Stato, Hebrew fragment 14. Sephardic square script. 13^th century. Tosefta Megillah, end of chapter 1, beginning of chapter 2.

Oldest extant Geniza Fragment of the Tosefta from the Italian Geniza. Norcia, Italy, Archivio Storico Comunale, Hebrew fragment 1.1. Oriental square script. 10^th century. Tosefta Nedarim, section of chapters 5 and 6.

The order of the tractates of the Tosefta

There are six orders (Sedarim) of the Tosefta, just like there are six orders of the Mishna. The six orders are:

1)      Zerayim – Seeds

2)      Moed – Holiday

3)      Nashim – Women

4)      Nezikin – Damages

5)      Kadshim – Holy Objects

6)      Taharot – Purities

The order of the Masechtot of the Tosefta generally follows the order of the Mishna, although there are some variations between different manuscripts and printed editions of the Tosefta. There is one exception to this, which is the Masechta Keilim. In the Mishna it is a single tractate, where as in the Tosefta it is split into three separate tractates, known as, Bava Kama, Bava Metzia and Bava Batra. These should not be confused with regular Masechtot, Bava Kama, Bava Metzia and Bava Batra in Seder (Order) Nezikin. To differentiate between them the three tractates of Masechta Keilim are usually called with the prefix “Keilim” (i.e. Keilim Bava Kama, etc…) where as the regular Bavot from Nezikin are called without a prefix (i.e. Bava Kama, etc…). Altogether there are 61 tractates in the Tosefta. The names of the Masechtot also vary between different manuscripts and editions. Even the name of Seder Nezikin is changed in the Erfurt Manuscript of the Tosefta to Seder Yeshuot (The Order of Salvations).

There are four Masechtot in the Mishna that do not have a corresponding Masechta in the Tosefta. This also points to the time of the Tosefta’s compilation being after the Mishna, hence some Masechtot have been omitted, although it is possible that they have existed and simply have been lost over time since the Tosefta was not as popular as the Mishna. The following tractates of the Mishna are completely omitted in the Tosefta:

a)      From Seder Nezikin:

1)      Avot

b)      From Seder Kadshim:

2)      Tamid

3)      Middot

4)      Kinnim

The following table shows all of the variations in the order and names of the tractates of the Tosefta known to me. If a particular Masechta is missing in a particular manuscript its name is omitted in the table for that manuscript. If a name of the tractate is different in a particular manuscript or edition then its used name is written first and the more commonly known name is written in parenthesis.