Mishnah - Division into Orders.

The Mishnah is divided into six main parts, called orders (Aramaic, "sedarim," plural of "seder"; Hebr. "'arakin," plural of "'erek"), the (as in B. M. 85b) or the (Pesiḳ., ed. Buber, 7a; Cant. R. vi. 4) being therefore frequently mentioned. The abbreviated name ("shas") was formed from the initial letters of (Ḥag. 3a, 10a; M. Ḳ. 10b). Each order contains a number of treatises, "massektot" (Mishnah, ed. Lowe, fol. 32a; Midr. Teh. to Ps. civ.) or "massekot" (Mishnah, ed. Lowe, fol. 69a), plural of "masseket," or "massektiyyot" (Cant. R. vi. 9), the singular of which is "massekta." Each treatise is divided into chapters, "peraḳim" (singular, "pereḳ") (Ned. 8a; Ḥag. 9a; Men. 99b), and each chapter into paragraphs or sentences, "mishnayot," or "halakot" in the Palestinian Talmud (see above).

The six orders are first mentioned by R. Ḥiyya (B. M. 85b), and represent the original division. A division into five orders is nowhere mentioned, although Geiger ("Einiges über Plan," etc., p. 487), misinterpreting the Midrash passage Num. R. xiii., considers only five orders to be enumerated there. Ulla (Meg. 28b), when he alludes to those who teach and learn only four orders, does not imply that the Mishnah was divided into four orders, but refers merely to those who study only four. This conclusion is confirmed by a conversation in which Simeon b. Laḳish communicates to a man who has studied only the first four orders a sentence belonging to the sixth order (Meg.28b). The geonic tradition ("Sha'are Teshubah," No. 143) which refers to seven orders of the Mishnah seems to include the "Small Treatises" ("Massektot Ḳeṭannot"; Hoffmann, l.c. pp.98-99). The names of the orders are old, and are mentioned by Simeon b. Laḳish (Shab. 31a), who enumerates them, according to his interpretation of Isa. xxxiii. 6, in the following sequence: Zera'im, Mo'ed, Nashim, Neziḳin, Ḳodashim, Ṭohorot. This is the original order, which is found also in Num. R. xiii. There are other enumerations with different sequences. R. Tanḥuma has the following in Yalḳ., Ps. xix.: Nashim, Zera'im, Ṭohorot, Mo'ed, Ḳodashim, Neziḳin. He gives another series in Num. R. xiii.: Nashim, Zera'im, Mo'ed, Ḳodashim, Ṭohorot, Neziḳin. As R. Tanḥuma evidently does not intend to give the actual sequence but only to explain the verses as referring to the orders of the Mishnah, he adapts his enumeration of the orders to the sequence of the verses. That Simeon b. Laḳish's sequence is the correct one may be proved also from other sources. For example, Ta'an. 24b has: "In the days of Rab Judas they went in their studies only as far as the order Neziḳin; but we study all six orders." The parallel passage reads: "We have proceeded in our studies as far as 'Uḳẓin" (the end of the sixth order Ṭohorot). It is clear from Meg. 28b that formerly only four orders were studied, of which Neziḳin formed the conclusion (according to Ta'an. 24a, where the shorter course of study in former times is mentioned in another form of expression). That the treatise 'Uḳẓin of the order Ṭohorot was the end of the sixth order is shown by Ber. 20a. It is seen, therefore, that the order Neziḳin is always mentioned as the fourth, and the order Ṭohorot as the sixth and last, thus conforming to the sequence of Simeon b. Laḳish (comp. Brüll, l.c. ii. 15; Weiss, l.c. iii. 186). Isaac ibn Gabbai, author of the mishnaic commentary "Kaf Naḥat," has, consequently, no grounds for his reversal of the arrangement of the orders (comp. Lipmann Heller, l.c. Preface); nor is there any foundation for the attempt of Tobias Cohn to reverse the sequence ("Aufeinanderfolge der Mischna Ordnungen," in Geiger's "Jüd. Zeit." iv. 126 et seq.). For a justification of the accepted sequence see the introduction of Maimonides to his commentary on the Mishnah; Frankel, l.c. p. 254; Brüll, l.c. ii. 15-16. It can not be ascertained whether Rabbi himself originated this sequence, or whether the orders were thus discussed in the academies. Isaac Alfasi and Asher b. Jehiel apply the Talmudic passage "En seder le-Mishnah" (= "Rabbi observed no definite sequence in the Mishnah") to the orders as well, and infer that this arrangement did not originate with Rabbi himself. Other authorities, however, assert that the passage "En seder le-Mishnah" refers only to the treatises, and not to the orders; for here Rabbi himself observed a definite series (comp. Lipmann Heller, l.c.; idem, commentary on Soṭah ix. 1). This view seems to be the correct one, since Simeon b. Laḳish, who was in his youth a pupil of Rabbi (Yer. Beẓah v. 2, 63a), refers to this sequence of the orders as being well known. The names of the several orders, which are frequently mentioned in the Talmud (Suk. 4b; Shab. 54b; Meg. 7a; Nid. 8a; Bek. 30b), were selected according to the subject of most of the treatises belonging to them.