Selected Topics from: G. Stemberger, Introduction to Talmud and Midrash

Tosefta:

Meaning of word:

From root YSP:Addition, Supplement -- to the Mishnah.

Term appears in Talmud-- Not clear that it refers to the same work, or to a particular work.

Perhaps it is a generic term for traditions that interpret the Mishnah.

Description of Tosefta:

Same as Mishnah:
• Six Orders
• lmost all the same tractates
• Some discrepancies in order of Tractates within Orders
• Composed in same Hebrew dialect as Mishnah.
• Same rabbis as in Mishnah, though the Tosefta contains more material from the last Tannaitic generation.

Redaction of Tosefta

• Talmudic associations with Rabbi Nehemiah, Rabbi Hiyya and Rabbi Hosha'yah cannot be verified by independent evidence.

Relationship to Mishnah

• Different phenomena:
• Slight variations, or added explanations.
• Different attributions of authors, or of unattributed statements
• Related material not included in Mishnah (especially in Aggadah)
• Comparative summaries of laws in theMishnah.
• Preserves older versions of material in the Mishnah.
• Purpose of Toefta
  Diverse theories, some farfetched:
• Portions of the Mishnah that were later excluded
• Attempt to challenge the authority of the Mishnah and its redactor by presenting alternative material.
• Supplementary material to enhance study of Mishnah.

Relationship to Talmuds

• Basic facts:
• Talmuds contain much material that is similar or identical to the Tosefta
• Talmuds often seem to be unaware of material that is found in the Tosefta.
• Jerusalem Talmud seems much more familiar with Tosefta than Babylonian.
• Proposed explanations
• Tosefta was composed after the Talmudic era, from material found in Talmuds.
• Individual Talmudic rabbis were familiar with Tosefta, but the redactors of the Babylonian Talmud were not.
• Questions have not been resolved yet.