Mipnei Darkei Shalom: The Promotion of Harmonious Relationships in the Mishnah’s Social Order
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Simcha Fishbane
Abstract
This paper will examine the principal of mipnei darkei shalom (in the interest of peace) as it manifests itself in the social order of Mishnah. This principle was used by the rabbis to modify putative laws sometimes explicitly stated in Mishnaic texts and at other times only implied. The Mishnah presents its reader with ten cases of mipnei darkei shalom. Before examining the cases, I first present eight assumptions on which Mishnah is based. These assumptions are used to analyze the ten cases and search out the components that motivate and justify the rabbis’ changing of an accepted law. Based upon my conclusions from the analysis of mipnei darkei shalom, I apply the Durkheim school of social theory to our evidence to better understand the social and cultural ideal world of Mishnah and its structure as presented by an early Palestinian rabbinic group. My intention is that this essay is to offer a better understanding of the sociology and culture of the ‘world’ as defined by and in Mishnah’s substance, even if that world does not mirror any contemporary or historical Palestinian Jewish world.
© 2017 by Academic Studies Press, Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Title
- Table of Contents
- From the Editors
- ESSAYS
- Inclusion and Exclusion in the Mishnah: Non-Jews, Converts, and the Nazir
- Textual Study and Social Formation: The Case of Mishnah
- Genealogies of the Future
- The Role of Life Motifs in Commitment Journeys of Ba’alei Teshuvah
- Mipnei Darkei Shalom: The Promotion of Harmonious Relationships in the Mishnah’s Social Order
- On the Unknown Soldier Symbol in Israeli Culture
- Why Religious Discourse Has a Place in Medical Ethics: An Example from Jewish Medical Ethics
- יוניש ךילהתב למס – ל"זח תורפסב הפוחה
- BOOK REVIEWS
- Jon D. Levenson, The Love of God: Divine Gift, Human Gratitude, and Mutual Faithfulness in Judaism (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2016), 235
- Todd M. Endelman, Leaving the Jewish Fold: Conversion and Radical Assimilation in Modern Jewish History. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2015
- Moshe Halbertal, On Sacrifice. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2012
Articles in the same Issue
- Title
- Table of Contents
- From the Editors
- ESSAYS
- Inclusion and Exclusion in the Mishnah: Non-Jews, Converts, and the Nazir
- Textual Study and Social Formation: The Case of Mishnah
- Genealogies of the Future
- The Role of Life Motifs in Commitment Journeys of Ba’alei Teshuvah
- Mipnei Darkei Shalom: The Promotion of Harmonious Relationships in the Mishnah’s Social Order
- On the Unknown Soldier Symbol in Israeli Culture
- Why Religious Discourse Has a Place in Medical Ethics: An Example from Jewish Medical Ethics
- יוניש ךילהתב למס – ל"זח תורפסב הפוחה
- BOOK REVIEWS
- Jon D. Levenson, The Love of God: Divine Gift, Human Gratitude, and Mutual Faithfulness in Judaism (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2016), 235
- Todd M. Endelman, Leaving the Jewish Fold: Conversion and Radical Assimilation in Modern Jewish History. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2015
- Moshe Halbertal, On Sacrifice. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2012
