The Law of Agriculture in the Mishnah and the Tosefta (3 vols)

This project presents in three volumes the Mishnah’s and the Tosefta’s first division, Zera‘im (Agriculture), organized in eleven topical tractates, together with a systematic history of the law of Zeraim in the Mishnah. To the exposition of the Halakhah on the chosen topic, the Mishnah-tractates are primary but complemented by the Tosefta’s presentation of its collection of glosses of the Mishnah’s law and supplements to that law.
The Mishnah’s and the Tosefta’s tractates are integrated, with the Tosefta’s complement given in the setting of the Mishnah’s rules, and the whole is given in English translation. The presentation in each case encompasses an introduction, a form-analytical translation and commentary, a systematic integration of the Tosefta’s compositions into the Mishnah’s laws, an explanation of the details of the law, and an inquiry into how the Halakhah of the Mishnah and that of the Tosefta intersect, item by item.

Jacob Neusner is research professor of Theology at Bard College and Senior Fellow of the Institute of Advanced Theology at Bard. He is also a member of the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, New Jersey, and Life Member of Clare Hall, Cambridge University, England. He has published more than 900 books and unnumbered articles.