Bible Dictionaries
Tosephta

Holman Bible Dictionary

The Hebrew term tosafah and its Aramaic parallel tosephta denote a collection of additional rabbinic opinion arranged in the order of the Mishnah of Judah ha-Nasi. It may be regarded as a collected appendix to the Mishnah. In its current form, the Tosephta was probably edited about the end of the fourth century A.D. It was compiled in Palestine at about the same time as the Jerusalem Talmud. The intent of the editor seems to have been to “update” or further supplement the Mishnah with reference to new case law developed over the two centuries that separated the two works. Its existence shows the development in the legal system of the rabbis of Palestine as they sought to adapt the law orally to new and changing social and religious conditions. See Mishnah; Talmud .

Stephenson Humphries-Brooks