Page "Akiva ben Joseph" Paragraph 24

Johanan bar Nappaḥa ( 199 – 279 ) has left the following important note relative to the composition and editing of the Mishnah and other halakic works: " Our Mishnah comes directly from Rabbi Meir, the Tosefta from R. Nehemiah, the Sifra from R. Judah, and the Sifre from R. Simon ; but they all took Akiva for a model in their works and followed him " ( Sanh.

86a ).

One recognizes here the threefold division of the halakic material that emanated from Akiva: ( 1 ) The codified Halakah ( which is Mishnah ); ( 2 ) the Tosefta, which in its original form contains a concise logical argument for the Mishnah, somewhat like the Lebush of Mordecai Jafe on the Shulḥan ' Aruk ; ( 3 ) the halakic Midrash.