The Mishnah is the central work of classical rabbinic literature; the Palestinian and Babylonian Talmuds may be broadly described as its earliest commentaries. Its redaction is attributed primarily to Rabbi Judah the Prince, active about the turn of the 3rd century. Rabbi Judah and his contemporaries did not create the Mishnah out of a formless mass of rabbinic traditions and opinions; our Mishnah is the culmination of a process which included competing "Mishnahs" promulgated by various rabbis.…