[151] What the Mishnah was will be explained below (p. [358]), where a general description of the Talmud is given.
[152] These singular assertions will be found in the Mishnah, in the Talmudic treatises of the Sanhedrim and the Baba-Bathra.
[153] Halachah signifies literally custom, practice, rule. The term is further explained and illustrated in the following chapter on the “Contents of the Talmud.” Haggadah, which generally signifies Tradition, is also explained and illustrated (see Appendix).
[154] These Scribes, their position and means of livelihood, are discussed more fully below on p. [350].
[155] The Mishnah and the Gemara are explained in detail below on p. [358].
[156] Dr. Emanuel Deutsch.
[157] The period here referred to extended from the return from the Captivity—the days of Ezra—roughly until the Christian era.
[158] At the close of this Fifth Book is a short general description of “Haggadah.” See, too, in the Appendix for a further description of Haggadah and Halachah.
[159] Of Akiba, the Mishnah tells us, as he was in his last agonies, while his flesh was being torn with combs of iron, he kept repeating the words of the “Shema” invocation, “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is One.” He lingered over the word One, and expired as he uttered the word “One.” The ministering angels then said before the Holy One, “Such is Torah (the Law), and such is its reward.” Bath Qol (the heavenly voice) went forth and said. “Happy art thou, Rabbi Akiba, that thou art invited to the life of the world to come....”
Such was the end of Akiba, the most exalted, most romantic, and most heroic character perhaps in that vast gallery of the learned of his time. The most remarkable period of his career may be dated about A.D. 110–35.