The acceptance of the Mishna as the Canon of Jewish Law curtailed—theoretically at least—the freedom of the rabbis who now followed, in the evolving of new Law. This later group of teachers was henceforth at liberty only to expound the Mishna. They are therefore called Amoräim, expounders, to distinguish them from the Tannäim, that class of teachers who interpreted direct from the Scriptures and whose work closed with the Mishna.
The Mishna tended still further to emphasize the legal character of Judaism (p. 19). While it may have robbed the individual of spontaneity of religious action, it strengthened the bulwarks of moral law.
Notes and References.
Another collection similar to the Mishna and arranged on the same plan, was called Tosephta (addenda). This contains for the most part commentaries on Scripture and much of what has been called Agada (p. 187).
Read article "Prof. Schürer on Life Under the Law," by Israel Abrahams in Jewish Quarterly Review, vol. xi., and "The Law and Recent Criticism," Schechter, vol. iii.
"The Mishna is for the most part, free from the blemishes of the Roman code. There are fewer contradictory laws, fewer repetitions, fewer interpolations than in the digests: ... as regards a certain outspokenness in bodily things ... its language is infinitely purer than that of the mediaeval casuists."—E. Deutsch, The Talmud, J. P. S. A.
Theme for discussion:
What is Revelation, and how did the sages apply it to the Oral Law? (See "Ethics of the Fathers," ch. i), Sabbath Afternoon Service, Prayer Book.)