Jewish teachings of the Tannaitic period were characteristically transmitted orally, and consisted of short sayings presented with or without attribution, which were memorized through repetition Shanah in Hebrew [ 1 ] and recited in halls of study. Being nearly three times as long, [ 4 ] it often complements the Mishna and expands upon it, and it served as the primary commentary on it for the Amoraim, creators of the Talmuds. At times, the text of the Tosefta agrees nearly verbatim with the Mishnah, in others, there are significant differences.
The Tosefta often attributes laws that are anonymous in the Mishnah to named Tannaim , [ 5 ] or attributes otherwise acreditted laws differently. The Tosefta often augments the Mishnah with additional glosses and discussions.
The question of dating the Tosefta is discussed extensively among scholars. There is no explicit mention of an author of the Tosefta within the Tosefta itself. Whereas the Mishna was considered authoritative, the Tosefta was supplementary.
The Talmud often utilizes the traditions found in the Tosefta to examine the text of the Mishnah. The traditional view is that the Tosefta should be dated to a period concurrent with or shortly after the redaction of the Mishnah. This view presupposes that the Tosefta was produced to record variant material not included in the Mishnah.
Modern scholarship can be roughly divided into two camps. Some, such as Jacob N. Epstein , theorize that the Tosefta as we have it developed from a proto-Tosefta recension that formed much of the basis for later Amoraic debate. Others, such as Hanokh Albeck , theorize that the Tosefta is a later compendium of several baraitot collections that were in use during the Amoraic period. More recent scholarship, such as that of Yaakov Elman , concludes that since the Tosefta, as we know it, must be dated linguistically as an example of Middle Hebrew 1 , it was most likely compiled in early Amoraic times from oral transmission of baraitot.
