__notoc__ Nashim ( he, נשים "Women" or "Wives") is the third order of the

Mishnah The Mishnah or the Mishna (; he, מִשְׁנָה, "study by repetition", from the verb ''shanah'' , or "to study and review", also "secondary") is the first major written collection of the Jewish oral traditions which is known as the Oral Torah ...

(also of the

Tosefta The Tosefta (Jewish Babylonian Aramaic: תוספתא "supplement, addition") is a compilation of the Jewish oral law from the late 2nd century, the period of the Mishnah. Overview In many ways, the Tosefta acts as a supplement to the Mishnah ( ...

and

Talmud The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cente ...

) containing family law. Of the six orders of the Mishnah, it is the shortest. Nashim consists of seven

tractate A tractate is a written work dealing formally and systematically with a subject; the word derives from the Latin ''tractatus'', meaning treatise. One example of its use is in citing a section of the Talmud, when the term ''masekhet'' () is used i ...

s: #'' Yevamot'' ( "Brothers-in-Law") deals with the Jewish law of yibbum (

levirate marriage Levirate marriage is a type of marriage in which the brother of a deceased man is obliged to marry his brother's widow. Levirate marriage has been practiced by societies with a strong clan structure in which exogamous marriage (i.e. marriage out ...

) () and other topics such as the status of minors. It consists of 16 chapters. #''

Ketubot A ketubah (; he, כְּתוּבָּה) is a Jewish marriage contract. It is considered an integral part of a Jewish views of marriage, traditional Jewish marriage, and outlines the rights and responsibilities of the groom, in relation to the b ...

'' (, "Prenuptial agreements") deals with the

ketubah A ketubah (; he, כְּתוּבָּה) is a Jewish marriage contract. It is considered an integral part of a traditional Jewish marriage, and outlines the rights and responsibilities of the groom, in relation to the bride. In modern practice, ...

(Judaism's prenuptial agreement), as well as topics such as

virginity Virginity is the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. The term ''virgin'' originally only referred to sexually inexperienced women, but has evolved to encompass a range of definitions, as found in traditional, modern ...

, and the obligations of a couple towards each other. It consists of 13 chapters. #''

Nedarim In Judaism, a neder (נדר, plural ''nedarim'') is a kind of vow or oath. The neder may consist of performing some act in the future (either once or regularly) or abstaining from a particular type of activity of the person's choice. The concept o ...

'' (, "Vows") deals with various types of vows often known as ''nedarim'' and their legal consequences. It consists of 11 chapters. #'' ''Nazir'''' ( "One who abstains") deals with the details of the Nazirite vow and being a Nazirite (). It consists of 9 chapters. #'' Sotah'' ( "Wayward wife") deals with the ritual of the sotah, the woman suspected of adultery () as well as other rituals involving a spoken formula (such as breaking the heifer's neck, the King's Septennial public Torah reading, the Blessings and Curses of

Mount Gerizim Mount Gerizim (; Samaritan Hebrew: ''ʾĀ̊rgā̊rīzēm''; Hebrew: ''Har Gərīzīm''; ar, جَبَل جَرِزِيم ''Jabal Jarizīm'' or جَبَلُ ٱلطُّورِ ''Jabal at-Ṭūr'') is one of two mountains in the immediate vicinit ...

and

Mount Ebal Mount Ebal ( he, ''Har ʿĒyḇāl''; ar, جبل عيبال ''Jabal ‘Aybāl'') is one of the two mountains in the immediate vicinity of the city of Nablus in the West Bank (biblical ''Shechem''), and forms the northern side of the valley in ...

, etc...). It consists of nine chapters. #'' Gittin'': ( "Documents") deals with the concepts of

divorces Divorce (also known as dissolution of marriage) is the process of terminating a marriage or marital union. Divorce usually entails the canceling or reorganizing of the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage, thus dissolving the ...

and other documents. It consists of 9 chapters. #'' Kiddushin'': ( "Betrothal") deals with the initial stage of marriage – betrothal, as well as the laws of Jewish lineages. It consists of 4 chapters.

Order of tractates

The traditional reasoning for the order of tractates according to

Maimonides Musa ibn Maimon (1138–1204), commonly known as Maimonides (); la, Moses Maimonides and also referred to by the acronym Rambam ( he, רמב״ם), was a Sephardic Jewish philosopher who became one of the most prolific and influential Torah ...

is as follows: *''Yevamot'' is first because unlike the others, it is largely concerned with a compulsory commandment (levirate marriage) as opposed to a voluntary one. *''Ketubot'' follows as it signifies the beginning of married life. *''Nedarim'' follows because once a man is married to a woman, he has the legal right (under certain conditions) to annul her vows. *''Nazir'', dealing with a special type of vow is a continuation on the subject of vows. *The penultimate sections deal with the end of a marriage with ''Sotah'' which is concerned with infidelity and ''Gittin'' which is about actual divorce (Rambam's order swaps these two). *''Kiddushin'' is at the end because it follows the Scriptural order that once a woman is divorced, she can get betrothed to any man, this subsequent betrothal symbolised by the placement of ''Kiddushin''. Both the Babylonian and Jerusalem Talmuds have a

Gemara The Gemara (also transliterated Gemarah, or in Yiddish Gemo(r)re; from Aramaic , from the Semitic root ג-מ-ר ''gamar'', to finish or complete) is the component of the Talmud comprising rabbinical analysis of and commentary on the Mishnah w ...

on each of the tractates in the order.

Order of tractates

References

External links