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| Tosefet Yom Tov (later Tosefot Yom Tov) Mishna commentary by R. Yom Tov Lipmann Heller, Prague, 1614-1617. |
Introduction
This article—based extensively on the research by Professor Jason Kalman[1]—examines the question of biblical verses, cited as proof texts, that added to our versions of the Mishna. Based on comparisons between our Mishna texts and their earlier manuscripts and printings, in almost twenty per cent of the cases, these scriptural citations are missing in the earlier and more original versions. This means that one out of five biblical verses, acting to compliment or support a contemporary Mishna text, is a later insertion.
Until recently, not much research had been conducted on the relative absence of biblical citations found in a vast array of manuscripts and early printings of the Mishnah, in comparison with our contemporary version of the Mishna where these extra verses are to be found.
