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2 unusual facts about Baraita of the Forty-nine Rules


Baraita of the Forty-nine Rules

The Mishnat ha-Middot has nothing in common with the Baraita cited by the old scholars under that name: for the citations leave no doubt that the Baraita, even in its mathematical parts, was founded on the Bible; whereas the Mishnat ha-Middot is a purely secular work, and, possibly, it drew upon the same source as did Mohammed b. Musa, the oldest Arabic mathematician.

The Baraita of the Forty-nine Rules (Hebrew: ברייתא מ"ט מדות) is a work of rabbinical literature which is no longer in existence except in references by later authorities. Rashi, the Tosafists, Abraham ibn Ezra, Yalḳut, and Asher ben Jehiel mention a work, "Baraita of the Forty-nine Rules," and make citations from it (thus, Rashi, ed. Berliner, on Ex. xxvi. 5; Yalḳ., Gen. 61, calls it "Midrash"; Rashi on Ex. xxvii. 6 calls it "Mishnah").



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