Mary Georgiana Emma Seymour Dawson Damer, Diary of A Tour in Greece, Turkey… (1841)
“ IT has been very generally believed among the Jews, that when God gave to Moses the written law, He gave him also another, not written; and that this was preserved by tradition among the doctors of the synagogue, until rabbi Judah, surnamed the Holy, collected these traditions together, and (150 B. C.) reduced them to writing. The collection thus formed received the name of Mishna, or Second Law. After a while, commentaries were written on the Mishna, and amongst these, that of rabbi 290Johanas, composed about 230 A. D., and bearing the name of Gemara, or Completion, was the most celebrated. ”
