Editing Tosefta (section)

== Character ==
At times the commentary character of the Tosefta is explicit, as it will address the reasons for various statements of the Mishna in the form of questions and answers.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |title=The Literature of the sages |date=1987 |publisher=Van Gorcum |isbn=978-90-232-2282-8 |editor-last=Safrai |editor-first=Shemuʾel |series=Compendia rerum Iudaicarum ad Novum Testamentum. Section 2, Literature of the Jewish people in the period of the Second Temple and the Talmud |location=Assen Philadelphia |pages=289}}</ref> In other instances the Tosefta will provide a commentary which is interwoven with the words of the Mishna, or attached to the end of a Mishnaic passage as an appendix.<ref name=":3" /> Occasionally the Tosefta will quote a Mishna from a different chapter or tractate in order to illuminate the Mishna under discussion.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book |title=The Literature of the sages |date=1987 |publisher=Van Gorcum |isbn=978-90-232-2282-8 |editor-last=Safrai |editor-first=Shemuʾel |series=Compendia rerum Iudaicarum ad Novum Testamentum. Section 2, Literature of the Jewish people in the period of the Second Temple and the Talmud |location=Assen Philadelphia |publication-date= |pages=290}}</ref> When the Mishna discusses a prohibition in any given topic, the Tosefta will often supplement it with what may be permitted, and conversely when a permitted action is discussed, the Tosefta may supplement it with the prohibitions related to it.<ref name=":4" /> In certain cases the Mishna will provide the Halachic decree regarding the result of a certain sequence of actions, and the Tosefta will give the decree regarding the result of an opposite sequence.<ref name=":4" /> The Tosefta may also provide opinions differing from those mentioned in the Mishna, as well as reasoning, background and scriptural proofs for Mishnaic decrees.<ref name=":5" /> Finally, the Tosefta may use the Mishna as a point of departure for topics almost entirely absent from the Mishna.<ref name=":4" />

The main two layers in the Tosefta consist of the teachings of the students of [[Rabbi Akiva]] and those of the following generation, the latter being a layer largely not documented in the Mishna.<ref>{{Cite book |title=The Literature of the sages |date=1987 |publisher=Van Gorcum |isbn=978-90-232-2282-8 |editor-last=Safrai |editor-first=Shemuʾel |series=Compendia rerum Iudaicarum ad Novum Testamentum. Section 2, Literature of the Jewish people in the period of the Second Temple and the Talmud |location=Assen Philadelphia |pages=290-291}}</ref> Accordingly, certain topics discussed generally in the Mishna will be expanded and will receive a detailed elaboration, and previously undiscussed cases will be covered.<ref name=":5">{{Cite book |title=The Literature of the sages |date=1987 |publisher=Van Gorcum |isbn=978-90-232-2282-8 |editor-last=Safrai |editor-first=Shemuʾel |series=Compendia rerum Iudaicarum ad Novum Testamentum. Section 2, Literature of the Jewish people in the period of the Second Temple and the Talmud |location=Assen Philadelphia |pages=291}}</ref>