Note 2 — II. OUR DUTIES. (continued 3)

Hebrew titles of books are often fanciful names, which more or less distinctly imply either the nature or contents of the books, or the name of their authors. The Hebrew names for the fourteen books of Mishneh-torah are as follows: (1) ‏מדע‎ “Knowledge;” (2) ‏אהבה‎ “Love;” (3) ‏זמנים‎ “Seasons;” (4) ‏נשים‎ “Women;” (5) ‏קדושה‎ “Sanctification;” (6) ‏הפלאה‎ “Distinction;” (7) ‏זרעים‎ “Seeds;” (8) ‏עבודה‎ “Service;” (9) ‏קרבנות‎ “Sacrifices;” (10) ‏טהרה‎ “Purity;” (11) ‏נזיקין‎ “Damages;” (12) ‏קנין‎ “Acquisition:” (13) ‏משפטים‎ “Disputes;” (14) ‏שופטים‎ “Judges.” Rabbenu Jakob calls his work ‏ארבעה טורים‎ “Four Rows,” a name borrowed from Exod. xxviii. 17. The names of the four parts are: ‏ארח חיים‎ “Path of Life” (Ps. xvi. 11); ‏יורה דעה‎ “Teacher of knowledge” (Isa. xxviii. 9); ‏אבן העזר‎ “Stone of Help” (1 Sam. vii. 12, and Gen. ii. 18), and ‏חשן משפט‎ “Breastplate of Judgment” (Exod. xxviii. 15). ↑