The Mishnah in Western Esotericism

Rabbinic Judaism is typified by a kind of textual exegesis, which is essential for the story of Western Esotericism. The Mishnah was compiled soon after the Bar Kochba rebellion that I just mentioned in the 2nd century. It's an enormous collection of commentaries on the Torah - what you might call legal judgments by rabbis. To make sense of such a huge mishmash of different texts, which often contradict each other,. while at the same time insisting it all contains divinely revealed truth, you basically need esoteric interpretation.