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Talmud
The Talmud (/ˈtɑːlmʊd, -məd, ˈtæl-/; Hebrew: תַּלְמוּד, romanized: Talmūḏ, lit. 'study, learning, teaching, instruction') is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism second in authority only to the Jewish Bible (Tanakh), whose core is the Torah. It is the primary source of Jewish religious law (halakha) and Jewish theology. It consists of the Oral Torah compiled in the Mishnah, and its commentaries, the Gemara. It records the teachings, opinions and disagreements of thousands of rabbis on a variety of subjects, including halakha, Jewish ethics, philosophy, customs, history, and folklore, and many other topics. Until the Haskalah era in the 18th and 19th centuries (sometimes called the "Jewish Enlightenment"), the Talmud was the centerpiece of cultural life in nearly all Jewish communities, and was foundational to "all Jewish thought and aspirations", serving also as "the guide for the daily life" of Jews.
The Talmud is a commentary on the Mishnah. This text is made up of 63 tractates, each covering one subject area. The language of the Talmud is Jewish Babylonian Aramaic. Talmudic tradition emerged and was compiled between the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE and the Arab conquest in the early seventh century. Traditionally, it is thought that the Talmud itself was compiled by Rav Ashi and Ravina II around 500 CE, although it is more likely that this happened in the middle of the sixth century.
The word 'Talmud' commonly refers to the Babylonian Talmud (Talmud Bavli) and not the earlier Jerusalem Talmud (Talmud Yerushalmi). The Babylonian Talmud is the more extensive of the two and is considered the more important.
Various collections of quotes from the Talmud circulate on the Internet and elsewhere, purporting to show that the Talmud promotes immoral practices and regards non-Jews as lesser beings. Some of these quotes are genuine (the Talmud dates from the early Middle Ages), some have been taken out of context in a way that changes their meaning and many are outright fakes.
Talmud translates as "instruction, learning", from the Semitic root lmd, meaning "teach, study".
In antiquity, the two major centres of Jewish scholarship were located in Galilee and Babylonia. A Talmud was compiled in each of these regional centres. The earlier of the two compilations took place in Galilee, either in the late fourth or early fifth century, and it came to be known as the Jerusalem Talmud (or Talmud Yerushalmi). Later on, and likely some time in the sixth century, the Babylonian Talmud was compiled (Talmud Bavli). This later Talmud is usually what is being referred to when the word "Talmud" is used without qualification. Traditions of the Jerusalem Talmud and its sages had a significant influence on the milieu out of which the Babylonian Talmud arose.
The Jerusalem Talmud (Talmud Yerushalmi) is known by several other names, including the Palestinian Talmud (which is more accurate, as it was not compiled in Jerusalem), or the Talmuda de-Eretz Yisrael ("Talmud of the Land of Israel"). The Jerusalem Talmud was a written codification of oral tradition that had been circulating for centuries and represents a compilation of scholastic teachings and analyses on the Mishnah (especially those concerning agricultural laws) found across regional centres of the Land of Israel now known as the Academies in Galilee (principally those of Tiberias, Sepphoris, and Caesarea). It is written largely in Jewish Palestinian Aramaic, a Western Aramaic language that differs from its Babylonian counterpart. The compilation was likely made between the late fourth to the first half of the fifth century.
Despite its incomplete state, the Jerusalem Talmud remains an indispensable source of knowledge of the development of the Jewish Law in the Holy Land. It was also an important primary source for the study of the Babylonian Talmud by the Kairouan school of Chananel ben Chushiel and Nissim ben Jacob, with the result that opinions ultimately based on the Jerusalem Talmud found their way into both the Tosafot and the Mishneh Torah of Maimonides. Ethical maxims contained in the Jerusalem Talmud are scattered and interspersed in the legal discussions throughout the several treatises, many of which differ from those in the Babylonian Talmud.
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Talmud
The Talmud (/ˈtɑːlmʊd, -məd, ˈtæl-/; Hebrew: תַּלְמוּד, romanized: Talmūḏ, lit. 'study, learning, teaching, instruction') is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism second in authority only to the Jewish Bible (Tanakh), whose core is the Torah. It is the primary source of Jewish religious law (halakha) and Jewish theology. It consists of the Oral Torah compiled in the Mishnah, and its commentaries, the Gemara. It records the teachings, opinions and disagreements of thousands of rabbis on a variety of subjects, including halakha, Jewish ethics, philosophy, customs, history, and folklore, and many other topics. Until the Haskalah era in the 18th and 19th centuries (sometimes called the "Jewish Enlightenment"), the Talmud was the centerpiece of cultural life in nearly all Jewish communities, and was foundational to "all Jewish thought and aspirations", serving also as "the guide for the daily life" of Jews.
The Talmud is a commentary on the Mishnah. This text is made up of 63 tractates, each covering one subject area. The language of the Talmud is Jewish Babylonian Aramaic. Talmudic tradition emerged and was compiled between the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE and the Arab conquest in the early seventh century. Traditionally, it is thought that the Talmud itself was compiled by Rav Ashi and Ravina II around 500 CE, although it is more likely that this happened in the middle of the sixth century.
The word 'Talmud' commonly refers to the Babylonian Talmud (Talmud Bavli) and not the earlier Jerusalem Talmud (Talmud Yerushalmi). The Babylonian Talmud is the more extensive of the two and is considered the more important.
Various collections of quotes from the Talmud circulate on the Internet and elsewhere, purporting to show that the Talmud promotes immoral practices and regards non-Jews as lesser beings. Some of these quotes are genuine (the Talmud dates from the early Middle Ages), some have been taken out of context in a way that changes their meaning and many are outright fakes.
Talmud translates as "instruction, learning", from the Semitic root lmd, meaning "teach, study".
In antiquity, the two major centres of Jewish scholarship were located in Galilee and Babylonia. A Talmud was compiled in each of these regional centres. The earlier of the two compilations took place in Galilee, either in the late fourth or early fifth century, and it came to be known as the Jerusalem Talmud (or Talmud Yerushalmi). Later on, and likely some time in the sixth century, the Babylonian Talmud was compiled (Talmud Bavli). This later Talmud is usually what is being referred to when the word "Talmud" is used without qualification. Traditions of the Jerusalem Talmud and its sages had a significant influence on the milieu out of which the Babylonian Talmud arose.
The Jerusalem Talmud (Talmud Yerushalmi) is known by several other names, including the Palestinian Talmud (which is more accurate, as it was not compiled in Jerusalem), or the Talmuda de-Eretz Yisrael ("Talmud of the Land of Israel"). The Jerusalem Talmud was a written codification of oral tradition that had been circulating for centuries and represents a compilation of scholastic teachings and analyses on the Mishnah (especially those concerning agricultural laws) found across regional centres of the Land of Israel now known as the Academies in Galilee (principally those of Tiberias, Sepphoris, and Caesarea). It is written largely in Jewish Palestinian Aramaic, a Western Aramaic language that differs from its Babylonian counterpart. The compilation was likely made between the late fourth to the first half of the fifth century.
Despite its incomplete state, the Jerusalem Talmud remains an indispensable source of knowledge of the development of the Jewish Law in the Holy Land. It was also an important primary source for the study of the Babylonian Talmud by the Kairouan school of Chananel ben Chushiel and Nissim ben Jacob, with the result that opinions ultimately based on the Jerusalem Talmud found their way into both the Tosafot and the Mishneh Torah of Maimonides. Ethical maxims contained in the Jerusalem Talmud are scattered and interspersed in the legal discussions throughout the several treatises, many of which differ from those in the Babylonian Talmud.