Talmud

The Talmud, also known as gemara, is a collection of Jewish scripture. It is a record of laws expanding on the earlier writings in the Torah and Mishnah, and is the general guide to Jewish practice.

The term gemara means addition. The gemara is an addition to the Mishnah. Interestingly, although there is only one Mishnah, there are two gemaras. Both were developed by many rabbis over a few centuries. One gemara was developed in Israel, around Galilee, and is called the Yerushalmi, and the other was developed in Babylonia, and is called the Bavli. The gemara is never printed by itself; it is always printed along with the Mishnah.

The Babylonian gemara and Mishnah printed together is called Talmud Bavli (Babylonian Talmud). The Israeli (also called Palestinian) gemara and the Mishna together is referred to as Talmud Yerushalmi (the Jerusalem Talmud; also called the Talmud of the Land of Israel or the Palestinian Talmud). Despite its name, it did not originate in Jeruslaem, but rather to the north in Galilee.

The gemaras do not stick closely to the text, but offer a huge amount of additional material, some of which is only loosely connected to the Mishnah. They supplement the Mishnah with haggadic? materials and biblical expositions, and are a source for history and legend.

Talmud Bavli (often abbreviated BT) is more complete and authoritative; Talmud Yerushalami (often abbreviated JT) is fragmentary and historically of less importance. When the word "Talmud" is used without specifying which Talmud is meant, it always refers to the Babylonian Talmud.

The Babylonian Talmud is much more complete than the Jerusalem Talmud, and the redaction is much more careful and precise. Still, it is by no means complete. The gemara only exists for 37 out of the 63 tractates of the Mishna. Why did these tractates remain without gemara in Babylonian Talmud? The traditional answer is that the laws of Zeraim and Toharot (except Niddah) had no practical relevance; The agricultural laws were tied only to the land of Israel. In the diaspora these laws simply were of no use. The purity laws (except for family purity) were no longer applicable, because there was no longer a Temple and sacrificial system. One might think then that there would be no Babylonian Talmud gemara on Qodashim - but there is. This is probably because the study of the sacrificial regulations is generally thought of as being on par with actually performing sacrifices.

In the usual printed editions the Babylonian Talmud comprises the full Mishna, the 37 gemaras, and the extra-canonical (minor) tractates; This comprises folio 5,894 pages, and is much more extensive than the Jerusalem Talmud.

The Talmud is the major source of Jewish practice. One might think that the Torah would serve this role, but the Torah only lists the rules; it tells little about to follow them and how to apply them to different circumstances. Although the Talmuds were not meant to be formal legal codes (other works were created for that purpose) it is the ultimate source material, in that it is used to decide matters of Halakha (Jewish law).

Orthodox Jews study the Talmud in depth, but in fact use the Talmudic legal methodology very rarely, preferring to accept opinions in later law codes as binding. Orthodox Jews study the Talmud for its own sake; This is considered a great mitzvah?. Conservative Jews also consider Halakha as binding, but do not always accept the most recent and stringent opinions in the latest law codes as absolutely binding; As such they use the Talmud in the same way that rabbis of past eras used to use it. This is theoretically still an option in the Orthodox community, but in practice is used very rarely. Reform and ReconstructionistJews usually do not teach much Talmud in their Hebrew schools, but they do teach it in their rabbinical seminaries; However the world view of liberal Judaism rejects the idea of Jewish law, and prefers to use the Talmud as a source of inspiration and moral instruction.