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The Talmud is a record of discussions of Jewish law, ethics, customs, legends, and stories. It is the source for rabbinic legislation and case law. The Talmud has 2 parts: the Mishnahentire body of Jewish religious law that was passed down and developed before 200 CE by Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi, which is the first written compendium of Oral Law; and the Gemara, a discussion of the Mishnahentire body of Jewish religious law that was passed down and developed before 200 CE by Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi. While arranged as comments on the Mishnahentire body of Jewish religious law that was passed down and developed before 200 CE by Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi, the Gemara often ventures onto other subjects and expounds on the Tanakh. The Gemara is the basis for all codes of rabbinic law. The Talmud, including the Gemara, is traditionally also referred to as Shas (an abbreviation of shishah sedarim, the "6 orders"). JudaismThe religion of the Jewish people holds that the books of the Tanakh were transmitted in parallel with a living, oral tradition. Thus, the Torahthe central and most important document of Judaism is the written law, while the oral law deals with its application and elaborates. The Talmud constitutes the authoritative redaction of this tradition. It is the major influence on Jewish belief and thought. Although not a formal legal code, it is the basis for all later codes of law, and thus continues to be a major influence on Halakha and practice. The Talmud is arranged by Order and Tractate. There is also a distinction between Halakha (normative, legal focused material) and Aggadah (non-normative, ethical focused material). The Oral law was recorded by Rabbi haNasi and redacted as the Mishnahentire body of Jewish religious law that was passed down and developed before 200 CE by Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi in 200 CE. The oral traditions were written down to preserve them when it became apparent that the Palestine Jewish community was threatened. The rabbis of the Mishnahentire body of Jewish religious law that was passed down and developed before 200 CE by Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi are Tannaim. Teachings in the Mishnahentire body of Jewish religious law that was passed down and developed before 200 CE by Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi are reported in the name of a Tanna. Over the next 3 centuries the Mishnahentire body of Jewish religious law that was passed down and developed before 200 CE by Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi underwent analysis and debate in Palestine and Babylonia. This analysis is Gemara. The rabbis of the Gemara are referred to as Amoraim. The analysis of the Amoraim is generally focused on clarifying the positions of the Tannaim. The Mishnahentire body of Jewish religious law that was passed down and developed before 200 CE by Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi and the Gemara together comprise the Talmud. The Talmud is thus the combination of a core text, the Mishnahentire body of Jewish religious law that was passed down and developed before 200 CE by Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi and subsequent analysis and commentary, and the Gemara. The Mishnahentire body of Jewish religious law that was passed down and developed before 200 CE by Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi consists of 6 orders. Each of the 6 orders contains between 7 and 12 tractates, called masechtot. Each masechet is divided into smaller units called mishnayyot.
* First Order: Zeraim ("Seeds"). 11 tractates. It deals with prayer and blessings, tithes, and agricultural laws.
* Second Order: Moed ("Festival Days"). 12 tractates. This pertains to the laws of the Sabbath and the Festivals.
* Third Order: Nashim ("Women"). 7 tractates. This concerns marriage and divorce, some forms of oaths and the laws of the Nazarite.
* Fourth Order: Nezikin ("Damages"). 10 tractates. This deals with civil and criminal law, the functioning of the courts and oaths.
* Fifth Order: Kodshim ("Holy things"). 11 tractates. This involves sacrificial rites, the Temple, and the dietary laws.
* Sixth Order: Tohorot ("Purity"). 12 tractates. This pertains to the laws of ritual purity.
The Mishnahentire body of Jewish religious law that was passed down and developed before 200 CE by Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi states legal opinions - and often differences in opinion - between Tannaim. There is little dialogue. The Gemara, by contrast, is presented as a dialectical exchange between two disputants, the makshan (questioner) and tartzan (answerer). These exchanges form the "building-blocks" of the Gemara. The name for a passage of Gemara is a sugya which typically comprises a detailed proof-based elaboration of the Mishna. In each, either participant may cite scriptural, Mishnaic and Amoraic proof to build
logical support for their opinions. In so doing, the Gemara brings semantic disagreements between Tannaim and Amoraim, and compare the Mishnaic views with passages from the Tosefta (a parallel, Mishnaic-era source of halakha) and the halakhic Midrash. All such non-Mishnaic Tannaitic sources are beraitot (outside material). Rarely are debates closed; in many instances, the final word determines the law, although there are many exceptions. The language in the Talmud will differ - the Mishna sections and Biblical references are Hebrew, and the Gemara sections, Aramaic. While the Gemara is a legal document, it also supplements the Mishnahentire body of Jewish religious law that was passed down and developed before 200 CE by Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi with discussion on non-normative, i.e. aggadic material and biblical expositions, and is a source for historical and ethical teachings. Tractates discussing philosophical or ethical material - have a high aggadic content. The aggadot are presented as tales, historical anecdotes, moral exhortations, and business/ medical advice - often explained by the commentators as allegorical. The Ein Yaakov is a compilation of the aggadic material in the Babylonian Talmud together with commentaries. There is only one Mishnahentire body of Jewish religious law that was passed down and developed before 200 CE by Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi but there are two distinct Gemaras: the Yerushalmi and the Bavli, and two corresponding Talmuds. The Gemara here is a synopsis of almost 200 years of analysis of the Mishna in the Israeli academies. Rav Muna and Rav Yossi in IsraelNation of the Jewish People redacted it in 350 CE. Together, this Gemara and the Mishnahentire body of Jewish religious law that was passed down and developed before 200 CE by Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi are known as Talmud Yerushalmi (The JerusalemThe capital of Israel Talmud) References to the Yerushalmi are not by page (as in the Babylonian Talmud), but by Mishnahentire body of Jewish religious law that was passed down and developed before 200 CE by Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi. This is due to the lack of a standardized pagination format for the Yerushalmi. References are in the format of [Tractate chapter: Mishnahentire body of Jewish religious law that was passed down and developed before 200 CE by Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi] (e.g. Berachot 1:2). As the Babylonian Talmud is considered more influential, references to the Yerushalmi are generally prefaced by "Yerushalmi". The classical commentaries on the Yerushalmi are the P'nei Moshe and the Korban ha-Eidah, which are printed alongside the Talmudic text in the Yerushalmi. In Talmud Bavli (Babylonian Talmud) the Gemara is a synopsis of 300 years of analysis of the Mishna in the Babylonian Academies. Traditionally, it was redacted as a formal collection by Rav Ashi and Ravina, two leaders of the Babylonian community, c. 550 CE. Rav Ashi died in 427 CE, leaving an early version of the Talmud that is no longer extant. Ravina furthered the editorial process after Rav Ashi's death. Editorial work by the Savoraim or Rabbanan Savoraei (post-Talmudic rabbis) continued for 250 years; much of the text did not reach its final form until 700 CE. The Mishnahentire body of Jewish religious law that was passed down and developed before 200 CE by Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi and Babylonian Gemara form the Talmud Bavli. The Talmud was first printed in Italy during the 16th century. This 1st edition contained the Mishna and Gemara and the commentaries of Rashi and Tosafot. All printings since then have followed the same pagination. By far, the most common edition is the Vilna Edition, typeset by the Brothers Romm. The Babylonian Talmud comprises the full Mishna, the 37 Gemaras, and the extra-canonical tractates, in 5,894 folios. A page number in the Talmud refers to a double-sided page, known as a daf; each daf has two amudim labelled sides A and B. The referencing by daf is relatively recent and dates from the early Talmud printings of the 17th century. Earlier rabbinic literature generally only refers to the tractate or chapters within a tractate. Nowadays, reference is made in format: [Tractate daf a/b] (e.g. Berachot 23b). The primary commentary on the Babylonian Talmud is that of Rashi. The commentary known as Tosafot is also regarded a basic understanding of the daf. It comprises commentaries on the Talmud. It carries on the Talmud's own methods of dialectical argument and debate. Both commentaries appear in virtually every edition of the Talmud. In yeshivot following the Eastern-European tradition, the analytic commentaries by "Maharshal," "Maharam" and "Maharsha," which discuss the Talmud, Rashi, and Tosafot together, are considered integral to advanced study of the tractate. Advanced students will also study the legal commentaries on the Talmud, chiefly the Rosh and the Rif; they may also utilize early law codes, like MaimonidesRabbi Moshe ben Maimon' Mishneh Torahthe central and most important document of Judaism, to clarify the codes' source passages in the Talmud.