The first complete edition of the Babylonian Talmud was printed in. Opinions set out in the Talmud with those of the. Midrash Mishnah Berurah.
Talmud Readers by Talmudic literature —— ——. —— ——. —— Later ——. —— Exodus ——. —— Leviticus ——. —— Numbers and Deuteronomy ——.
—— Tannaitic ——. —— 400–600 ——. —— 650–900 ——. Devarim Zutta. —— 900–1000 ——. Ruth Zuta. Eichah Zuta.
—— 1000–1200 ——. —— Later ——.
—— ——. Fragment Targum. —— ——. —— ——. Targum Tehillim.
Targum Mishlei. Targum Iyyov.
Targum to the Five Megillot. to Esther.
Targum to Chronicles. The Talmud (;: תַּלְמוּד talmūd 'instruction, learning', from a 'teach, study') is a central text of. The term 'Talmud' normally refers to the collection of writings named specifically the Babylonian Talmud (Talmud Bavli), although there is also an earlier collection known as the ( Talmud Yerushalmi) or Palestinian Talmud. When referring to the post-biblical periods during which the Talmud was being compiled, those of the Talmudic academies and the, Jewish sources used the term 'Babylonia' long after its obsolescence. It may also traditionally be called Shas ( ש״ס), a abbreviation of shisha sedarim, or the 'six orders' of the.
The Talmud has two components; the (Hebrew: משנה, c. Year 200 CE), a written of Rabbinic Judaism's; and the (circa year 500), an elucidation of the Mishnah and related writings that often ventures onto other subjects and expounds broadly on the. 'Talmud' translates literally as 'instruction' in Hebrew, and the term may refer to either the Gemara alone, or the Mishnah and Gemara together. The entire Talmud consists of 63 tractates, and in standard print is over 6,200 pages long. It is written in and and contains the teachings and opinions of thousands of rabbis (dating from before the through to the fifth century) on a variety of subjects, including (law), philosophy, customs, history, lore and many other topics. The Talmud is the basis for all codes of, and is widely quoted in.
The first page of the of the Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Berachot, folio 2a Originally, Jewish scholarship was oral. Rabbis expounded and debated the Torah (the written Torah expressed in the Hebrew Bible) and discussed the without the benefit of written works (other than the Biblical books themselves), though some may have made private notes ( megillot setarim), for example of court decisions. This situation changed drastically, mainly as the result of the destruction of the Jewish commonwealth and the in the year 70 and the consequent upheaval of Jewish social and legal norms. As the Rabbis were required to face a new reality—mainly Judaism without a Temple (to serve as the center of teaching and study) and Judea without at least partial autonomy—there was a flurry of legal discourse and the old system of oral scholarship could not be maintained. It is during this period that rabbinic discourse began to be recorded in writing.
The earliest recorded oral Torah may have been of the form, in which discussion is structured as commentary on the. But an alternative form, organized by subject matter instead of by biblical verse, became dominant around the year 200, when Rabbi redacted the ( משנה). The Oral Torah was far from; rather, it varied among various schools. The most famous two were the School of and the School of. In general, all valid opinions, even the non-normative ones, were recorded in the Talmud. The oldest full manuscript of the Talmud, known as the Munich Talmud (Cod.hebr.
95), dates from 1342 and is. Structure The structure of the Talmud follows that of the Mishnah, in which six orders ( sedarim; singular: seder) of general subject matter are divided into 60 or 63 tractates ( masekhtot; singular: masekhet) of more focused subject compilations, though not all tractates have Gemara. Each tractate is divided into chapters ( perakim; singular: perek), 517 in total, that are both numbered according to the and given names, usually using the first one or two words in the first mishnah. A perek may continue over several (up to tens of) pages.
Each perek will contain several mishnayot with their accompanying exchanges that form the 'building-blocks' of the Gemara; the name for a passage of gemara is a ( סוגיא; plural sugyot). A sugya, including baraita or tosefta, will typically comprise a detailed proof-based elaboration of a Mishnaic statement, whether. A sugya may, and often does, range widely off the subject of the mishnah. The sugya is not punctuated in the conventional sense used in the English language, but by using specific expressions that help to divide the sugya into components, usually including a statement, a question on the statement, an answer, a proof for the answer or a refutation of the answer with its own proof. In a given sugya, scriptural, and statements are cited to support the various opinions. In so doing, the Gemara will highlight between Tannaim and Amoraim (often ascribing a view to an earlier authority as to how he may have answered a question), and compare the Mishnaic views with passages from the. Rarely are debates formally closed; in some instances, the final word determines the practical law, but in many instances the issue is left unresolved.
There is a whole literature on the procedural principles to be used in settling the practical law when disagreements exist: see under below. Main article: The Mishnah is a compilation of legal opinions and debates. Statements in the Mishnah are typically terse, recording brief opinions of the rabbis debating a subject; or recording only an unattributed ruling, apparently representing a consensus view. The rabbis recorded in the Mishnah are known as the Tannaim. Since it sequences its laws by subject matter instead of by biblical context, the Mishnah discusses individual subjects more thoroughly than the Midrash, and it includes a much broader selection of halakhic subjects than the Midrash.
The Mishnah's topical organization thus became the framework of the Talmud as a whole. But not every tractate in the Mishnah has a corresponding Gemara. Also, the order of the tractates in the Talmud differs in some cases from that in the Mishnah. Main article: In addition to the Mishnah, other tannaitic teachings were current at about the same time or shortly thereafter.
The Gemara frequently refers to these tannaitic statements in order to compare them to those contained in the Mishnah and to support or refute the propositions of the Amoraim. All such non-Mishnaic tannaitic sources are termed (lit. Outside material, 'works external to the Mishnah'; sing. Baraita ברייתא). The baraitot cited in the Gemara are often quotations from the (a tannaitic compendium of parallel to the Mishnah) and the (specifically ). Some baraitot, however, are known only through traditions cited in the Gemara, and are not part of any other collection. Gemara.
Main article: In the three centuries following the redaction of the Mishnah, rabbis in Israel and Babylonia analyzed, debated, and discussed that work. These discussions form the ( ). Gemara means “completion” (from the gamar גמר: 'to complete') or 'learning' (from the: 'study'). The Gemara mainly focuses on elucidating and elaborating the opinions of the Tannaim. The rabbis of the Gemara are known as Amoraim (sing.
Amora אמורא). Much of the Gemara consists of legal analysis. The starting point for the analysis is usually a legal statement found in a Mishnah. The statement is then analyzed and compared with other statements used in different to Biblical in rabbinic (or - simpler - of text in ) exchanges between two (frequently anonymous and sometimes metaphorical) disputants, termed the makshan (questioner) and tartzan (answerer).
Another important function of Gemara is to identify the correct Biblical basis for a given law presented in the Mishnah and the logical process connecting one with the other: this activity was known as talmud long before the existence of the 'Talmud' as a text. Halakha and Aggadah The Talmud is a wide-ranging document that touches on a great many subjects. Traditionally Talmudic statements are classified into two broad categories, halakhic and statements.
Halakhic statements directly relate to questions of Jewish law and practice. Aggadic statements are not legally related, but rather are exegetical, homiletical, ethical, or historical in nature. Minor tractates. Main article: In addition to the six Orders, the Talmud contains a series of short treatises of a later date, usually printed at the end of Seder Nezikin.
These are not divided into Mishnah and Gemara. Bavli and Yerushalmi The process of 'Gemara' proceeded in what were then the two major centers of Jewish scholarship, and.
Correspondingly, two bodies of analysis developed, and two works of Talmud were created. The older compilation is called the or the Talmud Yerushalmi. It was compiled in the 4th century in Galilee. The Babylonian Talmud was compiled about the year 500, although it continued to be edited later.
The word 'Talmud', when used without qualification, usually refers to the Babylonian Talmud. While the editors of Jerusalem Talmud and Babylonian Talmud each mention the other community, most scholars believe these documents were written independently; writes, 'If the editors of either had had access to an actual text of the other, it is inconceivable that they would not have mentioned this. Here the is very convincing.' Talmud Yerushalmi (Jerusalem Talmud). A page of a medieval Jerusalem Talmud manuscript, from the The Jerusalem Talmud, also known as the Palestinian Talmud, or Talmuda de-Eretz Yisrael (Talmud of the Land of Israel), was one of the two compilations of Jewish religious teachings and commentary that was transmitted orally for centuries prior to its compilation by Jewish scholars in the.
It is a compilation of teachings of the schools of Tiberias, Sepphoris and Caesarea. It is written largely in, a that differs from. This Talmud is a synopsis of the analysis of the Mishnah that was developed over the course of nearly 200 years by the Academies in Galilee (principally those of and.) Because of their location, the sages of these Academies devoted considerable attention to analysis of the agricultural laws of the Land of Israel. Traditionally, this Talmud was thought to have been redacted in about the year 350 by Rav Muna and Rav Yossi in the Land of Israel. It is traditionally known as the Talmud Yerushalmi ('Jerusalem Talmud'), but the name is a misnomer, as it was not prepared in Jerusalem. It has more accurately been called 'The Talmud of the Land of Israel'. Its final redaction probably belongs to the end of the 4th century, but the individual scholars who brought it to its present form cannot be fixed with assurance.
By this time had become the of the and Jerusalem the holy city of Christendom. In 325, the first Christian emperor, said 'let us then have nothing in common with the detestable Jewish crowd.' This policy made a Jew an outcast and pauper. The compilers of the Jerusalem Talmud consequently lacked the time to produce a work of the quality they had intended. The text is evidently incomplete and is not easy to follow. The apparent cessation of work on the Jerusalem Talmud in the 5th century has been associated with the decision of in 425 to suppress the and put an end to the practice of, formal scholarly ordination.
Some modern scholars have questioned this connection: for more detail see. 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 resource in the study of the Babylonian Talmud by the school of and, with the result that opinions ultimately based on the Jerusalem Talmud found their way into both the and the of. Following the formation of the modern state of there is some interest in restoring Eretz Yisrael traditions. For example, Rabbi of the Makhon Shilo institute has issued a reflecting Eretz Yisrael practice as found in the Jerusalem Talmud and other sources. Babylonian Talmud.
A full set of the Babylonian Talmud The Babylonian Talmud ( Talmud Bavli) consists of documents compiled over the period of (3rd to 5th centuries). During this time the most important of the Jewish centres in Mesopotamia, a region called 'Babylonia' in Jewish sources and later known as Iraq, were, Nisibis (modern ), Mahoza (, just to the south of what is now ), (near present-day ), and the, probably located about 60 km south of Baghdad. The Babylonian Talmud comprises the and the Babylonian Gemara, the latter representing the culmination of more than 300 years of analysis of the Mishnah in the. The foundations of this process of analysis were laid by (175–247 CE), a disciple of.
Tradition ascribes the compilation of the Babylonian Talmud in its present form to two Babylonian sages, and. Rav Ashi was president of the Sura Academy from 375-427. The work begun by Rav Ashi was completed by Ravina, who is traditionally regarded as the final Amoraic expounder.
Accordingly, traditionalists argue that Ravina’s death in 475 CE is the latest possible date for the completion of the redaction of the Talmud. However, even on the most traditional view a few passages are regarded as the work of a group of rabbis who edited the Talmud after the end of the Amoraic period, known as the or Rabbanan Savora'e (meaning 'reasoners' or 'considerers').
The question as to when the Gemara was finally put into its present form is not settled among modern scholars. Some, like, argue that the main body of the Gemara is not simple reportage of conversations, as it purports to be, but a highly elaborate structure contrived by the Savoraim (roughly 500–650 CE), who must therefore be regarded as the real authors. On this view the text did not reach its final form until around 700.
Some modern scholars use the term Stammaim (from the Hebrew Stam, meaning 'closed', 'vague' or 'unattributed') for the authors of unattributed statements in the Gemara. (See.) Comparison of style and subject matter There are significant differences between the two Talmud compilations.
The language of the Jerusalem Talmud is a western Aramaic dialect, which differs from the form of Aramaic in the Babylonian Talmud. The Talmud Yerushalmi is often fragmentary and difficult to read, even for experienced Talmudists.
The redaction of the Talmud Bavli, on the other hand, is more careful and precise. The law as laid down in the two compilations is basically similar, except in emphasis and in minor details. The Jerusalem Talmud has not received much attention from commentators, and such traditional commentaries as exist are mostly concerned with comparing its teachings to those of the Talmud Bavli.
Neither the Jerusalem nor the Babylonian Talmud covers the entire Mishnah: for example, a Babylonian Gemara exists only for 37 out of the 63 tractates of the Mishnah. In particular:. The Jerusalem Talmud covers all the tractates of Zeraim, while the Babylonian Talmud covers only tractate Berachot.
The reason might be that most laws from the Orders Zeraim (agricultural laws limited to the land of Israel) had little practical relevance in Babylonia and were therefore not included. The Jerusalem Talmud has a greater focus on the and the 's agricultural laws pertaining to the land because it was written in the Land of Israel where the laws applied. The Jerusalem Talmud does not cover the Mishnaic order of, which deals with sacrificial rites and laws pertaining to the, while the Babylonian Talmud does cover it. It is not clear why this is, as the laws were not directly applicable in either country following the Temple's 70 CE destruction. In both Talmuds, only one tractate of (ritual purity laws) is examined, that of the menstrual laws,. The Babylonian Talmud records the opinions of the rabbis of the Ma'arava (the West, meaning Israel/Palestine) as well as of those of Babylonia, while the Jerusalem Talmud only seldom cites the Babylonian rabbis. The Babylonian version also contains the opinions of more generations because of its later date of completion.
For both these reasons it is regarded as a more comprehensive collection of the opinions available. On the other hand, because of the centuries of redaction between the composition of the Jerusalem and the Babylonian Talmud, the opinions of early amoraim might be closer to their original form in the Jerusalem Talmud. The influence of the Babylonian Talmud has been far greater than that of the Yerushalmi.
In the main, this is because the influence and prestige of the Jewish community of Israel steadily declined in contrast with the Babylonian community in the years after the redaction of the Talmud and continuing until the era. Furthermore, the editing of the Babylonian Talmud was superior to that of the Jerusalem version, making it more accessible and readily usable. According to (whose life began almost a hundred years after the end of the Gaonic era), all Jewish communities during the Gaonic era formally accepted the Babylonian Talmud as binding upon themselves, and modern Jewish practice follows the Babylonian Talmud's conclusions on all areas in which the two Talmuds conflict. Language Of the two main components of the Babylonian Talmud, the Mishnah is written in. Within the, the quotations from the Mishnah and the and verses of quoted and embedded in the Gemara are in Hebrew. The rest of the Gemara, including the discussions of the Amoraim and the overall framework, is in a characteristic dialect of. There are occasional quotations from older works in other dialects of Aramaic, such as.
Overall, Hebrew constitutes somewhat less than half of the text of the Talmud. This difference in language is due to the long time period elapsing between the two compilations. During the period of the (rabbis cited in the Mishnah), a late form of Hebrew known as was still in use as a spoken among Jews in (alongside Greek and Aramaic), whereas during the period of the (rabbis cited in the Gemara), which began around 200 CE, the spoken vernacular was almost exclusively Aramaic. Hebrew continued to be used for the writing of religious texts, poetry, and so forth. Printing Bomberg Talmud 1523 The first complete edition of the Babylonian Talmud was printed in Venice by 1520–23 with the support of. In addition to the Mishnah and Gemara, Bomberg's edition contained the commentaries of and.
Almost all printings since Bomberg have followed the same pagination. Bomberg's edition was considered relatively free of censorship. Talmud 1645 Following 's publication of most of the Talmud in installments in Basel, published the whole Talmud in installments in Amsterdam 1644–1648, Though according to Raphael Rabbinovicz the Benveniste Talmud may have been based on the and included many of the censors' errors. Slavuta Talmud 1795 and Vilna Talmud 1835 The edition of the Talmud published by the Szapira brothers in in 1795 is particularly prized by many of. In 1835, after an acrimonious dispute with the Szapira family, a new edition of the Talmud was printed by Menachem Romm of Vilna.
Known as the, this edition (and later ones printed by his widow and sons, the ) has been used in the production of more recent editions of Talmud Bavli. A page number in the Vilna Talmud refers to a double-sided page, known as a daf, or folio in English; each daf has two amudim labeled א and ב, sides A and B ( and ).
The convention of referencing by daf is relatively recent and dates from the early Talmud printings of the 17th century, though the actual pagination goes back to the Bomberg edition. Earlier generally refers to the tractate or chapters within a tractate (e.g. Berachot Chapter 1, ברכות פרק א׳). It sometimes also refers to the specific Mishnah in that chapter, where 'Mishnah' is replaced with 'Halakha', here meaning route, to 'direct' the reader to the entry in the Gemara corresponding to that Mishna (e.g. Berachot Chapter 1 Halakha 1, ברכות פרק א׳ הלכה א׳ would refer to the first Mishnah of the first chapter in Tractate Berachot, and its corresponding entry in the Gemara). However, this form is nowadays more commonly (though not exclusively) used when referring to the Jerusalem Talmud. Nowadays, reference is usually made in format Tractate daf a/b (e.g.
Berachot 23b, ברכות כג ב׳). Increasingly, the symbols '.'
And ':' are used to indicate Recto and Verso, respectively (thus, e.g. Berachot 32:,:ברכות כג.
These references always refer to the pagination of the Vilna Talmud. In the Vilna edition of the Talmud there are 5,894 folio pages. Goldschmidt Talmud 1897–1909, and German translation published an edition from the 'uncensored text' of the Babylonian Talmud with a German translation in 9 vols. (commenced Leipzig, 1897–1909, edition completed, following emigration to England in 1933, by 1936). Critical editions The text of the Vilna editions is considered by scholars not to be uniformly reliable, and there have been a number of attempts to collate textual variants. In the early 20th century Nathan Rabinowitz published a series of volumes called Dikduke Soferim showing textual variants from early manuscripts and printings.
In 1960 work started on a new edition under the name of Gemara Shelemah (complete Gemara) under the editorship of: only the volume on the first part of tractate Pesachim appeared before the project was interrupted by his death. This edition contained a comprehensive set of textual variants and a few selected commentaries. Some thirteen volumes have been published by the Institute for the Complete Israeli Talmud (a division of Yad Harav Herzog), on lines similar to Rabinowitz, containing the text and a comprehensive set of textual variants (from manuscripts, early prints and citations in secondary literature) but no commentaries. There have been critical editions of particular tractates (e.g. 's edition of Ta'anit), but there is no modern critical edition of the whole Talmud.
Modern editions such as those of the Oz ve-Hadar Institute correct misprints and restore passages that in earlier editions were modified or excised by censorship but do not attempt a comprehensive account of textual variants. One edition, by Rabbi Yosef Amar, represents the Yemenite tradition, and takes the form of a photostatic reproduction of a Vilna-based print to which Yemenite vocalization and textual variants have been added by hand, together with printed introductory material. Collations of the Yemenite manuscripts of some tractates have been published by Columbia University. Editions for a wider audience A number of editions have been aimed at bringing the Talmud to a wider audience. The main ones are as follows., which contains the text with punctuation, detailed explanations and translation.
The Steinsaltz Edition is available in two formats: one with the traditional Vilna page and one without. It is available in modern Hebrew (first volume published 1969), English (first volume published 1989), French, Russian and other languages. In May 2012, launched the new Koren Talmud Bavli, a new version of which features a new, modern English translation and the commentary of Rabbi. This edition won widespread praise as 'America's most important Jewish event', and for its 'beautiful page' and 'clean type'. It includes color photos and illustrations, and Steinsaltz's historical, biographical and linguistic notes in modern English translation. Opened as a Hebrew book, this edition preserves the traditional Vilna page layout and includes vowels and punctuation; the Rashi commentary too is punctuated.
Opened as an English book, this edition breaks down the Talmud text into small, thematic units and features the supplementary notes along the margins. The, published by: the first volume was published in 1990, and the series was completed in 2004. Each page is printed in the traditional Vilna format, and accompanied by an expanded paraphrase in English, in which the translation of the text is shown in bold and explanations are interspersed in normal type. The Metivta edition, published by the Oz ve-Hadar Institute. This contains the full text in the same format as the Vilna-based editions, with a full explanation in modern Hebrew on facing pages as well as an improved version of the traditional commentaries. A previous project of the same kind, called, 'Talmud to the people', was published in Israel in the 1960s-80s.
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The contains Hebrew text, English translation and commentary by, with short 'realia', marginal notes, often illustrated, written by experts in the field for the whole of Tractate Berakhot, 2 chapters of Bava Mezia and the halachic section of Qiddushin, chapter 1. See also under, below. Translations Talmud Bavli Part of a series of articles on Editions of the. Main article: The Talmud is often cryptic and difficult to understand. Its language contains many Greek and Persian words that became obscure over time. A major area of Talmudic scholarship developed to explain these passages and words.
Some early commentators such as Rabbenu (10th century) and (early 11th century) produced running commentaries to various tractates. These commentaries could be read with the text of the Talmud and would help explain the meaning of the text. Another important work is the Sefer ha-Mafteaḥ (Book of the Key) by, which contains a preface explaining the different forms of Talmudic argumentation and then explains abbreviated passages in the Talmud by cross-referring to parallel passages where the same thought is expressed in full. Commentaries ( ḥiddushim) by on two tractates, Bava Batra and Shevuot, based on Ḥananel and Alfasi, also survive, as does a compilation by called Sefer ha-Ner.
Using a different style, Rabbi created a lexicon called the Arukh in the 11th century to help translate difficult words. By far the best known commentary on the Babylonian Talmud is that of (Rabbi Solomon ben Isaac, 1040–1105). The commentary is comprehensive, covering almost the entire Talmud. Written as a running commentary, it provides a full explanation of the words, and explains the logical structure of each Talmudic passage.
It is considered indispensable to students of the Talmud. Medieval Ashkenazic Jewry produced another major commentary known as ('additions' or 'supplements'). The Tosafot are collected commentaries by various medieval Ashkenazic Rabbis on the Talmud (known as or Ba'alei Tosafot).
One of the main goals of the Tosafot is to explain and interpret contradictory statements in the Talmud. Unlike Rashi, the Tosafot is not a running commentary, but rather comments on selected matters. Often the explanations of Tosafot differ from those of Rashi.
Among the founders of the Tosafist school were Rabbi Jacob ben Meir (known as ), who was a grandson of Rashi, and, Rabbenu Tam's nephew, Rabbi. The Tosafot commentaries were collected in different editions in the various schools.
The benchmark collection of Tosafot for Northern France was that of R. The standard collection for Spain was that of ('Tosefot Harosh'). The Tosafot that are printed in the standard Vilna edition of the Talmud are an edited version compiled from the various medieval collections, predominantly that of Touques. Over time, the approach of the Tosafists spread to other Jewish communities, particularly those in Spain.
This led to the composition of many other commentaries in similar styles. Among these are the commentaries of (Ramban), (Rashba), (Ritva) and (Ran).
A comprehensive anthology consisting of extracts from all these is the Shittah Mekubbetzet of. Other commentaries produced in Spain and Provence were not influenced by the Tosafist style.
Two of the most significant of these are the by Rabbi and Bet Habechirah by Rabbi, commonly referred to as 'Meiri'. While the Bet Habechirah is extant for all of Talmud, we only have the Yad Ramah for Tractates Sanhedrin, Baba Batra and Gittin. Like the commentaries of Ramban and the others, these are generally printed as independent works, though some Talmud editions include the Shittah Mekubbetzet in an abbreviated form. In later centuries, focus partially shifted from direct Talmudic interpretation to the analysis of previously written Talmudic commentaries. These later commentaries include 'Maharshal' , 'Maharam' and ' (Samuel Edels), and are generally printed at the back of each tractate. Another very useful study aid, found in almost all editions of the Talmud, consists of the marginal notes Torah Or, Ein Mishpat Ner Mitzvah and Masoret ha-Shas by the Italian rabbi, which give references respectively to the cited Biblical passages, to the relevant halachic codes and to related Talmudic passages. Most editions of the Talmud include brief marginal notes by under the name Gilyonot ha-Shas, and textual notes by and the (see below), on the page together with the text.
Pilpul During the 15th and 16th centuries, a new intensive form of Talmud study arose. Complicated logical arguments were used to explain minor points of contradiction within the Talmud. The term was applied to this type of study.
Usage of pilpul in this sense (that of 'sharp analysis') harks back to the Talmudic era and refers to the intellectual sharpness this method demanded. Pilpul practitioners posited that the Talmud could contain no redundancy or contradiction whatsoever. New categories and distinctions ( hillukim) were therefore created, resolving seeming contradictions within the Talmud by novel logical means. In the world the founders of pilpul are generally considered to be (1460–1541) and. This kind of study reached its height in the 16th and 17th centuries when expertise in pilpulistic analysis was considered an art form and became a goal in and of itself within the yeshivot of Poland and Lithuania. But the popular new method of Talmud study was not without critics; already in the 15th century, the ethical tract Orhot Zaddikim ('Paths of the Righteous' in Hebrew) criticized pilpul for an overemphasis on intellectual acuity.
Many 16th- and 17th-century rabbis were also critical of pilpul. Among them may be noted (the Maharal of Prague), and. By the 18th century, pilpul study waned. Other styles of learning such as that of the school of Elijah b. Solomon, the, became popular.
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The term 'pilpul' was increasingly applied derogatorily to novellae deemed casuistic and hairsplitting. Authors referred to their own commentaries as 'al derekh ha-peshat' (by the simple method) to contrast them with pilpul. Sephardic approaches Among and from the 15th century on, some authorities sought to apply the methods of, as reformulated. This method was first recorded, though without explicit reference to Aristotle, by (d. Spain, 1463) in his Darkhei ha-Talmud ('The Ways of the Talmud'), and is also found in the works of. According to the present-day Sephardi scholar, traditional Sephardic Talmud study could take place on any of three levels. The most basic level consists of literary analysis of the text without the help of commentaries, designed to bring out the tzurata di-shema'ta, i.e.
The logical and narrative structure of the passage. The intermediate level, 'iyyun (concentration), consists of study with the help of commentaries such as and the, similar to that practised among the Ashkenazim. Historically Sephardim studied the Tosefot ha-Rosh and the commentaries of Nahmanides in preference to the printed Tosafot. A method based on the study of Tosafot, and of Ashkenazi authorities such as (Samuel Edels) and Maharshal , was introduced in late seventeenth century by Rabbis Abraham Hakohen (d.
1715) and Tsemaḥ Tsarfati (d. 1717) and perpetuated by Rabbi and is sometimes referred to as 'Iyyun Tunisa'i. The highest level, halachah (Jewish law), consists of collating the opinions set out in the Talmud with those of the halachic codes such as the and the, so as to study the Talmud as a source of law. (A project called Halacha Brura, founded by, presents the Talmud and a summary of the halachic codes side by side in book form so as to enable this kind of collation.) Today most Sephardic yeshivot follow Lithuanian approaches such as the Brisker method: the traditional Sephardic methods are perpetuated informally by some individuals. 'Iyyun Tunisa'i is taught at the in.
Brisker method In the late 19th century another trend in Talmud study arose. Rabbi (1853–1918) of Brisk (Brest-Litovsk) developed and refined this style of study. Involves a analysis of rabbinic arguments within the Talmud or among the, explaining the differing opinions by placing them within a categorical structure. The Brisker method is highly analytical and is often criticized as being a modern-day version of.
Nevertheless, the influence of the Brisker method is great. Most modern day Yeshivot study the Talmud using the Brisker method in some form. One feature of this method is the use of ' as a guide to Talmudic interpretation, as distinct from its use as a source of practical halakha. Rival methods were those of the and. Critical method As a result of, Judaism underwent enormous upheaval and transformation during the 19th century. Modern methods of textual and historical analysis were applied to the Talmud.
Textual emendations The text of the Talmud has been subject to some level of critical scrutiny throughout its history. Rabbinic tradition holds that the people cited in both Talmuds did not have a hand in its writings; rather, their teachings were edited into a rough form around 450 CE (Talmud Yerushalmi) and 550 CE (Talmud Bavli.) The text of the Bavli especially was not firmly fixed at that time.
The Gaonic responsa literature addresses this issue. Teshuvot Geonim Kadmonim, section 78, deals with mistaken biblical readings in the Talmud. This Gaonic responsum states: '.But you must examine carefully in every case when you feel uncertainty as to the credibility of the text - what is its source? Whether a scribal error? Or the superficiality of a second rate student who was not well versed?after the manner of many mistakes found among those superficial second-rate students, and certainly among those rural memorizers who were not familiar with the biblical text.
And since they erred in the first place.they compounded the error. Jewish Mysticism: Jochanan ben Sakkai, bronze relief from the Knesset Menorah Other contexts The study of Talmud is not restricted to those of the Jewish religion and has attracted interest in other cultures. Christian scholars have long expressed an interest in the study of Talmud which has helped illuminate their own scriptures. Talmud contains biblical exegesis and commentary on that will often clarify elliptical and esoteric passages. The Talmud contains possible references to Jesus Christ and his disciples, while the Christian canon makes mention of Talmudic figures and contains teachings that can be paralleled within the Talmud and. The Talmud provides cultural and historical context to the and the writings of the.
Reportedly hope to emulate Jews' high academic standards by studying Jewish literature. Almost every household has a translated copy of a book they call 'Talmud', which parents read to their children, and the book is part of the primary-school curriculum.
The 'Talmud' in this case is usually one of several possible volumes, the earliest translated into Korean from the Japanese. The original Japanese books were created through the collaboration of Japanese writer and, an Orthodox American rabbi serving in Japan in the 1960s and 70s. The first collaborative book was 5,000 Years of Jewish Wisdom: Secrets of the Talmud Scriptures, created over a three-day period in 1968 and published in 1971. The book contains actual stories from the Talmud, proverbs, ethics, Jewish legal material, biographies of Talmudic rabbis, and personal stories about Tokayer and his family. Tokayer and Kase published a number of other books on Jewish themes together in Japanese. The first South Korean publication of 5,000 Years of Jewish Wisdom was in 1974, by Tae Zang publishing house. Many different editions followed in both Korea and China, often by black-market publishers.
Between 2007 and 2009, Reverend Yong-soo Hyun of the Shema Yisrael Educational Institute published a 6-volume edition of the Korean Talmud, bringing together material from a variety of Tokayer's earlier books. He worked with Tokayer to correct errors and Tokayer is listed as the author. Tutoring centers based on this and other works called 'Talmud' for both adults and children are popular in Korea and 'Talmud' books (all based on Tokayer's works and not the original Talmud) are widely read and known. Criticism Part of a series on By religion. By religious figure. By text.
Religious violence. Related topics. Wikiquote has quotations related to: Wikimedia Commons has media related to. General., jewishencyclopedia.com., jewishencyclopedia.com., aish.com., jewishvirtuallibrary.org., Law Library.,., Rabbi M. Taub Refutation of allegations concerning the Talmud., by, also available.,. Full text resources. (English).
The Soncino Press translation of the Talmud Bavli in downloadable format. Everything is present except for the index volume and the.
(Hebrew). (Hebrew). (Hebrew). (Hebrew).
(Hebrew). See above, under. Images of each page of the Babylonian Talmud.:.pdf download showing Yemenite vocalization. (Hebrew) Manuscripts and textual variants. search engine for readings in different manuscripts (shows facsimile of individual pages). another search engine (shows results in Hebrew/Aramaic text, not as facsimile). a third search engine.
Layout. from Prof. Eliezer Segal 'Daf Yomi' program. by Rabbi Ephraim Schreibman Audio., mp3shiur.com.
at (public domain audiobooks).