The Talmud (; Hebrew: תַּלְמוּד, romanized: Talmūḏ, lit. 'teaching') is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (halakha) and Jewish theology.[2][3][4][5] It consists of the Oral Torah (Mishnah) and its commentaries (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.[6]
The Talmud is a commentary on the Mishnah.[a][7] 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.[9]
The word Talmud commonly refers to the Babylonian Talmud (Talmud Bavli) and not the earlier Jerusalem Talmud (Talmud Yerushalmi).[10] The Babylonian Talmud is the more extensive of the two and is considered the more important.[11]
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 Dark Ages), some have been taken out of context in a way that changes their meaning and many are outright fakes.
- ^ "Catrina Langenegger on the Basel Talmud". 13 October 2022.
- ^ Fishman, Talya (2011). Becoming the People of the Talmud: Oral Torah as Written Tradition in Medieval Jewish Cultures. University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 978-0-8122-4313-0.
- ^ Neusner, Jacob (2003). The Formation of the Babylonian Talmud. Wipf and Stock Publishers. p. ix. ISBN 9781592442195.
- ^ Steinsaltz, Adin (1976). The Essential Talmud. BasicBooks. p. 3. ISBN 978-0-465-02063-8.
- ^ Steinberg, Paul; Greenstein Potter, Janet (2007). Celebrating the Jewish Year: The Fall Holidays: Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur. The Jewish Publication Society. p. 42. ISBN 9780827608429.
- ^ Safrai, S. (1969). "The Era of the Mishnah and Talmud (70–640)". In Ben-Sasson, H.H. (ed.). A History of the Jewish People. Translated by Weidenfeld, George. Harvard University Press (published 1976). p. 379. ISBN 9780674397316.
The influence of the Babylonian geonim ... also weighted the scales in favour of the Talmud of their land, which they introduced and taught in all the Diaspora communities of the Middle Ages, as well as in the Land of Israel. Thus the Babylonian Talmud gained primary influence on Jewish history throughout the ages. It became the basic - and in many places almost the exclusive ~ asset of Jewish tradition, the foundation of all Jewish thought and aspirations and the guide for the daily life of the Jew. Other components of national culture were made known only in so far as they were embedded in the Talmud. In almost every period and community until the modern age, the Talmud was the main object of Jewish study and education; all the external conditions and events of life seemed to be but passing incidents, and the only true, permanent reality was that of the Talmud.
- ^ Brand, Ezra. "Beyond the Mystique: Correcting Common Misconceptions About the Talmud, and Pathways to Accessibility". www.ezrabrand.com. Retrieved 2025-05-18.
- ^ Eisenberg, Ronald L. (2010). What the Rabbis Said: 250 Topics From the Talmud. Praeger. p. 43. ISBN 978-0-313-38450-9. OCLC 548555671.
- ^ Goldberg, Abraham (1987). "The Palestinian Talmud". In Safrai, Shmuel (ed.). The Literature of the Jewish People in the Period of the Second Temple and the Talmud, Volume 3 The Literature of the Sages. Brill. pp. 303–322. doi:10.1163/9789004275133_008. ISBN 9789004275133.
- ^ Jacob Neusner, The Talmud: What It Is and What It Says (2006). Rowman & Littlefield.
Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).