Talmud
Talmud
torah means 'a teaching'. The Torah is what God revealed to the
Jews. In the Torah God tells the Jews how to live. The Torah
has two sections
the Written Torah
• the Torah in the strict sense. The part that given directly to Moshe
Rabbeinu (Moses our Teacher) at Mount Sinai by God
• the Nevi'im (Prophets): the books which record what God said to his
prophets (nabi, pl. nebiim)
they include poetic and epigrammatic works such as Psalms and Proverbs,
Job as well as a miscellany of other writings (Song of Songs, Ruth,
Lamentations, Kohelet, Esther, Daniel, Ezra-Nehemiah, Chronicles)
the Oral Torah
many things are not explained in the Torah Shebiksav. God gave
these further explanations to Moshe Rabbeinu on Mount Sinai
together with the Written Torah
– the explanations are called the Torah Sheb’al Peh, the Oral Torah
the Oral Torah the Mishna
the Oral Torah the gemara
the Mishna was primarily an outline and did not include the in-
depth analysis and explanation for every single rule. These
explanations to the Mishna are called gemara
the Oral Torah the Talmud
about three hundred years after the completion of the Mishna the
rabbis of Palestina and Babylonia in their yeshivas compiled
the gemara into a written work as a commentary on the
Mishna
the Torah Torah Sheb’al Peh
– Zera’im (Seeds): deals with the laws of agriculture. It also deals with the laws of prayer
and blessings ( 11 mesechtos)
– Mo’ed (Season): deals with the laws of Shabbos and Yom Tov (holidays) (12 mesechtos)
– Nashim (Women): deals with the laws of marriage and divorce (7 mesechtos)
– Nezikin (Damages): deals with civil law, such as laws about damages and theft. It also
deals with ethics (10 mesechtos)