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70-458: The term anusim is derived from the Talmudic phrase averah b’ones ( עבירה באונס ‎), meaning "a forced transgression." The Hebrew ones ( pronounced [ˈones] ) derives from the triconsonantal root א-נ-ס ‎ ( Aleph - Nun - Samekh ), and originally referred to any case where a person has been forced into any act against his or her will. In Modern Hebrew , the word ones

140-659: A Hebrew abbreviation of shisha sedarim , or the "six orders" of the Mishnah . The Talmud has two components: the Mishnah ( משנה , c. 200 CE), a written compendium of the Oral Torah ; and the Gemara ( גמרא , c. 500 CE), a commentary of the Mishnah and related Tannaitic writings whose greater goal is to systematically understand the Hebrew Bible . Sometimes, the term "Talmud"

210-494: A minyan , that is, a quorum for religious services. Anusim , by contrast, not only remain Jews by lineage but continue to count as fully qualified Jews for all purposes. Since the act of the original abandonment of the religion was done against the Jew's will, the Jew under force may remain a kosher Jew, as long as the anús keeps practising Jewish law to the best of his/her abilities under

280-459: A Babylonian Aramaic dialect. The Jerusalem is also more fragmentary (and difficult to read) due to a less complete redactional process . Legally, the two differ minimally. The Babylonian Talmud has received significantly more interest and coverage from commentators. This significantly greater influence is primarily because the prestige of the Jewish community of Israel steadily declined in contrast with

350-511: A compilation by Zechariah Aghmati called Sefer ha-Ner . The Tosafot are collected commentaries by various medieval Ashkenazic rabbis on the Talmud (known as Tosafists 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

420-636: A compilation of scholastic teachings and analyses on the Mishnah (especially those concerning agricultural laws) found across regional centres of the Land of Israel now known as the Academies in Galilee (principally those of Tiberias , Sepphoris , and Caesarea ). It is written largely in Jewish Palestinian Aramaic , a Western Aramaic language that differs from its Babylonian counterpart . The eye and

490-486: A corresponding Gemara. Also, the order of the tractates in the Talmud differs in some cases from that in the Mishnah . The Gemara constitutes the commentary portion of the Talmud. The Mishnah, and its commentary (the Gemara), together constitute the Talmud. This commentary arises from a longstanding tradition of rabbis analyzing, debating, and discussing the Mishnah ever since it had been published. The rabbis who participated in

560-517: A disciple of Judah ha-Nasi . Tradition ascribes the compilation of the Babylonian Talmud in its present form to two Babylonian sages, Rav Ashi and Ravina II . Rav Ashi was president of the Sura Academy from 375 to 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

630-522: A lower boundary on the dating of the Babylonian Talmud, it must post-date the early 5th century given its reliance on the Jerusalem Talmud . From the time of its completion, the Talmud became integral to Jewish scholarship. A maxim in Pirkei Avot advocates its study from the age of 15. This section outlines some of the major areas of Talmudic study. One area of Talmudic scholarship developed out of

700-460: A pejorative connotation in Spanish. Besides the term anusim , halakha has various classifications for those Jews who have abandoned, or are no longer committed to, the rabbinic Jewish tradition, whether or not they have converted to another religion. The two most common descriptions are: The main difference between a min , a meshumad , and the anusim is that the act of abandonment of Judaism

770-700: A sugya of the Babylonian Talmud may draw upon the Mishnah, the Jerusalem Talmud, midrash, and other sources. The traditions that the Gemara comments on are not limited to what is found in the Mishnah, but the Baraita as well (a term that broadly designates Oral Torah traditions that did not end up in the Mishnah). The baraitot cited in the Gemara are often quotations from the Tosefta (a tannaitic compendium of halakha parallel to

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840-536: A variety of subjects, including halakha , Jewish ethics , philosophy , customs , history , and folklore , and many other topics. The term Talmud normally refers to the collection of writings named specifically the Babylonian Talmud ( Talmud Bavli ), compiled in the 5th century by Rav Ashi and Ravina II . There is also an earlier collection known as the Jerusalem Talmud ( Talmud Yerushalmi ). It may also traditionally be called Shas ( ש״ס ),

910-504: Is divided into chapters ( perakim ; singular: perek ), 517 in total, that are both numbered according to the Hebrew alphabet 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 . The Mishnah is a compilation of legal opinions and debates. Statements in the Mishnah are typically terse, recording brief opinions of

980-763: Is largely in Jewish Babylonian Aramaic , although quotations in the Gemara of the Mishnah, the Baraitas and Tanakh appear in Mishnaic or Biblical Hebrew. Some other dialects of Aramaic occur in quotations of other older works, like the Megillat Taanit . The reason why earlier texts occur in Hebrew, and later texts in Aramaic, is because of the adoption of the latter (which was the spoken vernacular) by rabbinic circles during

1050-527: Is mainly used to mean rape , thus "anusim" (or female "anusot") nowadays means rape victims, the older meaning used only in the historical context. The term anús is used in contradistinction to meshumad ( מְשֻׁמָּד ‎), (literally "self-destroyed") which means a person who has voluntarily abandoned the practice of Jewish law in whole or in part. The forced converts were also known as cristianos nuevos (Spanish) or cristãos-novos (Portuguese); converso or marrano , which had and still has today

1120-456: Is often criticized as being a modern-day version of pilpul . 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 Maimonides ' Mishneh Torah as a guide to Talmudic interpretation, as distinct from its use as a source of practical halakha . Rival methods were those of

1190-562: Is only used for the Gemara. As a whole, the traditions of the Talmud emerged in a literary tradition that occurred between the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE and the Arab conquest in the early seventh century. In all, the Talmud is divided into 63 tractates , with each tractate systematically discussing one general subject or theme. In the standard print of the Talmud (the Vilna Shas ),

1260-634: 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 Savoraim or Rabbanan Savora'e (meaning "reasoners" or "considerers"). Unlike the Western Aramaic dialect of the Jerusalm Talmud, the Babylonian Talmud has

1330-637: Is used without qualification. The two Talmuds were likely written independently of one another. The Jerusalem Talmud ( Talmud Yerushalmi ) is known by several other names, including the Palestinian Talmud (which is more accurate, as it was not compiled in Jerusalem ), or the Talmuda de-Eretz Yisrael ("Talmud of the Land of Israel"). Prior to being written down, it was transmitted orally for centuries and represents

1400-452: Is voluntary for a min and a meshumad , while for the anusim it is not. In more recent times, the term "anusim" has also been used to describe "Reverse Marranos", that is, Haredi Jews who are religious on the outside, but are not necessarily practicing in private. The term anusim became more frequently used after the forced conversion to Christianity of Ashkenazi Jews in Germany at

1470-496: The makshan (questioner) and tartzan (answerer). Gemara also commonly tries to find the correct biblical basis for a given law in the Mishnah as well as the logical process that connects the biblical to the Mishnaic tradition. This process was known as talmud , long before the "Talmud" itself became a text. In addition, the Gemara contains a wide range of narratives, homiletical or exegetical passages, sayings, and other non-legal content, termed aggadah . A story told in

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1540-453: The Aggadic material from the Talmud. It was intended to familiarize the public with the ethical parts of the Talmud and to dispute many of the accusations surrounding its contents. Geonic -era (6th-11th centuries) commentaries have largely been lost, but are known to exist from partial quotations in later medieval and early modern texts. Because of this, it is known that now-lost commentaries on

1610-503: The Mir and Telz yeshivas . See Chaim Rabinowitz § Telshe and Yeshiva Ohel Torah-Baranovich § Style of learning . 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

1680-467: 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 pilpul 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

1750-498: The 15th century on, some authorities sought to apply the methods of Aristotelian logic , as reformulated by Averroes . This method was first recorded, though without explicit reference to Aristotle, by Isaac Campanton (d. Spain, 1463) in his Darkhei ha-Talmud ("The Ways of the Talmud"), and is also found in the works of Moses Chaim Luzzatto . According to the present-day Sephardi scholar José Faur , traditional Sephardic Talmud study could take place on any of three levels. In

1820-467: The 18th century, pilpul study waned. Other styles of learning such as that of the school of Elijah b. Solomon, the Vilna Gaon , became popular. 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. Among Sephardi and Italian Jews from

1890-645: The Babylonian community in the years after the redaction of the Talmud and continuing until the Gaonic era. Maimonides claims that all Jewish communities in the Gaonic period formally accepted the Babylonian Talmud as binding, and that in any areas where the two Talmuds conflict, deference is given to the Babylonian opinion. Neither covers the entire Mishnah. For example, the Babylonian commentary only covers 37 of 63 Mishnaic tractates. In particular: The Babylonian Talmud records

1960-565: The Bavli especially was not firmly fixed at that time. Gaonic responsa literature addresses this issue. Teshuvot Geonim Kadmonim, section 78, deals with mistaken biblical readings in the Talmud. This Gaonic responsum states: Saadia Ibn Danan Rabbi Saadiah ben Maimon ben Moshe ibn Danan ( Hebrew : סעדיה אבן דנאן ) (born 2nd half of 15th century in Granada , Spain – died 1493(?) in Oran , Algeria )

2030-518: The Biblical books themselves), though some may have made private notes ( megillot setarim ), for example, of court decisions. This situation changed drastically due to the Roman destruction of the Jewish commonwealth and the Second Temple 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

2100-458: The Mishnah) and the Midrash halakha (specifically Mekhilta, Sifra and Sifre ). Some baraitot , however, are known only through traditions cited in the Gemara, and are not part of any other collection. 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. The work

2170-502: 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 Ashkenazi world the founders of pilpul are generally considered to be Jacob Pollak (1460–1541) and Shalom Shachna . This kind of study reached its height in the 16th and 17th centuries when expertise in pilpulistic analysis

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2240-622: The Talmud runs to a length of 2,711 double-sided folios . Talmud translates as "instruction, learning", from the Semitic root lmd , meaning "teach, study". Originally, Jewish scholarship was oral and transferred from one generation to the next. Rabbis expounded and debated the Torah (the written Torah expressed in the Hebrew Bible) and discussed the Tanakh without the benefit of written works (other than

2310-597: The Talmud was compiled appears to have been forgotten at least by the second half of the Middle Ages, when estimates between the 3rd century BCE to the 9th century CE are suggested in the Wikkuah , a text that records the debates that took place in the Disputation of Paris (also known as the "Trial of the Talmud") which took place in 1240. A wide range of dates have been proposed for the Babylonian Talmud by historians. The text

2380-402: The Talmud were written by Paltoi Gaon, Sherira , Hai Gaon , and Saadya (though in this case, Saadiya is not likely to be the true author). Of these, the commentary of Paltoi ben Abaye ( c. 840) is the earliest. His son, Zemah ben Paltoi paraphrased and explained the passages which he quoted; and he composed, as an aid to the study of the Talmud, a lexicon which Abraham Zacuto consulted in

2450-460: The Talmud, has become a classic. Sections in the commentary covering a few tractates (Pes, BB and Mak) were completed by his students, especially Judah ben Nathan , and a sections dealing with specific tractates (Ned, Naz, Hor and MQ) of the commentary that appear in some print editions of Rashi's commentary today were not composed by him. In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, a genre of rabbinic literature emerged surrounding Rashi's commentary, with

2520-412: The advent of modernity , in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the centerpiece of Jewish cultural life and was foundational to "all Jewish thought and aspirations", serving also as "the guide for the daily life" of Jews. Above all, the Talmud is a commentary on the Mishnah , primarily written in Jewish Babylonian Aramaic . It contains the teachings and opinions of thousands of rabbis on

2590-453: The center of teaching and study) and total Roman control over Judaea , 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. In antiquity, the two major centres of Jewish scholarship were located in Galilee and Babylonia . A Talmud

2660-457: The coerced condition. In this sense, "kosher" is the rabbinic legal term applied to a Jew who adheres to rabbinic tradition and is accordingly not subject to any disqualification. Se‘adyá ben Maimón ibn Danan in the 15th century stated: Indeed, when it comes to lineage , all the people of Israel are brethren. We are all the sons of one father, the rebels ( reshaim ) and criminals, the heretics ( meshumadim ) and forced ones ( anusim ), and

2730-651: The development of the Jewish Law in the Holy Land. It was also an important primary source for the study of the Babylonian Talmud by the Kairouan school of Chananel ben Chushiel and Nissim ben Jacob , with the result that opinions ultimately based on the Jerusalem Talmud found their way into both the Tosafot and the Mishneh Torah of Maimonides . Ethical maxims contained in the Jerusalem Talmud are scattered and interspersed in

2800-562: The end of the 11th century. In his religious legal opinions, Rashi , a French rabbi who lived during this period, commented about the issue of anusim. Several centuries later, following the mass forced conversion of Sephardi Jews (those Jews with extended histories in Spain and Portugal , known jointly as Iberia , or Sepharad in Hebrew) of the 15th and 16th centuries, the term "anusim" became widely used by Spanish rabbis and their successors for

2870-461: The explanations of Tosafot differ from those of Rashi. Among the founders of the Tosafist school were Rabbeinu Tam , who was a grandson of Rashi, and, Rabbenu Tam's nephew, Isaac ben Samuel . The Tosafot commentaries were collected in different editions in the various schools. The benchmark collection of Tosafot for Northern France was that of Eliezer of Touques . The standard collection for Spain

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2940-426: The fifteenth century. Saadia Gaon is said to have composed commentaries on the Talmud, aside from his Arabic commentaries on the Mishnah. The first surviving commentary on the entire Talmud is that of Chananel ben Chushiel . Many medieval authors also composed commentaries focusing on the content of specific tractates, including Nissim ben Jacob and Gershom ben Judah . The commentary of Rashi , covering most of

3010-574: The following 600 years, henceforth becoming associated with Sephardic history. The term may be properly applied to any Jew of any ethnic division . Since that time, it has also been applied to other forced or coerced converted Jews, such as the Mashhadi Jews of Persia (now Iran ), who converted to Islam in the public eye, but secretly practised Judaism at home. They lived dual-religious lives, being fully practising Muslims in public life, and fully practising Jews at home. In non-rabbinic literature,

3080-516: The gentile surveillance, we say that they do have intercourse for the sake of marriage. It follows that Uziel considered anusím as Jews, because only Jews can give or receive a get , a Jewish divorce. Maimonides stated in the Mishneh Torah Sefer Shofetím, Hilekhót Mumarím 3:3: But their children and grandchildren [of Jewish rebels], who, misguided by their parents ... and trained in their views, are like children taken captive by

3150-514: The gentiles and raised in their laws and customs (וגידלוהו הגויים על דתם), whose status is that of an ’anús [one who abjures Jewish law under duress], who, although he later learns that he is a Jew, meets Jews, observes them practice their laws, is nevertheless to be regarded as an ’anús, since he was reared in the erroneous ways of his parents ... Therefore efforts should be made to bring them back in repentance (לפיכך ראוי להחזירם בתשובה), to draw them near by friendly relations, so that they may return to

3220-445: The government forbids them to perform Halakhicly valid marriages, if it's necessary to say that their wives must have a Get to permit them (to marry another man), for the reason that, by force of the Law (Hazakah/חזקה), a man does not have intercourse for promiscuity (Zenut/זנות) ... (In our very case), we deal with those who converted and kept Torah in secrecy and hide their religion because of

3290-463: The heart are two abettors to the crime. The final redaction of the text was in the late fourth or early fifth century, once Christianity had become the state religion of the Roman Empire and Jerusalem. Just as wisdom has made a crown for one's head, so, too, humility has made a sole for one's foot. Despite its incomplete state, the Jerusalem Talmud remains an indispensable source of knowledge of

3360-525: The idolaters. Their hope and righteousness endure forever (...) furthermore, when they come to be included among the Jews, they are simply circumcised ; they are not immersed like converts who were never part of the Jewish people. Ben-Zion Meir Hai Uziel , the Chief Sephardic Rabbi of the State of Israel, stated in the mid-20th century: And we still have to clarify on the (subject of) Anusím, to whom

3430-455: The late 19th century another trend in Talmud study arose. Hayyim Soloveitchik (1853–1918) of Brisk (Brest-Litovsk) developed and refined this style of study. Brisker method involves a reductionistic analysis of rabbinic arguments within the Talmud or among the Rishonim , explaining the differing opinions by placing them within a categorical structure. The Brisker method is highly analytical and

3500-620: The legal discussions throughout the several treatises, many of which differ from those in the Babylonian Talmud. The Babylonian Talmud ( Talmud Bavli ) consists of documents compiled over the period of late antiquity (3rd to 6th centuries). During this time, the most important of the Jewish centres in Mesopotamia , a region called " Babylonia " in Jewish sources (see Talmudic academies in Babylonia ) and later known as Iraq , were Nehardea , Nisibis (modern Nusaybin ), Mahoza ( al-Mada'in , just to

3570-433: The more widely known Sephardic anusim are also referred to as: The subject of anusim has a special place in rabbinic literature . In normal circumstances, a person who abandons Jewish observance , or part of it, is classified as a meshumad . Such a person is still counted as a Jew for purposes of lineage, but is under a disability to claim any privilege pertaining to Jewish status: for example, he should not be counted in

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3640-478: The need to ascertain the Halakha (Jewish rabbinical law). Early commentators such as Isaac Alfasi (North Africa, 1013–1103) attempted to extract and determine the binding legal opinions from the vast corpus of the Talmud. Alfasi's work was highly influential, attracted several commentaries in its own right and later served as a basis for the creation of halakhic codes. Another influential medieval Halakhic work following

3710-734: The opinions of the rabbis of the Ma'arava (the West, meaning Israel) as well as of those of Babylonia, while the Jerusalem Talmud 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 more comprehensive. 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

3780-592: The order of the Babylonian Talmud, and to some extent modelled on Alfasi, was "the Mordechai ", a compilation by Mordechai ben Hillel ( c. 1250–1298). A third such work was that of Asher ben Yechiel (d. 1327). All these works and their commentaries are printed in the Vilna and many subsequent editions of the Talmud. A 15th-century Spanish rabbi, Jacob ibn Habib (d. 1516), compiled the Ein Yaakov , which extracts nearly all

3850-474: The outreach movement to the descendants of those Crypto-Jews who wish to renew their ties with the Jewish people. Talmud The Talmud ( / ˈ t ɑː l m ʊ d , - m ə d , ˈ t æ l -/ ; Hebrew : תַּלְמוּד ‎ , romanized :  Talmūḏ , lit.   'teaching') is, after the Hebrew Bible , the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law ( halakha ) and Jewish theology . Until

3920-636: The period of the Amoraim (rabbis cited in the Gemara) beginning around the year 200. A second Aramaic dialect is used in Nedarim , Nazir , Temurah , Keritot , and Me'ilah ; the second is closer in style to the Targum . The oldest full manuscript of the Talmud, known as the Munich Talmud (Codex Hebraicus 95), dates from 1342 and is available online. Manuscripts of the Talmud are as follows: The exact date at which

3990-460: The process that produced this commentarial tradition are known as the Amoraim . Each discussion is presented in a self-contained, edited passage known as a sugya . Much of the Gemara is legal in nature. Each analysis begins with a Mishnaic legal statement. With each sugya, the statement may be analyzed and compared with other statements. This process can be framed as an exchange between two (often anonymous, possibly metaphorical) disputants, termed

4060-433: The proselytes ( gerim ) who are attached to the house of Jacob . All these are Israelites. Even if they left God or denied Him, or violated His Law, the yoke of that Law is still upon their shoulders and will never be removed from them. Hakham Joseph Shalom, writing in the 16th century, stated: This is how it is with these conversos : They derive from the hope of Israel, despite the fact that they have been immersed among

4130-691: The purpose of supplementing it and addressing internal contradictions via the technique of pilpul . This genre of commentary is known as the Tosafot and focuses on specific passages instead of a running continuous commentary across the entire Talmud. Many Talmudic passages are difficult to understand, sometimes owing to the use of Greek or Persian loanwords whose meaning had become obscure. A major area of Talmudic scholarship developed to explain these passages and words. Some early commentators such as Rabbenu Gershom of Mainz (10th century) and Rabbenu Ḥananel (early 11th century) produced running commentaries to various tractates. These commentaries could be read with

4200-490: 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 (literally, "repeaters", or "teachers"). These tannaim—rabbis of the second century CE--"who produced the Mishnah and other tannaic works, must be distinguished from the rabbis of the third to fifth centuries, known as amoraim (literally, "speakers"), who produced

4270-642: The south of what is now Baghdad ), Pumbedita (near present-day al Anbar Governorate ), and the Sura Academy , probably located about 60 km (37 mi) south of Baghdad. The Babylonian Talmud comprises the Mishnah and the Babylonian Gemara, the latter representing the culmination of more than 300 years of analysis of the Mishnah in the Talmudic Academies in Babylonia. The foundations of this process of analysis were laid by Abba Arika (175–247),

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4340-513: The strength-giving source, i.e., the Toráh. There is much controversy regarding the status of conversions today. While the chief rabbis are wary of converting large groups, there are some rabbis such as Haim Amsalem and Chuck Davidson who have done mass conversions of Bnei Anusim (descendants of original Anusim). In the United States Reform rabbi Jacques Cukierkorn is one of the leaders of

4410-428: The text likely trace to this time regardless of the date of the final redaction/compilation. Additional external evidence for a latest possible date for the composition of the Babylonian Talmud are the uses of it by external sources, including the Letter of Baboi (mid-8th century), Seder Tannaim veAmoraim (9th century) and a 10th-century letter by Sherira Gaon addressing the formation of the Babylonian Talmud. As for

4480-518: 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 Nissim Gaon , 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 Joseph ibn Migash on two tractates, Bava Batra and Shevuot, based on Ḥananel and Alfasi, also survive, as does

4550-410: The two Talmudim and other amoraic works". 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

4620-430: Was Rabbenu Asher 's 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. A recent project, Halacha Brura , founded by Abraham Isaac Kook , presents the Talmud and a summary of the halachic codes side by side, so as to enable the "collation" of Talmud with resultant Halacha. During

4690-461: Was a grammarian of Hebrew and Arabic, poet and a halachic authority. He served as a dayan in Granada, and after the expulsion of Jews from Spain settled in Oran. Among his works are rabbinic Responsa , a Talmudic dictionary called Sepher Arukh, works on Hebrew grammar and Hebrew verse, as well as a Hebrew dictionary written in Arabic. He was the first writer to compare Hebrew metre with its Arabic counterpart. This biographical article about

4760-399: Was compiled in each of these regional centres. The earlier of the two compilations took place in Galilee, either in the late fourth or early fifth century, and it came to be known as the Jerusalem Talmud (or Talmud Yerushalmi ). Later on, and likely some time in the sixth century, the Babylonian Talmud was compiled. This later Talmud is usually what is being referred to when the word "Talmud"

4830-515: 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 are Judah Loew ben Bezalel (the Maharal of Prague), Isaiah Horowitz , and Yair Bacharach . By

4900-435: Was most likely completed, however, in the 6th century, or prior to the early Muslim conquests in 643–636 CE at the latest, on the basis that the Talmud lacks loanwords or syntax deriving from Arabic . Recently, it has been extensively argued that Talmud is an expression and product of Sasanian culture, as well as other Greek - Roman , Middle Persian , and Syriac sources up to the same period of time. The contents of

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