Framework of Commentary

Framework of Commentary.

This analysis of four different passages of the Babylonian Talmud shows, in the first place, that the framework, as in the Palestinian Talmud, is formed by a running interpretation of the Mishnah, despite the heterogeneity of the material which is interwoven with it. The Talmud, however, is not a mere commentary on the Mishnah, since, in addition to its haggadic portions, it contains a varied mass of halakic material, connected only loosely, if at all, with the contents of the mishnaic paragraphs in question; and while the Talmud sometimes adheres closely to the text of such a paragraph, its commentary on a single section of the Mishnah is often expanded into the compass of a small book. In this respect Babli is much more free than Yerushalmi, which is more concise in other regards as well; the wider interests of the former and its greater variety and length are due at least in large part to the fact that the Babylonian academies enjoyed a longer existence and hence its redaction extended over a more protracted period.