Before entering into any discussion of the origin and peculiar form of the Talmud, the two recensions of the work itself may be briefly described. The general designation of the Palestinian Talmud as "Talmud Yerushalmi," or simply as "Yerushalmi," is precisely analogous to that of the Palestinian Targum. The term originated in the geonic period, when, however, the work received also the more precise designations of "Talmud of Palestine," "Talmud of the Land of Israel," "Talmud of the West," and "Talmud of the Western Lands." Yerushalmi has not been preserved in its entirety; large portions of it were entirely lost at an early date,while other parts exist only in fragments. The editio princeps (ed. Bomberg, Venice, 1523 et seq.), on which all later editions are based, terminates with the following remark: "Thus far we have found what is contained in this Talmud; and we have endeavored in vain to obtain the missing portions." Of the four manuscripts used for this first edition (comp. the note at the conclusion of Shab. xx. 17d and the passage just cited), only one is now in existence; it is preserved in the library of the University of Leyden (see below). Of the six orders of the Mishnah, the fifth, Kodashim, is missing entirely from the Palestinian Talmud, while of the sixth, tohorot, it contains only the first three chapters of the treatise Niddah (iv. 48d-51b). The treatises of the orders of the Mishnah are arranged in the following sequence in this Talmud; the pagination also is given here, in parentheses, to indicate the length of the several treatises:
I. Zera'im:
- Berakot (2a-14d);
- Pe'ah (15a-21b);
- Demai (21c-26c);
- Ki'layim (26d-32d);
- Shebi'it (33a-39d);
- Terumot (40a-48b);
- Ma'aserot (48c-52a);
- Ma'aser Sheni (52b-58d);
- hallah (57a-60b);
- 'Orlah (60c-63b);
- Bikkurim (63c-65d).
II. Mo'ed:
- Shabbat (2a-18a);
- 'Erubin (18a-26d);
- Pesahim (27a-37d);
- Yoma (38a-45c);
- SheKalim (45c-51b);
- Sukkah (51c-55d);
- Rosh ha-Shanah (56a-59d);
- Bezah (59d-63b), Ta'anit (63c-69c);
- Megillah (69d-75d);
- hagigah (75d-79d);
- Mo'ed Katan (80a-83d).
III. Nashim:
- Yebamot (2a-15a);
- Sotah (15a-24c);
- Ketubot (24c-36b);
- Nedarim (36c-42d);
- Gittin (43a-50d);
- Nazir (51a-58a);
- Kiddushin (58a-66d).
IV. NeziKin:
- Baba Kamma (2a-7c);
- Baba Mezi'a (7c-12c);
- Baba Batra (12d-17d);
- Sanhedrin (17d-30c);
- Makkot (30d-32b);
- Shebu'ot (32c-38d);
- 'Abodah Zarah (39a-45b);
- Horayot (45c-48c).
VI. tohorot:
- Niddah (48d-51b).
Maimonides expressly states in the introduction to his commentary on the Mishnah that in his time Yerushalmi was extant for the entire first five orders (comp. Abraham ibn Daud, ed. Neubauer, "M. J. C." i. 57); therefore he must have seen the Yerushalmi of the order Kodashim, although he himself does not quote it in his commentary on this order (see Frankel, "Mebo," p. 45b). Except for the treatise Niddah, on the other hand, there was, according to Maimonides (l.c.), no Yerushalmi for the sixth order. A South-Arabian work of the fifteenth century, however, quotes the Gemara "on 'UKzin in the Gemara of the people of Jerusalem," which is said to contain a passage on the zodiac (see Steinschneider, "Catalog der Hebräischen Handschriften der Königlichen Bibliothek zu Berlin," p. 65, Berlin, 1878). The author of this quotation, therefore, knew Yerushalmi for the last treatise of the sixth order, although it is possible that the passage quoted may have been in the lost portion of the treatise Niddah, and that the name "'UKzin" may have been used instead of "tohorot." For further details on the missing sections of Yerushalmi see Frankel, l.c. pp. 45a et seq.; Weiss, "Dor," iii. 232; Buber, in Berliner's "Magazin," v. 100-105; and Strack, "Einleitung in den Talmud," pp. 63-65. The mishnaic text on which the Palestinian Talmud is based has been preserved in its entirety in a manuscript belonging to the library of the University of Cambridge, and has been edited by W. H. Lowe ("The Mishnah on Which the Palestinian Talmud Rests," Cambridge, 1883).
(see image) Pages from a Manuscript of the Jerusalem Talmud.(From the Cairo Genizah.)
The Palestinian Talmud is so arranged in the editions that each chapter is preceded by its entire mishnaic text with the paragraphs numbered, this being followed by the Talmud on the several paragraphs. In the first seven chapters of Berakot the paragraphs are designated as "First Mishnah" (), "Second Mishnah," etc.; while in the remainingchapters and all the other treatises the paragraphs are termed "halakot" (). In the early chapters the mishnaic text of each paragraph is repeated entire in the Talmud at the beginning of the paragraph; but later only the first words are prefaced to the Talmudic text. Even in cases where there is no Talmud the designation of the paragraph and the beginning of the mishnaic text are given. The editio princeps seems to have borrowed this arrangement from the manuscripts, although the system is much more simple in the fragment of Yerushalmi edited by Paul von Kokowzoff in the "Mémoires de la Société Archéologique de St. Petersbourg" (xi. 195-205), which contains some paragraphs of the sixth and eighth chapters of Baba Kamma. This fragment begins with the concluding lines of the Talmudic text of ch. v.; but between them and the beginning of ch. vi. the Mishnah is lacking, so that the superscription, "Chapter vi.," is followed immediately by the Talmudic text. There is no reference to the beginning of the paragraph, either in the first or in the succeeding paragraphs; nor is there any explanation of the fact that paragraphs 4 and 7 of ch. viii. have no Talmud. It is clear, therefore, that the manuscript to which this fragment belonged contained only the Talmudic text, thus presupposing the use of a special copy of the Mishnah. It is likewise noteworthy that in the first two chapters of Berakot the sections of the Talmudic text on some of the paragraphs are designated in the editions by the word "pisKa" (section), a term found occasionally also in other portions of the text of Yerushalmi.
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