Talmud

TALMUD By : Wilhelm Bacher: Encyclopedia Judaica
ARTICLE HEADINGS:

• The Name.
• Relation to Midrash.
• The Three Subjects of Study.
• The Gemara.
• Relation to Mishnah.
• The Palestinian Talmud.
• The Style of the Yerushalmi.
• Examples.
• Further Examples.
• Passages Repeated.
• The Haggadot of the Yerushalmi.
• Editions of the Babli.
• Missing Gemaras.
• Earliest Manuscript of the Babli.
• Examples from the Babli.
• Further Examples.
• Legal Example.
• Framework of Commentary.
• Haggadah of the Babli.
• Style and Language.
• The Halakah in Babli.
• The Framework Anonymous.
• Redaction.
• Technical Terms for Tradition.
• Date of Redaction.
• Activity of Jonah and Jose.
• Activity of Raba.
• Committed to Writing.
• No Formal Ratification.
• Influence of the Talmud.
• Edict of Justinian.
• Attacks on the Talmud.
• Early Editions.
• "Variæ Lectiones" and Translations.
• Function in Judaism.
• Its Authority.

Name of two works which have been preserved to posterity as the product of the Palestinian and Babylonian schools during the amoraic period, which extended from the third to the fifth century C.E. One of these compilations is entitled "Talmud Yerushalmi" (Jerusalem Talmud) and the other "Talmud Babli" (Babylonian Talmud). Used alone, the word "Talmud" generally denotes "Talmud Babli," but it frequently serves as a generic designation for an entire body of literature, since the Talmud marks the culmination of the writings of Jewish tradition, of which it is, from a historical point of view, the most important production.