Talmud

The Talmud (<a title="Help:IPA/English" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA/English">/ˈtɑːlmʊd, -məd, ˈtæl-/</a>; <a title="Hebrew language" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hebrew_language">Hebrew</a>: תַּלְמוּד talmūd) is the central text of <a title="Rabbinic Judaism" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabbinic_Judaism">Rabbinic Judaism</a> and the primary source of Jewish religious law (<a title="Halakha" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halakha">halakha</a>) and Jewish <a title="Theology" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theology">theology</a>.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talmud#cite_note-1">[1]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talmud#cite_note-Steinsaltz-2">[2]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talmud#cite_note-Neusner-3">[3]</a> Until the advent of <a title="Modernity" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modernity">modernity</a>, 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.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talmud#cite_note-Safrai-4">[4]</a>

The term "Talmud" normally refers to the collection of writings named specifically the Babylonian Talmud (Talmud Bavli), although there is also an earlier collection known as the <a title="Jerusalem Talmud" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerusalem_Talmud">Jerusalem Talmud</a> (Talmud Yerushalmi).<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talmud#cite_note-5">[5]</a> It may also traditionally be called Shas (ש״ס), a <a title="Hebrew language" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hebrew_language">Hebrew</a> abbreviation of shisha sedarim, or the "six orders" of the <a title="Mishnah" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mishnah">Mishnah</a>.

The Talmud has two components; the Mishnah (Hebrew: משנה, <abbr title="circa">c.</abbr> year 200 CE), a written <a title="Compendium" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compendium">compendium</a> of Rabbinic Judaism's <a title="Oral Torah" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oral_Torah">Oral Torah</a>; and the <a title="Gemara" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gemara">Gemara</a> (circa year 500 CE), an <a class="extiw" title="wikt:elucidation" href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/elucidation">elucidation</a> of the Mishnah and related <a title="Tannaim" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tannaim">Tannaitic</a> writings that often ventures onto other subjects and expounds broadly on the <a class="mw-redirect" title="Tanakh" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanakh">Hebrew Bible</a>. The term "Talmud" may refer to either the Gemara alone, or the Mishnah and Gemara together.

The entire Talmud consists of 63 <a title="Tractate" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tractate">tractates</a>, and in standard print is over 6,200 pages long. It is written in <a title="Mishnaic Hebrew" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mishnaic_Hebrew">Mishnaic Hebrew</a> and <a title="Jewish Babylonian Aramaic" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_Babylonian_Aramaic">Jewish Babylonian Aramaic</a> and contains the teachings and opinions of thousands of <a title="Rabbi" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabbi">rabbis</a> (dating from before the <a title="Common Era" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Era">Common Era</a> through to the fifth century) on a variety of subjects, including halakha, <a title="Jewish ethics" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_ethics">Jewish ethics</a>, philosophy, customs, history, lore and many other topics. The Talmud is the basis for all codes of Jewish law, and is widely quoted in <a title="Rabbinic literature" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabbinic_literature">rabbinic literature</a>.

Talmud

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