Talmud

This article is about the Babylonian Talmud. For the Jerusalem Talmud, seeJerusalem Talmud.

"Talmudic" redirects here. "Talmudic Aramaic" refers to theJewish Babylonian Aramaicas found in the Talmud.

TheTalmud(/ˈtɑːlmʊd,-məd,ˈtæl-/;Hebrew:תַּלְמוּד‎,romanized:Talmūḏ,lit. 'teaching') is, after theHebrew Bible,the central text ofRabbinic Judaismand the primary source of Jewish religious law (halakha) andJewish theology.Until the advent ofmodernity,in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the centerpiece ofJewish cultural lifeand was foundational to "all Jewish thought and aspirations", serving also as "the guide for the daily life" of Jews.

The termTalmudnormally refers to the collection of writings named specifically theBabylonian Talmud(Talmud Bavli), compiled in the 5th century byRav AshiandRavina II.There is also an earlier collection known as theJerusalem Talmud(Talmud Yerushalmi).It may also traditionally be calledShas(ש״ס), aHebrewabbreviation ofshisha sedarim,or the "six orders" of theMishnah.

The Talmud has two components: the Mishnah (משנה,c.200 CE), a writtencompendiumof theOral Torah;and theGemara(גמרא,c.500 CE), anelucidationof the Mishnah and relatedTannaiticwritings that often ventures onto other subjects and expounds broadly on theHebrew Bible.The term "Talmud" may refer to either the Gemara alone, or the Mishnah and Gemara together. Talmudic traditions emerged within a literary period that can be bracketed between the destruction of theSecond Templein 70 CE until the Arab conquest in the early seventh century.

The entire Talmud consists of 63tractates,and in the standard print, called theVilna Shas,there are 2,711 double-sided folios.It is written inMishnaic HebrewandJewish Babylonian Aramaicand contains the teachings and opinions of thousands ofrabbison a variety of subjects, includinghalakha,Jewish ethics,philosophy,customs,history,andfolklore,and many other topics. The Talmud is the basis for all codes of Jewish law and is widely quoted inrabbinic literature.

Etymology

Talmud translates as "instruction, learning", from theSemitic rootLMD,meaning "teach, study".

Oral pre-history

Main article:Oral Torah

Oz veHadaredition of the first page of the Babylonian Talmud, with elements numbered in a spiraling rainbowː (1)Joshua Boaz'sMesorat haShas,(2)Joel Sirkis'sHagahot(3)Akiva Eiger'sGilyon haShas,(4) Completion ofRashi's commentary from the Soncino printing, (5)Nissim ben Jacob's commentary, (6)Hananel ben Hushiel's commentary, (7) a survey of the verses quoted, (8) Joshua Boaz'sEin Mishpat/Ner Mitzvah,(9) the folio and page numbers, (10) thetractatetitle, (11) the chapter number, (12), the chapter heading, (13), Rashi's commentary, (14) theTosafot,(15) theMishnah,(16) theGemara,(17) an editorial footnote.

An early printing of the Talmud (Ta'anit9b); with commentary byRashi

Originally, Jewish scholarship wasoraland transferred from one generation to the next. Rabbis expounded and debated the Torah (the written Torah expressed in the Hebrew Bible) and discussed theTanakhwithout the benefit of written works (other than 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 theSecond Templein 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 the center of teaching and study) and total Roman control overJudaea,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.

Babylonian and Jerusalem

The process of "Gemara" proceeded in what were then the two major centers of Jewish scholarship:GalileeandBabylonia.Correspondingly, two bodies of analysis developed, and two works of Talmud were created. The older compilation is called the Jerusalem Talmud or theTalmud Yerushalmi.It was compiled in the 4th century in Galilee. The Babylonian Talmud was compiled about the year 500, although it continued to be edited later. The word "Talmud", when used without qualification, usually refers to the Babylonian Talmud.

While the editors of Jerusalem Talmud and Babylonian Talmud each mention the other community, most scholars believe these documents were written independently;Louis Jacobswrites, "If the editors of either had had access to an actual text of the other, it is inconceivable that they would not have mentioned this. Here theargument from silenceis very convincing. "

Jerusalem Talmud

Main article:Jerusalem Talmud

A page of a medieval Jerusalem Talmud manuscript, from theCairo Geniza

The Jerusalem Talmud, also known as theTalmuda de-Eretz Yisrael(Talmud of the Land of Israel), or Palestinian Talmud, was one of the two compilations of Jewish religious teachings and commentary that was transmitted orally for centuries prior to its compilation by Jewish scholars in theLand of Israel.It is a compilation of teachings of the schools ofTiberias,Sepphoris,andCaesarea.It is written largely inJewish Palestinian Aramaic,aWestern Aramaic languagethat differs fromits Babylonian counterpart.

This Talmud is a synopsis of the analysis of the Mishnah that was developed over the course of nearly 200 years by theAcademies in Galilee(principally those of Tiberias and Caesarea). Because of their location, the sages of these Academies devoted considerable attention to the analysis of the agricultural laws of the Land of Israel. Traditionally, this Talmud was thought to have been redacted in about the year 350 by Rav Muna and Rav Yossi in the Land of Israel. It is traditionally known as theTalmud Yerushalmi( "Jerusalem Talmud" ), but the name is a misnomer, as it was not prepared in Jerusalem. It has more accurately been called "The Talmud of the Land of Israel".

The eye and the heart are two abettors to the crime.

— Yitzhak ben Eleazar,Jerusalem Talmud(Berakhot1:5)

Its final redaction probably belongs to the end of the 4th century, but the individual scholars who brought it to its present form cannot be fixed with assurance. By this timeChristianityhad become thestate religionof theRoman Empireand Jerusalem the holy city of Christendom. In 325Constantine the Great,the first Christian emperor, wrote in a letter to the churches concerning theFirst Council of Nicaea,that "let us then have nothing in common with the detestable Jewish crowd."The compilers of the Jerusalem Talmud consequently lacked the time to produce a work of the quality they had intended. The text is evidently incomplete and is not easy to follow.

The apparent cessation of work on the Jerusalem Talmud in the 5th century has been associated with the decision ofTheodosius IIin 425 to suppress thePatriarchateand put an end to the practice ofsemikhah,formal scholarly ordination. Some modern scholars have questioned this connection.

Just as wisdom has made a crown for one's head, so, too, humility has made a sole for one's foot.

— Yitzhak ben Eleazar,Jerusalem Talmud(Shabbat8b)

Despite its incomplete state, the Jerusalem Talmud remains an indispensable source of knowledge of 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 theKairouanschool ofChananel ben ChushielandNissim ben Jacob,with the result that opinions ultimately based on the Jerusalem Talmud found their way into both theTosafotand theMishneh TorahofMaimonides.Ethical maxims contained in the Jerusalem Talmud are scattered and interspersed in the legal discussions throughout the several treatises, many of which differ from those in the Babylonian Talmud.

Following the formation of the modernstate of Israel,there has been some interest in restoringEretz Yisraeltraditions. For example, rabbiDavid Bar-Hayimof theMakhon Shiloinstitute has issued asiddurreflectingEretz Yisraelpractice as found in the Jerusalem Talmud and other sources.

Babylonian Talmud

A full set of the Babylonian Talmud

TheBabylonian Talmud(Talmud Bavli) consists of documents compiled over the period oflate antiquity(3rd to 6th centuries).During this time, the most important of the Jewish centres inMesopotamia,a region called "Babylonia"in Jewish sources (seeTalmudic academies in Babylonia) and later known asIraq,wereNehardea,Nisibis (modernNusaybin), Mahoza (al-Mada'in,just to the south of what is nowBaghdad),Pumbedita(near present-dayal Anbar Governorate), and theSura Academy,probably located about 60 km (37 mi) south of Baghdad.

The Babylonian Talmud comprises theMishnahand 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 byAbba Arika(175–247), a disciple ofJudah ha-Nasi.Tradition ascribes the compilation of the Babylonian Talmud in its present form to two Babylonian sages,Rav AshiandRavina 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 finalAmoraicexpounder. Accordingly, traditionalists argue that Ravina's death in 475is 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 theSavoraimorRabbanan Savora'e(meaning "reasoners" or "considerers" ).

Comparison of style and subject matter

There are significant differences between the two Talmud compilations. The language of the Jerusalem Talmud is a western Aramaic dialect, which differs from the form of Aramaic in the Babylonian Talmud. The Talmud Yerushalmi is often fragmentary and difficult to read, even for experienced Talmudists. The redaction of the Talmud Bavli, on the other hand, is more careful and precise. The law as laid down in the two compilations is basically similar, except in emphasis and in minor details. The Jerusalem Talmud has not received much attention from commentators, and such traditional commentaries as exist are mostly concerned with comparing its teachings to those of the Talmud Bavli.

Neither the Jerusalem nor the Babylonian Talmud covers the entire Mishnah: for example, a Babylonian Gemara exists only for 37 out of the 63 tractates of the Mishnah. In particular:

• The Jerusalem Talmud covers all the tractates ofZeraim,while the Babylonian Talmud covers only tractateBerachot.The reason might be that most laws from the Order Zeraim (agricultural laws limited to the Land of Israel) had little practical relevance in Babylonia and were therefore not included.The Jerusalem Talmud has a greater focus on the Land of Israel and the Torah's agricultural laws pertaining to the land because it was written in the Land of Israel where the laws applied.
• The Jerusalem Talmud does not cover the Mishnaic order ofKodashim,which deals with sacrificial rites and laws pertaining to theTemple,while the Babylonian Talmud does cover it. It is not clear why this is, as the laws were not directly applicable in either country following the Temple's destruction in year 70. Early Rabbinic literature indicates that there once was a Jerusalem Talmud commentary on Kodashim but it has been lost to history (though in the early Twentieth Century an infamous forgery of the lost tractates was at first widely accepted before being quickly exposed).
• In both Talmuds, only one tractate ofTohorot(ritual purity laws) is examined, that of the menstrual laws,Niddah.

The Babylonian Talmud records the opinions of the rabbis of theMa'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 a more comprehensivecollection of the opinions available. On the other hand, because of the centuries of redaction between the composition of the Jerusalem and the Babylonian Talmud, the opinions of earlyamoraimmight be closer to their original form in the Jerusalem Talmud.

The influence of the Babylonian Talmud has been far greater than that of theYerushalmi.In the main, this is because the influence and prestige of the Jewish community of Israel steadily declined in contrast with the Babylonian community in the years after the redaction of the Talmud and continuing until theGaonicera. Furthermore, the editing of the Babylonian Talmud was superior to that of the Jerusalem version, making it more accessible and readily usable.According to Maimonides (whose life began almost a hundred years after the end of the Gaonic era), all Jewish communities during the Gaonic era formally accepted the Babylonian Talmud as binding upon themselves, and modern Jewish practice follows the Babylonian Talmud's conclusions on all areas in which the two Talmuds conflict.

Structure

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 is divided into chapters (perakim;singular:perek), 517 in total, that are both numbered according to theHebrew Alpha betand given names, usually using the first one or two words in the first mishnah. Aperekmay continue over several (up to tens of)pages.Eachperekwill contain severalmishnayot.

Mishnah

Main article:Mishnah

TheMishnahis a compilation of legal opinions and debates. Statements in the Mishnah are typically terse, recording brief opinions of 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 theTannaim(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 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 theMidrash,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 a corresponding Gemara. Also, the order of the tractates in the Talmud differs in some cases from that in theMishnah.

Baraita

Main article:Baraita

In addition to the Mishnah, other tannaitic teachings were current at about the same time or shortly after that. The Gemara frequently refers to these tannaitic statements in order to compare them to those contained in the Mishnah and to support or refute the propositions of theAmoraim.

Thebaraitotcited in the Gemara are often quotations from theTosefta(a tannaitic compendium of halakha parallel to the Mishnah) and theMidrash halakha(specificallyMekhilta, Sifra and Sifre). Somebaraitot,however, are known only through traditions cited in the Gemara, and are not part of any other collection.

Gemara

Main article:Gemara

In the three centuries following theredactionof the Mishnah, rabbis in Palestine and Babylonia analyzed, debated, and discussed that work. These discussions form the Gemara. The Gemara mainly focuses on elucidating and elaborating the opinions of the Tannaim. The rabbis of the Gemara are known asAmoraim(sing.Amoraאמורא).

Much of the Gemara consists of legal analysis. The starting point for the analysis is usually a legal statement found in a Mishnah. The statement is then analyzed and compared with other statements used in differentapproachesto biblicalexegesisin rabbinic Judaism (or – simpler –interpretationof text inTorah study) exchanges between two (frequently anonymous and sometimes metaphorical) disputants, termed themakshan(questioner) andtartzan(answerer). Another important function of Gemara is to identify the correct biblical basis for a given law presented in the Mishnah and the logical process connecting one with the other: this activity was known astalmudlong before the existence of the "Talmud" as a text.

Minor tractates

Main article:Minor tractate

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.

Manuscripts

The oldest full manuscript of the Talmud, known as theMunich Talmud(Codex Hebraicus 95), dates from 1342 and is available online.Manuscripts of the Talmud are as follows:

• Cairo Genizah fragments
  • Date: earliest ones from the late 7th or 8th century
  • Context: earliest manuscript fragment of the Talmud of any kind
• Ms. Oxford 2673
  • Date: 1123
  • Context: Contains a significant portion of tractate Keritot; earliest Talmudic manuscript whose precise date is known
• MS Kaufmann
  • Date: late 11th to 12th century
• Ms. Firenze 7
  • Date: 1177
  • Context: earliest Talmudic whose precise date is known and contains complete tractates
• MS JTS Rab. 15
  • Date: 1290
  • Location: Spain
• Bologna, Archivio di Stato Fr. ebr. 145
  • Date: 13th century
• Munich Talmud 95
  • Date: 1342
• Vatican 130
  • Date: January 14, 1381
• Oxford Opp. 38 (368)
  • Date: 14th century
• Arras 889
  • Date: 14th century
• Vatican 114
  • Date: 14th century
• Vatican 140
  • Date: late 14th century
• Bazzano, Archivio Storico Comunale Fr. ebr. 21
  • Date: 12th–15th centuries
• St. Petersburg, RNL Evr. I 187
  • Date: 13th or 15th century
• Cambridge T-S F1 (1) 31
  • Date: Medieval
• New York JTS ENA 3112.1

Dating

Premodern estimates

The exact date at which 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 theWikkuah,a text that records the debates that took place in theDisputation of Paris(also known as the "Trial of the Talmud" ) which took place in 1240.

Contemporary estimates

A wide range of dates have been proposed for the Babylonian Talmud by historians.The text was most likely completed, however, in the 6th century, or prior to theearly Muslim conquestsin 643–636 CE at the latest,on the basis that the Talmud lacks loanwords or syntax deriving fromArabic.Additional external evidence for a latest possible date for the composition of the Babylonian Talmud are the uses of it by external sources, including theLetter 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 a lower boundary on the dating of the Babylonian Talmud, it must post-date the early 5th century given its reliance on theJerusalem Talmud.

Language

Within theGemara,the quotations from the Mishnah and theBaraitasand verses ofTanakhquoted and embedded in the Gemara are in either Mishnaic or Biblical Hebrew. The rest of the Gemara, including the discussions of the Amoraim and the overall framework, is in a characteristic dialect ofJewish Babylonian Aramaic.There are occasional quotations from older works in other dialects of Aramaic, such asMegillat Taanit.Overall, Hebrew constitutes somewhat less than half of the text of the Talmud.

This difference in language is due to the long time period elapsing between the two compilations. During the period of theTannaim(rabbis cited in the Mishnah), a late form of Hebrew known asRabbinic or Mishnaic Hebrewwas still in use as a spokenvernacularamong Jews inJudaea(alongside Greek and Aramaic), whereas during the period of theAmoraim(rabbis cited in the Gemara), which began around the year 200, the spoken vernacular was almost exclusively Aramaic. Hebrew continued to be used for the writing of religious texts, poetry, and so forth.

Even within the Aramaic of the Gemara, different dialects or writing styles can be observed in different tractates. One dialect is common to most of the Babylonian Talmud, while a second dialect is used inNedarim,Nazir,Temurah,Keritot,andMe'ilah;the second dialect is closer in style to theTargum.

In Jewish scholarship

From the time of its completion, the Talmud became integral to Jewish scholarship. A maxim inPirkei Avotadvocates its study from the age of 15.This section outlines some of the major areas of Talmudic study.

Geonim

The earliest Talmud commentaries were written by theGeonim(c.800–1000) inBabylonia.Although some direct commentaries on particular treatises are extant, our main knowledge of the Gaonic era Talmud scholarship comes from statements embedded in Geonic responsa that shed light on Talmudic passages: these are arranged in the order of the Talmud in Levin'sOtzar ha-Geonim.Also important are practical abridgments of Jewish law such asYehudai Gaon'sHalachot Pesukot,Achai Gaon'sSheeltotandSimeon Kayyara'sHalachot Gedolot.After the death ofHai Gaon,however, the center of Talmud scholarship shifts to Europe and North Africa.

Halakhic and Aggadic extractions

One area of Talmudic scholarship developed out of the need to ascertain theHalakha.Early commentators such as rabbiIsaac 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 the order of the Babylonian Talmud, and to some extent modelled on Alfasi, was "theMordechai",a compilation byMordechai ben Hillel(c.1250–1298). A third such work was that of rabbiAsher 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), composed theEin Yaakov.Ein Yaakov(orEn Ya'aqob) extracts nearly all theAggadicmaterial 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.

Commentaries

Main article:Rabbinic literature

Further information:Yeshiva § Talmud study

The commentaries on the Talmud constitute only a small part ofRabbinic literaturein comparison with theresponsaliterature and the commentaries on thecodices.When the Talmud was concluded the traditional literature was still so fresh in the memory of scholars that no need existed for writing Talmudic commentaries, nor were such works undertaken in the first period of thegaonate.Paltoi ben Abaye(c.840) was the first who in his responsum offered verbal and textual comments on the Talmud. His son,Zemah ben Paltoiparaphrased and explained the passages which he quoted; and he composed, as an aid to the study of the Talmud, a lexicon whichAbraham Zacutoconsulted in the fifteenth century.Saadia Gaonis said to have composed commentaries on the Talmud, aside from his Arabic commentaries on the Mishnah.

There are many passages in the Talmud which are cryptic and difficult to understand. Its language contains many Greek and Persian words that became obscure over time. A major area of Talmudic scholarship developed to explain these passages and words. Some early commentators such as RabbenuGershom of Mainz(10th century) andRabbenu Ḥananel(early 11th century) produced running commentaries to various tractates. These commentaries could be read with the text of the Talmud and would help explain the meaning of the text. Another important work is theSefer ha-Mafteaḥ(Book of the Key) byNissim 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) byJoseph ibn Migashon two tractates, Bava Batra and Shevuot, based on Ḥananel and Alfasi, also survive, as does a compilation byZechariah AghmaticalledSefer ha-Ner.Using a different style, rabbiNathan b. Jechielcreated a lexicon called theArukhin the 11th century to help translate difficult words.

By far the best-known commentary on the Babylonian Talmud is that ofRashi(Rabbi Solomon ben Isaac, 1040–1105). The commentary is comprehensive, covering almost the entire Talmud. Written as a running commentary, it provides a full explanation of the words and explains the logical structure of each Talmudic passage. It is considered indispensable to students of the Talmud. Although Rashi drew upon all his predecessors, his originality in using the material offered by them was unparalleled. His commentaries, in turn, became the basis of the work of his pupils and successors, who composed a large number of supplementary works that were partly in emendation and partly in explanation of Rashi's, and are known under the title "Tosafot".(" additions "or" supplements ").

TheTosafotare collected commentaries by various medieval Ashkenazic rabbis on the Talmud (known asTosafistsorBa'alei Tosafot). One of the main goals of theTosafotis to explain and interpret contradictory statements in the Talmud. Unlike Rashi, theTosafotis not a running commentary, but rather comments on selected matters. Often the explanations ofTosafotdiffer from those of Rashi.

In Yeshiva, the integration of Talmud, Rashi and Tosafot, is considered as the foundation (and prerequisite) for further analysis; this combination is sometimes referred to by the acronym"gefet"( גפ״ת –Gemara,perush Rashi,Tosafot).

Among the founders of the Tosafist school were Rabbi Jacob ben Meir (known asRabbeinu Tam), who was a grandson of Rashi, and, Rabbenu Tam's nephew, rabbiIsaac 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 R.Eliezer of Touques.The standard collection for Spain was that ofRabbenu Asher( "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.

Over time, the approach of the Tosafists spread to other Jewish communities, particularly those in Spain. This led to the composition of many other commentaries in similar styles. Among these are the commentaries ofNachmanides(Ramban),Solomon ben Adret(Rashba),Yom Tov of Seville(Ritva) andNissim of Gerona(Ran); these are often titled “Chiddushei...” ( “Novellaeof...” ). A comprehensive anthology consisting of extracts from all these is theShittah MekubbetzetofBezalel Ashkenazi.

Other commentaries produced in Spain and Provence were not influenced by the Tosafist style. Two of the most significant of these are theYad Ramahby rabbiMeir AbulafiaandBet Habechirahby rabbiMenahem haMeiri,commonly referred to as "Meiri". While theBet Habechirahis extant for all of Talmud, we only have theYad Ramahfor Tractates Sanhedrin, Baba Batra and Gittin. Like the commentaries of Ramban and the others, these are generally printed as independent works, though some Talmud editions include theShittah Mekubbetzetin an abbreviated form.

In later centuries, focus partially shifted from direct Talmudic interpretation to the analysis of previously written Talmudic commentaries. These later commentaries are generally printed at the back of each tractate. Well known are "Maharshal" (Solomon Luria), "Maharam" (Meir Lublin) and "Maharsha"(Samuel Edels), which analyze Rashi and Tosafot together; other such commentaries includeMa'adanei Yom Tovby Yom-Tov Lipmann Heller, in turn a commentary on the Rosh (see below), and the glosses byZvi Hirsch Chajes.

Another very useful study aid, found in almost all editions of the Talmud, consists of the marginal notesTorah Or,Ein Mishpat Ner MitzvahandMasoret ha-Shasby the Italian rabbiJoshua Boaz,which give references respectively to the cited Biblical passages, to the relevant halachic codes (Mishneh Torah,Tur,Shulchan Aruch,andSe'mag) and to related Talmudic passages.

Most editions of the Talmud include brief marginal notes byAkiva Egerunder the nameGilyon ha-Shas,and textual notes byJoel Sirkesand theVilna Gaon(seeTextual emendationsbelow), on the page together with the text.

Commentaries discussing the Halachik-legal content include"Rosh","Rif"and"Mordechai";these are now standard appendices to each volume.Rambam'sMishneh Torahis invariably studied alongside these three; although a code, and therefore not in the same order as the Talmud, the relevant location is identified via the"Ein Mishpat",as mentioned.

A recent project,Halacha Brura,founded byAbraham 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.

Pilpul

During 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 termpilpulwas applied to this type of study. Usage ofpilpulin 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 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 theAshkenaziworld the founders ofpilpulare generally considered to beJacob Pollak(1460–1541) andShalom Shachna.This kind of study reached its height in the 16th and 17th centuries when expertise in pilpulistic analysis 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 tractOrhot 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 areJudah Loew ben Bezalel(theMaharalof Prague),Isaiah Horowitz,andYair Bacharach.

By the 18th century, pilpul study waned. Other styles of learning such as that of the school of Elijah b. Solomon, theVilna 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.

Sephardic approaches

AmongSephardiandItalian Jewsfrom the 15th century on, some authorities sought to apply the methods ofAristotelian logic,as reformulated byAverroes.This method was first recorded, though without explicit reference to Aristotle, byIsaac Campanton(d. Spain, 1463) in hisDarkhei ha-Talmud( "The Ways of the Talmud" ),and is also found in the works ofMoses Chaim Luzzatto.

According to the present-day Sephardi scholarJosé Faur,traditional Sephardic Talmud study could take place on any of three levels.

• The most basic level consists of literary analysis of the text without the help of commentaries, designed to bring out thetzurata di-shema'ta,i.e. the logical and narrative structure of the passage.
• The intermediate level,iyyun(concentration), consists of study with the help of commentaries such asRashiand theTosafot,similar to that practiced among theAshkenazim.Historically Sephardim studied theTosefot ha-Roshand the commentaries of Nahmanides in preference to the printed Tosafot.A method based on the study of Tosafot, and of Ashkenazi authorities such asMaharsha(Samuel Edels) andMaharshal(Solomon Luria), was introduced in late seventeenth centuryTunisiaby rabbis Abraham Hakohen (d. 1715) and Tsemaḥ Tsarfati (d. 1717) and perpetuated by rabbiIsaac Lumbrosoand is sometimes referred to as'Iyyun Tunisa'i.
• The highest level,halachah(Jewish law), consists of collating the opinions set out in the Talmud with those of the halachic codes such as theMishneh Torahand theShulchan Aruch,so as to study the Talmud as a source of law; the equivalent Ashkenazi approach is sometimes referred to as being "aliba dehilchasa".

Today most Sephardic yeshivot follow Lithuanian approaches such as the Brisker method: the traditional Sephardic methods are perpetuated informally by some individuals.'Iyyun Tunisa'iis taught at theKisse Rahamim yeshivahinBnei Brak.

Brisker method

In the late 19th century another trend in Talmud study arose. RabbiHayyim Soloveitchik(1853–1918) of Brisk (Brest-Litovsk) developed and refined this style of study.Brisker methodinvolves areductionisticanalysis of rabbinic arguments within the Talmud or among theRishonim,explaining the differing opinions by placing them within a categorical structure. The Brisker method is highly analytical and is often criticized as being a modern-day version ofpilpul.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 ofMaimonides'Mishneh Torahas a guide to Talmudic interpretation, as distinct from its use as a source of practicalhalakha.

Rival methods were those of theMirandTelz yeshivas. SeeChaim Rabinowitz § TelsheandYeshiva Ohel Torah-Baranovich § Style of learning.

Academic scholarship

Critical method

As a result ofJewish emancipation,Judaism underwent enormous upheaval and transformation during the 19th century. Modern methods of textual and historical analysis were applied to the Talmud.

Textual emendations

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 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:

... But you must examine carefully in every case when you feel uncertainty [as to the credibility of the text] – what is its source? Whether a scribal error? Or the superficiality of a second rate student who was not well versed?....after the manner of many mistakes found among those superficial second-rate students, and certainly among those rural memorizers who were not familiar with the biblical text. And since they erred in the first place... [they compounded the error.]

— Teshuvot Geonim Kadmonim, Ed. Cassel, Berlin 1858, Photographic reprint Tel Aviv 1964, 23b.

In the early medieval era, Rashi already concluded that some statements in the extant text of the Talmud were insertions from later editors. On Shevuot 3b Rashi writes "A mistaken student wrote this in the margin of the Talmud, and copyists [subsequently] put it into the Gemara."

The emendations ofYoel Sirkisand the Vilna Gaon are included in all standard editions of the Talmud, in the form of marginal glosses entitledHagahot ha-BachandHagahot ha-Grarespectively; further emendations bySolomon Luriaare set out in commentary form at the back of each tractate. The Vilna Gaon's emendations were often based on his quest for internal consistency in the text rather than on manuscript evidence;nevertheless many of the Gaon's emendations were later verified by textual critics, such asSolomon Schechter,who hadCairo Genizahtexts with which to compare our standard editions.

In the 19th century,Raphael Nathan Nota Rabinoviczpublished a multi-volume work entitledDikdukei Soferim,showing textual variants from the Munich and other early manuscripts of the Talmud, and further variants are recorded in the Complete Israeli Talmud andGemara Shelemaheditions (seeCritical editions,above).

Today many more manuscripts have become available, in particular from theCairo Geniza.TheAcademy of the Hebrew Languagehas prepared a text on CD-ROM for lexicographical purposes, containing the text of each tractate according to the manuscript it considers most reliable,and images of some of the older manuscripts may be found on the website of theNational Library of Israel(formerly the Jewish National and University Library).The NLI, the Lieberman Institute (associated with theJewish Theological Seminary of America), the Institute for the Complete Israeli Talmud (part of Yad Harav Herzog) and the Friedberg Jewish Manuscript Society all maintain searchable websites on which the viewer can request variant manuscript readings of a given passage.

Further variant readings can often be gleaned from citations in secondary literature such as commentaries, in particular, those ofAlfasi,Rabbenu ḤananelandAghmati,and sometimes the later Spanish commentators such asNachmanidesandSolomon ben Adret.

Historical analysis, and higher textual criticism

Historical study of the Talmud can be used to investigate a variety of concerns. One can ask questions such as: Do a given section's sources date from its editor's lifetime? To what extent does a section have earlier or later sources? Are Talmudic disputes distinguishable along theological or communal lines? In what ways do different sections derive from different schools of thought within early Judaism? Can these early sources be identified, and if so, how? Investigation of questions such as these are known ashigher textual criticism.(The term "criticism" is a technical term denoting academic study.)

Religious scholars still debate the precise method by which the text of the Talmuds reached their final form. Many believe that the text was continuously smoothed over by thesavoraim.

In the 1870s and 1880s, rabbi Raphael Natan Nata Rabbinovitz engaged in the historical study of Talmud Bavli in hisDiqduqei Soferim.Since then many Orthodox rabbis have approved of his work, including RabbisShlomo Kluger,Joseph Saul Nathansohn,Jacob Ettlinger,Isaac Elhanan SpektorandShimon Sofer.

During the early 19th century, leaders of the newly evolvingReform movement,such asAbraham GeigerandSamuel Holdheim,subjected the Talmud to severe scrutiny as part of an effort to break with traditional rabbinic Judaism. They insisted that the Talmud was entirely a work of evolution and development. This view was rejected as both academically incorrect, and religiously incorrect, by those who would become known as theOrthodox movement.Some Orthodox leaders such asMoses Sofer(theChatam Sofer) became exquisitely sensitive to any change and rejected modern critical methods of Talmud study.

Some rabbis advocated a view of Talmudic study that they held to be in-between the Reformers and the Orthodox; these were the adherents of positive-historical Judaism, notablyNachman KrochmalandZecharias Frankel.They described theOral Torahas the result of a historical and exegetical process, emerging over time, through the application of authorized exegetical techniques, and more importantly, the subjective dispositions and personalities and current historical conditions, by learned sages. This was later developed more fully in the five-volume workDor Dor ve-DorshavbyIsaac Hirsch Weiss.(See Jay HarrisGuiding the Perplexed in the Modern AgeCh. 5) Eventually, their work came to be one of the formative parts ofConservative Judaism.

Another aspect of this movement is reflected inGraetz'sHistory of the Jews.Graetz attempts to deduce the personality of thePhariseesbased on the laws or aggadot that they cite, and show that their personalities influenced the laws they expounded.

The leader of Orthodox Jewry in Germany,Samson Raphael Hirsch,while not rejecting the methods of scholarship in principle, hotly contested the findings of the Historical-Critical method. In a series of articles in his magazineJeschurun(reprinted in Collected Writings Vol. 5) Hirsch reiterated the traditional view and pointed out what he saw as numerous errors in the works of Graetz, Frankel and Geiger.

On the other hand, many of the 19th century's strongest critics of Reform, including strictly orthodox rabbis such asZvi Hirsch Chajes,used this new scientific method. The Orthodox rabbinical seminary ofAzriel Hildesheimerwas founded on the idea of creating a "harmony between Judaism and science". Other Orthodox pioneers of scientific Talmud study wereDavid Zvi HoffmannandJoseph Hirsch Dünner.

The Iraqi rabbiYaakov Chaim Sofernotes that the text of the Gemara has had changes and additions, and contains statements not of the same origin as the original. See hisYehi Yosef(Jerusalem, 1991) p. 132 "This passage does not bear the signature of the editor of the Talmud!"

Orthodox scholarDaniel Sperberwrites in "Legitimacy, of Necessity, of Scientific Disciplines" that many Orthodox sources have engaged in the historical (also called "scientific" ) study of the Talmud. As such, the divide today between Orthodoxy and Reform is not about whether the Talmud may be subjected to historical study, but rather about the theological and halakhic implications of such study.

Contemporary scholarship

Some trends within contemporary Talmud scholarship are listed below.

• Orthodox Judaism maintains that theoral Torahwas revealed, in some form, together with the written Torah. As such, some adherents, most notablySamson Raphael Hirschand his followers, resisted any effort to apply historical methods that imputed specific motives to the authors of the Talmud. Other major figures in Orthodoxy, however, took issue with Hirsch on this matter, most prominentlyDavid Tzvi Hoffmann.
• Some scholars hold that there has been extensive editorial reshaping of the stories and statements within the Talmud. Lacking outside confirming texts, they hold that we cannot confirm the origin or date of most statements and laws, and that we can say little for certain about their authorship. In this view, the questions above are impossible to answer. See, for example, the works ofLouis JacobsandShaye J.D. Cohen.
• Some scholars hold that the Talmud has been extensively shaped by later editorial redaction, but that it contains sources we can identify and describe with some level of reliability. In this view, sources can be identified by tracing the history and analyzing the geographical regions of origin. See, for example, the works ofLee I. Levineand David Kraemer.
• Some scholars hold that many or most of the statements and events described in the Talmud usually occurred more or less as described, and that they can be used as serious sources of historical study. In this view, historians do their best to tease out later editorial additions (itself a very difficult task) and skeptically view accounts of miracles, leaving behind a reliable historical text. See, for example, the works ofSaul Lieberman,David Weiss Halivni,andAvraham Goldberg.
• Modern academic study attempts to separate the different "strata" within the text, to try to interpret each level on its own, and to identify the correlations between parallel versions of the same tradition. In recent years, the works of R.David Weiss Halivniand Dr. Shamma Friedman have suggested a paradigm shift in the understanding of the Talmud (Encyclopaedia Judaica 2nd ed. entry "Talmud, Babylonian" ). The traditional understanding was to view the Talmud as a unified homogeneous work. While other scholars had also treated the Talmud as a multi-layered work, Dr. Halivni's innovation (primarily in the second volume of hisMekorot u-Mesorot) was to differentiate between the Amoraic statements, which are generally brief Halachic decisions or inquiries, and the writings of the later "Stammaitic" (or Saboraic) authors, which are characterised by a much longer analysis that often consists of lengthy dialectic discussion. The Jerusalem Talmud is very similar to the Babylonian Talmud minus Stammaitic activity (Encyclopaedia Judaica (2nd ed.), entry "Jerusalem Talmud" ). Shamma Y. Friedman'sTalmud Aruchon the sixth chapter of Bava Metzia (1996) is the first example of a complete analysis of a Talmudic text using this method. S. Wald has followed with works on Pesachim ch. 3 (2000) and Shabbat ch. 7 (2006). Further commentaries in this sense are being published by Dr Friedman's "Society for the Interpretation of the Talmud".
• Some scholars are indeed using outside sources to help give historical and contextual understanding of certain areas of the Babylonian Talmud. See for example the works of the Prof Yaakov Elmanand of his student Dr. Shai Secunda,which seek to place the Talmud in its Iranian context, for example by comparing it with contemporaryZoroastriantexts.

Translations

Talmud Bavli

There are six contemporary translations of the Talmud into English:

Steinsaltz

• The Noé Edition of theKoren Talmud Bavli,Adin Steinsaltz,Koren Publishers Jerusalemwas launched in 2012. It has a new, modern English translation and the commentary of rabbiAdin Steinsaltz,and was praised for its "beautiful page" with "clean type".Opened from the right cover (front for Hebrew and Aramaic books),the Steinsaltz Talmudedition has the traditional Vilna page with vowels and punctuation in the original Aramaic text. TheRashicommentary appears inRashi scriptwith vowels and punctuation. When opened from the left cover the edition features bilingual text with side-by-side English/Aramaic translation. The margins include color maps, illustrations and notes based on rabbiAdin Steinsaltz’sHebrew languagetranslation and commentary of the Talmud. RabbiTzvi Hersh Weinrebserves as the Editor-in-Chief. The entire set, which has vowels and punctuation (including for Rashi) is 42 volumes.
• The Talmud: The Steinsaltz Edition(Random House) contains the text with punctuation and an English translation based on Rabbi Steinsaltz' completeHebrew languagetranslation of and commentary on the entire Talmud. Incomplete—22 volumes and a reference guide. There are two formats: one with the traditional Vilna page and one without. It is available in modern Hebrew (first volume published 1969), English (first volume published 1989), French, Russian and other languages.
• In February 2017, theWilliam Davidson Talmudwas released toSefaria.This translation is a version of the Steinsaltz edition which was released undercreative commonslicense.

Artscroll

The Schottenstein Babylonian Talmud in a synagogue inRaanana,Israel

• TheSchottenstein Edition of the Talmud(Artscroll/Mesorah Publications), is 73 volumes,both with English translationand the Aramaic/Hebrew only.In the translated editions, each English page faces the Aramaic/Hebrew page it translates. Each Aramaic/Hebrew page of Talmud typically requires three to six English pages of translation and notes. The Aramaic/Hebrew pages are printed in the traditional Vilna format, with a gray bar added that shows the section translated on the facing page. The facing pages provide an expanded paraphrase in English, with translation of the text shown in bold and explanations interspersed in normal type, along with extensive footnotes. Pages are numbered in the traditional way but with a superscript added, e.g. 12b⁴is the fourth page translating the Vilna page 12b. Larger tractates require multiple volumes. The first volume was published in 1990, and the series was completed in 2004.

Soncino

• The Soncino Talmud(34 volumes, 1935–1948, with an additional index volume published in 1952),Isidore Epstein,Soncino Press. An 18 volume edition was published in 1961. Notes on each page provide additional background material. This translation:Soncino Babylonian Talmudis published both on its own and in a parallel text edition, in which each English page faces the Aramaic/Hebrew page. It is available also on CD-ROM. Complete.
• In addition, a 7x5in travel or pocket editionwas published in 1959. This edition opens from the left for English and the notes, and from the right for the Gemara, which, unlike the other editions, does not use "Tzurat HaDaf;"instead, each normal page of Gemara text is two pages, the top and the bottom of the standardDaf(albeit reformatted somewhat).

Other English translations

• The Talmud of Babylonia. An American Translation,Jacob Neusner,Tzvee Zahavy, others. Atlanta: 1984–1995: Scholars Press for Brown Judaic Studies. Complete.
• Rodkinson:Portionsof the Babylonian Talmud were translated byMichael L. Rodkinson(1903). It has been linked to online, for copyright reasons (initially it was the only freely available translation on the web), butthishas been wholly superseded by the Soncino translation. (see below, underFull text resources).
• The Babylonian Talmud: A Translation and Commentary, edited by Jacob Neusnerand translated by Jacob Neusner, Tzvee Zahavy, Alan Avery-Peck, B. Barry Levy, Martin S. Jaffe, and Peter Haas, Hendrickson Pub; 22-Volume Set Ed., 2011. It is a revision of "The Talmud of Babylonia: An Academic Commentary," published by the University of South Florida Academic Commentary Series (1994–1999). Neusner gives commentary on transition in use langes from Biblical Aramaic to Biblical Hebrew. Neusner also gives references to Mishnah, Torah, and other classical works in Orthodox Judaism.

Translations into other languages

• TheExtractiones de Talmud,aLatintranslation of some 1,922 passages from the Talmud, was made in Paris in 1244–1245. It survives in two recensions. There is acritical editionof the sequential recension:
• Cecini, Ulisse; Cruz Palma, Óscar Luis de la, eds. (2018).Extractiones de Talmud per ordinem sequentialem.Corpus Christianorum Continuatio Mediaevalis 291. Brepols.
• A circa 1000 CE translation of (some parts of)the Talmud to Arabic is mentioned inSefer ha-Qabbalah.This version was commissioned by theFatimidCaliphAl-Hakim bi-Amr Allahand was carried out byJoseph ibn Abitur.
• The Talmud was translated byShimon Moyalinto Arabic in 1909.There is one translation of the Talmud into Arabic, published in 2012 in Jordan by the Center for Middle Eastern Studies. The translation was carried out by a group of 90 Muslim and Christian scholars.The introduction was characterized by Raquel Ukeles, Curator of the Israel National Library's Arabic collection, as "racist", but she considers the translation itself as "not bad".

• In 2018 Muslim-majorityAlbaniaco-hosted an event at the United Nations with Catholic-majority Italy and Jewish-majority Israel celebrating the translation of the Talmud into Italian for the first time.Albanian UN AmbassadorBesiana Kadareopined: “Projects like the Babylonian Talmud Translation open a new lane in intercultural and interfaith dialogue, bringing hope and understanding among people, the right tools to counter prejudice, stereotypical thinking and discrimination. By doing so, we think that we strengthen our social traditions, peace, stability — and we also counter violent extremist tendencies.”
• In 2012, a first volume of the Talmud Bavli was published in Spanish by Tashema. It was translated in Jerusalem under the yeshiva directed by Rav Yaakov Benaim. It includes the translation and explanation of theMishnahandGemara,and the commentaries byRashiandTosafot.By 2023, 19 volumes have been published.

Talmud Yerushalmi

• Talmud of the Land of Israel: A Preliminary Translation and ExplanationJacob Neusner,Tzvee Zahavy, others. University of Chicago Press. This translation uses a form-analytical presentation that makes the logical units of discourse easier to identify and follow. Neusner's mentorSaul Lieberman,then the most prominent Talmudic scholar alive, read one volume shortly before his death and wrote a review, published posthumously, in which he describes dozens of major translation errors in the first chapter of that volume alone, also demonstrating that Neusner had not, as claimed, made use of manuscript evidence; he was "stunned by Neusner's ignorance of rabbinic Hebrew, of Aramaic grammar, and above all the subject matter with which he deals" and concluded that "the right place for [Neusner's translation] is the wastebasket".This review was devastating for Neusner's career.At a meeting of theSociety of Biblical Literaturea few months later, during a plenary session designed to honor Neusner for his achievements,Morton Smith(also Neusner's mentor) took to the lectern and announced that "I now find it my duty to warn" that the translation "cannot be safely used, and had better not be used at all". He also called Neusner's translation "a serious misfortune for Jewish studies". After delivering this speech, Smith marched up and down the aisles of the ballroom with printouts of Lieberman's review, handing one to every attendee.
• Schottenstein Edition of the Yerushalmi TalmudMesorah/Artscroll. This translation is the counterpart to Mesorah/Artscroll's Schottenstein Edition of the Talmud (i.e. Babylonian Talmud).
• The Jerusalem Talmud, Edition, Translation and Commentary,ed. Guggenheimer, Heinrich W., Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG, Berlin, Germany
• German Edition,Übersetzung des Talmud Yerushalmi,published by Martin Hengel, Peter Schäfer, Hans-Jürgen Becker, Frowald Gil Hüttenmeister, Mohr&Siebeck, Tübingen, Germany
• Modern Elucidated Talmud Yerushalmi, ed. Joshua Buch. Uses the Leiden manuscript as its based text corrected according to manuscripts and Geniza Fragments. Draws upon Traditional and Modern Scholarship

Index

"A widely accepted and accessible index"was the goal driving several such projects.:

• Michlul haMa'amarim, a three-volume index of the Bavli and Yerushalmi, containing more than 100,000 entries. Published byMossad Harav Kookin 1960.
• Soncino: covers the entire Talmud Bavli;released 1952; 749 pages
• HaMafteach ( "the key" ): released byFeldheim Publishers2011, has over 30,000 entries.
• Search-engines:Bar Ilan University'sResponsa ProjectCD/search-engine.

Printing

Bomberg Talmud 1523

The Talmud on display in theJewish Museum of Switzerlandbrings together parts from the first two Talmud prints byDaniel BombergandAmbrosius Froben.

The first complete edition of the Babylonian Talmud was printed in Venice byDaniel Bomberg1520–23with the support ofPope Leo X.In addition to theMishnahandGemara,Bomberg's edition contained the commentaries ofRashiandTosafot.Almost all printings since Bomberg have followed the same pagination. Bomberg's edition was considered relatively free of censorship.

Froben Talmud 1578

Ambrosius Frobenius collaborated with the scholar Israel Ben Daniel Sifroni from Italy. His most extensive work was a Talmud edition published, with great difficulty, in 1578–81.

Benveniste Talmud 1645

FollowingAmbrosius Frobenius's publication of most of the Talmud in installments in Basel,Immanuel Benvenistepublished the whole Talmud in installments in Amsterdam 1644–1648,Although according to Raphael Rabbinovicz the Benveniste Talmud may have been based on theLublin Talmudand included many of the censors' errors."It is noteworthy due to the inclusion ofAvodah Zarah,omitted due to Church censorship from several previous editions, and when printed, often lacking a title page.

Slavita Talmud 1795 and Vilna Talmud 1835

The edition of the Talmud published by the Szapira brothers inSlavitawas published in 1817,and it is particularly prized by manyrebbesofHasidic Judaism.In 1835, after a religious community copyrightwas nearly over,and following an acrimonious dispute with the Szapira family, a new edition of the Talmud was printed by Menachem Romm ofVilna.

Known as theVilna Edition Shas,this edition (and later ones printed by his widow and sons, theRomm publishing house) has been used in the production of more recent editions of Talmud Bavli.

A page number in the Vilna Talmud refers to a double-sided page, known as adaf,or folio in English; each daf has twoamudimlabeledאandב,sides A and B (recto and verso). The convention of referencing bydafis relatively recent and dates from the early Talmud printings of the 17th century, though the actual pagination goes back to the Bomberg edition. Earlierrabbinic literaturegenerally refers to the tractate or chapters within a tractate (e.g. Berachot Chapter 1,ברכות פרק א׳). It sometimes also refers to the specific Mishnah in that chapter, where "Mishnah" is replaced with "Halakha", here meaning route, to "direct" the reader to the entry in the Gemara corresponding to that Mishna (e.g. Berachot Chapter 1 Halakha 1,ברכות פרק א׳ הלכה א׳,would refer to the first Mishnah of the first chapter in Tractate Berachot, and its corresponding entry in the Gemara). However, this form is nowadays more commonly (though not exclusively) used when referring to the Jerusalem Talmud. Nowadays, reference is usually made in format [Tractate daf a/b] (e.g. Berachot 23b,ברכות כג ב׳). Increasingly, the symbols "." and ":" are used to indicate Recto and Verso, respectively (thus, e.g. Berachot 23:,:ברכות כג). These references always refer to the pagination of the Vilna Talmud.

Critical editions

See also:Critical edition

The text of the Vilna editions is considered by scholars not to be uniformly reliable, and there have been a number of attempts to collate textual variants.

1. In the late 19th century, Nathan Rabinowitz published a series of volumes calledDikduke Soferimshowing textual variants from early manuscripts and printings.
2. In 1960, work started on a new edition under the name ofGemara Shelemah(complete Gemara) under the editorship ofMenachem Mendel Kasher:only the volume on the first part of tractate Pesachim appeared before the project was interrupted by his death. This edition contained a comprehensive set of textual variants and a few selected commentaries.
3. Some thirteen volumes have been published by the Institute for the Complete Israeli Talmud (a division of Yad Harav Herzog), on lines similar to Rabinowitz, containing the text and a comprehensive set of textual variants (from manuscripts, early prints and citations in secondary literature) but no commentaries.

There have been critical editions of particular tractates (e.g.Henry Malter's edition ofTa'anit), but there is no modern critical edition of the whole Talmud. Modern editions such as those of the Oz ve-Hadar Institute correct misprints and restore passages that in earlier editions were modified or excised by censorship but do not attempt a comprehensive account of textual variants. One edition, by rabbi Yosef Amar,represents the Yemenite tradition, and takes the form of a photostatic reproduction of a Vilna-based print to which Yemenite vocalization and textual variants have been added by hand, together with printed introductory material. Collations of the Yemenite manuscripts of some tractates have been published by Columbia University.

Editions for a wider audience

A number of editions have been aimed at bringing the Talmud to a wider audience. Aside from the Steinsaltz and Artscroll/Schottenstein sets there are:

• The Metivta edition, published by the Oz ve-Hadar Institute. This contains the full text in the same format as the Vilna-based editions,with a full explanation in modern Hebrew on facing pages as well as an improved version of the traditional commentaries.
• A previous project of the same kind, calledTalmud El Am,"Talmud to the people", was published in Israel in the 1960s–80s. It contains Hebrew text, English translation and commentary byArnost Zvi Ehrman,with short 'realia', marginal notes, often illustrated, written by experts in the field for the whole of Tractate Berakhot, 2 chapters of Bava Mezia and the halachic section of Qiddushin, chapter 1.
• Tuvia'sGemara Menukad:includes vowels and punctuation (Nekudot), including for Rashi and Tosafot.It also includes "all the abbreviations of thatamudon the side of each page. "

Incomplete sets from prior centuries

• Amsterdam(1714,ProopsTalmud andMarches/de PalasiosTalmud): Two sets were begun in Amsterdam in 1714, a year in which "acrimonious disputes between publishers within and between cities" regarding reprint rights also began. The latter ran 1714–1717. Neither set was completed, although a third set was printed 1752–1765.

Other notable editions

Lazarus Goldschmidtpublished an edition from the "uncensored text" of the Babylonian Talmud with a German translation in 9 volumes (commenced Leipzig, 1897–1909, edition completed, following emigration to England in 1933, by 1936).

Twelve volumes of the Babylonian Talmud were published by Mir Yeshiva refugees during the years 1942 thru 1946 while they were inShanghai.The major tractates, one per volume, were: "Shabbat, Eruvin, Pesachim, Gittin, Kiddushin, Nazir, Sotah, Bava Kama, Sanhedrin, Makot, Shevuot, Avodah Zara"(with some volumes having, in addition, "Minor Tractates" ).

ASurvivors' Talmudwas published, encouraged by President Truman's "responsibility toward these victims of persecution" statement. The U.S. Army (despite "the acute shortage of paper in Germany" ) agreed to print "fifty copies of the Talmud, packaged into 16-volume sets" during 1947–1950.The plan was extended: 3,000 copies, in 19-volume sets.

Role in Jewish sects

The Talmud represents the written record of anoral tradition.It provides an understanding of how laws are derived, and it became the basis for many rabbinic legal codes and customs, most importantly for theMishneh Torahand for theShulchan Aruch.Orthodox and, to a lesser extent, Conservative Judaism accept the Talmud as authoritative, while Samaritan, Karaite, Reconstructionist, and Reform Judaism do not.

Sadducees

The Jewish sect of theSadducees(Hebrew:צְדוּקִים) flourished during the Second Temple period.Principal distinctions between them and thePharisees(later known as Rabbinic Judaism) involved their rejection of anOral Torahand their denying a resurrection after death.

Karaism

Another movement that rejected the Oral Torah as authoritative wasKaraism,which arose within two centuries after the completion of the Talmud. Karaism developed as a reaction against the Talmudic Judaism of Babylonia. The central concept of Karaism is the rejection of theOral Torah,as embodied in the Talmud, in favor of a strict adherence only to the Written Torah. This opposes the fundamental Rabbinic concept that the Oral Torah was given toMosesonMount Sinaitogether with the Written Torah. Some later Karaites took a more moderate stance, allowing that some element of tradition (calledsevel ha-yerushah,the burden of inheritance) is admissible in interpreting the Torah and that some authentic traditions are contained in the Mishnah and the Talmud, though these can never supersede the plain meaning of the Written Torah.

Reform Judaism

The rise ofReform Judaismduring the 19th century saw more questioning of the authority of the Talmud. Reform Jews saw the Talmud as a product of late antiquity, having relevance merely as a historical document. For example, the "Declaration of Principles" issued by the Association of Friends of Reform Frankfurt in August 1843 states among other things that:

The collection of controversies, dissertations, and prescriptions commonly designated by the name Talmud possesses for us no authority, from either the dogmatic or the practical standpoint.

Some took a critical-historical view of the written Torah as well, while others appeared to adopt a neo-Karaite"back to the Bible" approach, though often with greater emphasis on the prophetic than on the legal books.

Humanistic Judaism

WithinHumanistic Judaism,Talmud is studied as a historical text, in order to discover how it can demonstrate practical relevance to living today.

Present day

See also:Halakha § Views today,andYeshiva § Talmud study

Orthodox Judaismcontinues to stress the importance of Talmud study as a central component ofYeshivacurriculum, in particular for those training to become rabbis. This is so even thoughHalakhais generally studied from the medieval and early modern codes and not directly from the Talmud. Talmudic study amongst the laity is widespread in Orthodox Judaism, with daily or weekly Talmud study particularly common inHaredi Judaismand with Talmud study a central part of the curriculum in Orthodox Yeshivas and day schools. The regular study of Talmud among laymen has been popularized by theDaf Yomi,a daily course of Talmud study initiated by rabbiMeir Shapiroin 1923; its 13th cycle of study began in August 2012 and ended with the 13thSiyum HaShason January 1, 2020. TheRohr Jewish Learning Institutehas popularized the "MyShiur – Explorations in Talmud" to show how the Talmud is relevant to a wide range of people.

Conservative Judaismsimilarly emphasizes the study of Talmud within its religious and rabbinic education. Generally, however, Conservative Jews study the Talmud as a historical source-text forHalakha.The Conservative approach to legal decision-making emphasizes placing classic texts and prior decisions in a historical and cultural context and examining the historical development ofHalakha.This approach has resulted in greater practical flexibility than that of the Orthodox. Talmud study forms part of the curriculum of Conservative parochial education at manyConservative day-schools,and an increase in Conservative day-school enrollments has resulted in an increase in Talmud study as part of Conservative Jewish education among a minority of Conservative Jews. See also:The Conservative Jewish view of the Halakha.

Reform Judaismdoes not emphasize the study of Talmud to the same degree in their Hebrew schools, but they do teach it in their rabbinical seminaries; the world view of liberal Judaism rejects the idea of bindingJewish lawand uses the Talmud as a source of inspiration and moral instruction. Ownership and reading of the Talmud is not widespread amongReformandReconstructionistJews, who usually place more emphasis on the study of the Hebrew Bible orTanakh.

In visual arts

In Carl Schleicher's paintings

Rabbis and Talmudists studying and debating Talmud abound in the art of Austrian painterCarl Schleicher(1825–1903); active in Vienna, especiallyc. 1859–1871.

• 
  Jewish Scene I
• 
  Jewish Scene II
• 
  A Controversy Whatsoever on Talmud
• 
  At the Rabbi's

Jewish art and photography

• 
  Jews studying Talmud,París,c. 1880–1905
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  Samuel Hirszenberg,Talmudic School,c. 1895–1908
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  Ephraim Moses Lilien,The Talmud Students,engraving, 1915
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  Maurycy Trębacz,The Dispute,c. 1920–1940
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  Solomon's Haggadoth,bronze relief from the Knesset Menorah, Jerusalem, by Benno Elkan, 1956
• 
  Hilel's Teachings,bronze relief from the Knesset Menorah
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  Jewish Mysticism: Jochanan ben Sakkai,bronze relief from the Knesset Menorah
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  Yemenite Jews studying Torah in Sana'a

Other contexts

The study of Talmud is not restricted to those of the Jewish religion and has attracted interest in other cultures. Christian scholars have long expressed an interest in the study of Talmud, which has helped illuminate their own scriptures. Talmud contains biblical exegesis and commentary onTanakhthat will often clarify elliptical and esoteric passages. The Talmud contains possible references toJesusand his disciples, while theChristian canonmakes mention of Talmudic figures and contains teachings that can be paralleled within the Talmud andMidrash.The Talmud provides cultural and historical context to theGospeland the writings of theApostles.

South Koreans reportedly hope to emulate Jews' high academic standards by studying Jewish literature. Almost every household has a translated copy of a book they call "Talmud", which parents read to their children, and the book is part of the primary-school curriculum.The "Talmud" in this case is usually one of several possible volumes, the earliest translated into Korean from the Japanese. The original Japanese books were created through the collaboration of Japanese writerHideaki KaseandMarvin Tokayer,an Orthodox American rabbi serving in Japan in the 1960s and 70s. The first collaborative book was5,000 Years of Jewish Wisdom: Secrets of the Talmud Scriptures,created over a three-day period in 1968 and published in 1971. The book contains actual stories from the Talmud, proverbs, ethics, Jewish legal material, biographies of Talmudic rabbis, and personal stories about Tokayer and his family. Tokayer and Kase published a number of other books on Jewish themes together in Japanese.

The first South Korean publication of5,000 Years of Jewish Wisdomwas in 1974, by Tae Zang publishing house. Many different editions followed in both Korea and China, often by black-market publishers. Between 2007 and 2009, Reverend Yong-soo Hyun of the Shema Yisrael Educational Institute published a 6-volume edition of the Korean Talmud, bringing together material from a variety of Tokayer's earlier books. He worked with Tokayer to correct errors and Tokayer is listed as the author. Tutoring centers based on this and other works called "Talmud" for both adults and children are popular in Korea and "Talmud" books (all based on Tokayer's works and not the original Talmud) are widely read and known.

Criticism

HistorianMichael Levi Rodkinson,in his bookThe History of the Talmud,wrote that detractors of the Talmud, both during and subsequent to its formation, "have varied in their character, objects and actions" and the book documents a number of critics and persecutors, includingNicholas Donin,Johannes Pfefferkorn,Johann Andreas Eisenmenger,theFrankists,andAugust Rohling.Many attacks come from antisemitic sources such asJustinas Pranaitis,Elizabeth Dilling,orDavid Duke.Criticisms also arise from Christian, Muslim,and Jewish sources,as well as from atheists and skeptics.Accusations against the Talmud include alleged:

1. Anti-Christian or anti-gentile content
2. Absurd or sexually immoral content
3. Falsification of scripture

Defenders of the Talmud point out that many of these criticisms, particularly those in antisemitic sources, are based on quotations that are taken out of context, and thus misrepresent the meaning of the Talmud's text and its basic character as a detailed record of discussions that preserved statements by a variety of sages, and from which statements and opinions that were rejected were never edited out.

Sometimes the misrepresentation is deliberate, and other times simply due to an inability to grasp the subtle and sometimes confusing and multi-faceted narratives in the Talmud. Some quotations provided by critics deliberately omit passages in order to generate quotes that appear to be offensive or insulting.

Middle Ages

At the very time that theBabyloniansavoraimput the finishing touches to the redaction of the Talmud, theemperorJustinianissued his edict againstdeuterosis(doubling, repetition) of theHebrew Bible.It is disputed whether, in this context,deuterosismeans "Mishnah" or "Targum":inpatristicliterature, the word is used in both senses.

Full-scale attacks on the Talmud took place in the 13th century in France, where Talmudic study was then flourishing. In the 1230sNicholas Donin,a Jewish convert to Christianity, pressed 35 charges against the Talmud toPope Gregory IXby translating a series of allegedly blasphemous passages aboutJesus,Maryor Christianity. There is a quoted Talmudic passage, for example, where a person named Yeshu who some people have claimed isJesus of Nazarethis sent to Gehenna to beboiled in excrementfor eternity. Donin also selected an injunction of the Talmud that permits Jews to kill non-Jews. This led to theDisputation of Paris,which took place in 1240 at the court ofLouis IX of France,where four rabbis, includingYechiel of ParisandMoses ben Jacob of Coucy,defended the Talmud against the accusations of Nicholas Donin. The translation of the Talmud from Aramaic to non-Jewish languages stripped Jewish discourse from its covering, something that was resented by Jews as a profound violation.The Disputation of Paris led to the condemnation and the first burning of copies of the Talmud in Paris in 1242.The burning of copies of the Talmud continued.

The Talmud was likewise the subject of theDisputation of Barcelonain 1263 betweenNahmanides(Rabbi Moses ben Nahman) and Christian convert,Pablo Christiani.This same Pablo Christiani made an attack on the Talmud that resulted in apapal bullagainst the Talmud and in the first censorship, which was undertaken at Barcelona by a commission ofDominicans,who ordered the cancellation of passages deemed objectionable from a Christian perspective (1264).

At theDisputation of Tortosain 1413, Geronimo de Santa Fé brought forward a number of accusations, including the fateful assertion that the condemnations of "pagans", "heathens", and "apostates" found in the Talmud were, in reality, veiled references to Christians. These assertions were denied by the Jewish community and its scholars, who contended that Judaic thought made a sharp distinction between those classified as heathen or pagan, being polytheistic, and those who acknowledge one true God (such as the Christians) even while worshipping the true monotheistic God incorrectly. Thus, Jews viewed Christians as misguided and in error, but not among the "heathens" or "pagans" discussed in the Talmud.

Both Pablo Christiani and Geronimo de Santa Fé, in addition to criticizing the Talmud, also regarded it as a source of authentic traditions, some of which could be used as arguments in favor of Christianity. Examples of such traditions were statements that the Messiah was born around the time of the destruction of the Temple and that the Messiah sat at the right hand of God.

In 1415,Antipope Benedict XIII,who had convened the Tortosa disputation, issued apapal bull(which was destined, however, to remain inoperative) forbidding the Jews to read the Talmud, and ordering the destruction of all copies of it. Far more important were the charges made in the early part of the 16th century by the convertJohannes Pfefferkorn,the agent of the Dominicans. The result of these accusations was a struggle in which the emperor and the pope acted as judges, the advocate of the Jews beingJohann Reuchlin,who was opposed by the obscurantists; and this controversy, which was carried on for the most part by means of pamphlets, became in the eyes of some a precursor of theReformation.

An unexpected result of this affair was the complete printed edition of the Babylonian Talmud issued in 1520 byDaniel BombergatVenice,under the protection of a papal privilege.Three years later, in 1523, Bomberg published the first edition of the Jerusalem Talmud. After thirty years the Vatican, which had first permitted the Talmud to appear in print, undertook a campaign of destruction against it. On the New Year, Rosh Hashanah (September 9, 1553) the copies of the Talmud confiscated in compliance with a decree of theInquisitionwere burned atRome,in Campo dei Fiori (auto de fé). Other burnings took place in other Italian cities, such as the one instigated byJoshua dei CantoriatCremonain 1559. Censorship of the Talmud and other Hebrew works was introduced by a papal bull issued in 1554; five years later the Talmud was included in the firstIndex Expurgatorius;andPope Pius IVcommanded, in 1565, that the Talmud be deprived of its very name. The convention of referring to the work as "Shas" (shishah sidre Mishnah) instead of "Talmud" dates from this time.

The first edition of the expurgated Talmud, on which most subsequent editions were based, appeared atBasel(1578–1581) with the omission of the entire treatise of 'Abodah Zarah and of passages considered inimical to Christianity, together with modifications of certain phrases. A fresh attack on the Talmud was decreed byPope Gregory XIII(1575–85), and in 1593Clement VIIIrenewed the old interdiction against reading or owning it.The increasing study of the Talmud in Poland led to the issue of a complete edition (Kraków,1602–05), with a restoration of the original text; an edition containing, so far as known, only two treatises had previously been published atLublin(1559–76). After an attack on the Talmud took place in Poland (in what is now Ukrainian territory) in 1757, whenBishop Dembowski,at the instigation of theFrankists,convened a public disputation atKamieniec Podolski,and ordered all copies of the work found in his bishopric to be confiscated and burned.A "1735 edition of Moed Katan, printed in Frankfurt am Oder" is among those that survived from that era."Situated on the Oder River, Three separate editions of the Talmud were printed there between 1697 and 1739."

The external history of the Talmud includes also the literary attacks made upon it by some Christian theologians after the Reformation since these onslaughts on Judaism were directed primarily against that work, the leading example beingEisenmenger'sEntdecktes Judenthum(Judaism Unmasked) (1700).In contrast, the Talmud was a subject of rather more sympathetic study by many Christian theologians, jurists and Orientalists from theRenaissanceon, includingJohann Reuchlin,John Selden,Petrus Cunaeus,John LightfootandJohannes Buxtorffather andson.

19th century and after

TheVilna edition of the Talmudwas subject to Russian government censorship, or self-censorship to meet government expectations, though this was less severe than some previous attempts: the title "Talmud" was retained and the tractate Avodah Zarah was included. Most modern editions are either copies of or closely based on the Vilna edition, and therefore still omit most of the disputed passages. Although they were not available for many generations, the removed sections of the Talmud, Rashi, Tosafot and Maharsha were preserved through rare printings of lists oferrata,known asChesronos Hashas( "Omissions of the Talmud" ).Many of these censored portions were recovered from uncensored manuscripts in theVatican Library.Some modern editions of the Talmud contain some or all of this material, either at the back of the book, in the margin, or in its original location in the text.

In 1830, during a debate in theFrench Chamber of Peersregarding state recognition of the Jewish faith, AdmiralVerhuelldeclared himself unable to forgive the Jews whom he had met during his travels throughout the world either for their refusal to recognizeJesusas theMessiahor for their possession of the Talmud.In the same year theAbbé Chiarinipublished a voluminous work entitledThéorie du Judaïsme,in which he announced a translation of the Talmud, advocating for the first time a version that would make the work generally accessible, and thus serve for attacks on Judaism: only two out of the projected six volumes of this translation appeared.In a like spirit 19th-century antisemitic agitators often urged that a translation be made; and this demand was even brought before legislative bodies, as inVienna.The Talmud and the "Talmud Jew" thus became objects of antisemitic attacks, for example inAugust Rohling'sDer Talmudjude(1871), although, on the other hand, they were defended by many Christian students of the Talmud, notablyHermann Strack.

Further attacks from antisemitic sources includeJustinas Pranaitis'The Talmud Unmasked: The Secret Rabbinical Teachings Concerning Christians(1892)andElizabeth Dilling'sThe Plot Against Christianity(1964).The criticisms of the Talmud in many modern pamphlets and websites are often recognizable as verbatim quotations from one or other of these.

HistoriansWillandAriel Durantnoted a lack of consistency between the many authors of the Talmud, with some tractates in the wrong order, or subjects dropped and resumed without reason. According to the Durants, the Talmud "is not the product of deliberation, it is the deliberation itself."

Contemporary accusations

The Internet is another source of criticism of the Talmud.TheAnti-Defamation League's report on this topic states that antisemitic critics of the Talmud frequently use erroneous translations or selective quotations in order to distort the meaning of the Talmud's text, and sometimes fabricate passages. In addition, the critics rarely provide the full context of the quotations and fail to provide contextual information about the culture that the Talmud was composed in, nearly 2,000 years ago.

One such example concerns the line: "If a Jew be called upon to explain any part of the rabbinic books, he ought to give only a false explanation. One who transgresses this commandment will be put to death." This is alleged to be a quote from a book titledLibbre David(alternativelyLivore David ). No such book exists in the Talmud or elsewhere.The title is assumed to be a corruption ofDibre David,a work published in 1671.Reference to the quote is found in an earlyHolocaust denialbook,The Six Million Reconsideredby William Grimstad.

Gil Student,Book Editor of the Orthodox Union'sJewish Actionmagazine, states that many attacks on the Talmud are merely recycling discredited material that originated in the 13th-century disputations, particularly fromRaymond MartiandNicholas Donin,and that the criticisms are based on quotations taken out of context and are sometimes entirely fabricated.

See also

• Hadran (Talmud)
• List of logical arguments in the Talmud
• List of masechtot, chapters, mishnahs and pages in the Talmud
• Shas Pollak
• Siyum
• Siyum HaShas
• Talmudical hermeneutics

References

Works cited

• Amram, David Werner (1909).The Makers of Hebrew Books in Italy.Philadelphia: J.H. Greenstone.
• Nathan T. Lopes CardozoThe Infinite Chain: Torah, Masorah, and Man(Philipp Feldheim, 1989).ISBN0-944070-15-9
• Aryeh Carmell (December 1986).Aiding Talmud study.Feldheim Publishers.ISBN978-0-87306-428-6.Retrieved29 August2011.(includes Samuel ha-Nagid'sMevo ha-Talmud,see next section)
• Zvi Hirsch ChajesMevo Hatalmud,transl. Jacob Shachter:The Students' Guide Through The Talmud(Yashar Books, 2005).ISBN1-933143-05-3
• Dalin, D.G. (2012).The Myth of Hitler's Pope: Pope Pius XII And His Secret War Against Nazi Germany.Regnery Publishing.ISBN978-1-59698-185-0.Retrieved27 August2017.
• Dan Cohn-Sherbok (1994).Judaism and other faiths.Palgrave Macmillan.ISBN978-0-312-10384-2.Retrieved29 August2011.
• Fraade, Steven D, "Navigating the Anomalous: Non-Jews at the Intersection of Early Rabbinic Law and Narrative", inLaurence Jay Silberstein; Robert L. Cohn (1994).The Other in Jewish thought and history: constructions of Jewish culture and identity.NYU Press. pp. 145–165.ISBN978-0-8147-7990-3.Retrieved29 August2011.
• Gottheil, Richard; Broydé, Isaac (1906). "Leo X. (Giovanni De Medici)".Jewish Encyclopedia.Retrieved27 August2017.
• Heller, Marvin J (2005)."Earliest Printings of the Talmud: From Bomberg to Schottenstein"(PDF).Yeshiva University Museum:73. Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 2016-08-15.Retrieved2017-08-27.
• R. Travers Herford (2007).Christianity in Talmud and Midrash.KTAV Publishing House, Inc.ISBN978-0-88125-930-8.Retrieved29 August2011.
• D. LandesmanA Practical Guide to Torah Learning(Jason Aronson,1995).ISBN1-56821-320-4
• Emmanuel Lévinas;Annette Aronowicz (1994).Nine Talmudic readings.Indiana University Press.ISBN978-0-253-20876-7.Retrieved29 August2011.
• Levy, Richard S.,Antisemitism: a historical encyclopedia of prejudice and persecution, Volume 2,ABC-CLIO, 2005. See articles: "Talmud Trials", "Entdecktes Judenthum", "The Talmud Jew", "David Duke", "August Rohling", and "Johannes Pfefferkorn".
• Hyam Maccoby;Jehiel ben Joseph (of Paris) (1993).Judaism on trial: Jewish-Christian disputations in the Middle Ages.Fairleigh Dickinson University Press.ISBN978-1-874774-16-7.Retrieved29 August2011.A compendium of primary source materials, with commentary.
• MaimonidesIntroduction to theMishneh Torah(English translationArchived2023-03-26 at theWayback Machine)
• MaimonidesIntroduction to theCommentary on the Mishnah(Hebrew FulltextArchived2021-05-09 at theWayback Machine), transl. Zvi Lampel (Judaica Press, 1998).ISBN1-880582-28-7
• Aaron ParryThe Complete Idiot's Guide to The Talmud(Alpha Books, 2004).ISBN1-59257-202-2
• Rodkinson, Michael Levi,The history of the Talmud from the time of its formation, about 200 B.C., up to the present time,The Talmud Society, 1918
• Jonathan Rosen (2001).The Talmud and the Internet: A Journey Between Worlds.Continuum International Publishing Group.ISBN978-0-8264-5534-5.Retrieved29 August2011.
• Schiffman, Lawrence H. (2024)."Textual Criticism and the Evolution of Rabbinic Texts: Will There Ever Be a Final Text?".In Finsterbusch, Karin; Fuller, Russell; Lange, Armin; Driesbach, Jason (eds.).The Comparative Textual Criticism of Religious Scriptures.Brill. pp. 133–151.doi:10.1163/9789004693623_009.ISBN978-90-04-69362-3.
• Steinsaltz, Adin(1996).The Talmud: A Reference Guide.Random House.ISBN0-679-77367-3.
• Adin Steinsaltz(2006).The essential Talmud.Basic Books.ISBN978-0-465-08273-5.Retrieved29 August2011.Read morehere.See alsohere.

Logic and methodology

• Samuel ha-Nagid,Mevo ha-Talmud
• Joseph ben Judah ibn Aknin,Mevo ha-Talmud
• Zerachiah Halevi,Sefer ha-Tzava
• Samson of Chinon,Sefer ha-Keritut
• Jacob Hagiz,Teḥillat Ḥochmah(included in most editions ofKeritut)
• collective, ed.Abraham ibn Akra,Meharere Nemarim
• Joseph ibn Verga,She'erit Yosef
• Isaac Campanton,Darche ha-Talmud
• David ben Solomon ibn Abi Zimra,Kelale ha-Gemara
• Bezalel Ashkenazi,Kelale ha-Gemara
• Yeshu’ah b. Yosef ha-Levi,Halichot Olam
  • Joseph Caro,Kelale ha-Gemara(commentary onHalichot Olam)
  • Solomon Algazi,Yavin Shemu’ah(commentary onHalichot Olam)
• Yisrael Ya'akov Algazi,Ar'a de-Rabbanan
• Serillo, Samuel,Kelale Shemuel
• Horowitz, Isaiah,Shene Luchot ha-Berit(section onTorah she-be-al-Pe)
• Moses Chaim Luzzatto,Derech Tevunot,translated into English asThe Ways of Reason,Feldheim 1988,ISBN978-0-87306-495-8
  • same,Sefer ha-Higgayon,translated into English asThe Book of Logic,Feldheim 1995,ISBN978-0-87306-707-2
• de Oliveira, Solomon,Darche Noam
• Malachi ha-Cohen,Yad Malachi
• Aryeh Leib HaCohen Heller,Shev Shema'tata
• Goitein, B.,Kesef Nivhar
• Ezechia Bolaffi,Ben Zekunimvol. 1
• Moshe Amiel,Ha-Middot le-Ḥeqer ha-Halachah,vol. 1,vol. 2,vol. 3

Modern scholarly works

• Hanoch Albeck,Mavo la-talmudim
• Daniel Boyarin,Sephardi Speculation: A Study in Methods of Talmudic Interpretation(Hebrew), Machon Ben Zvi: Jerusalem, 1989
• Yaakov Elman, "Order, Sequence, and Selection: The Mishnah’s Anthological Choices,” inDavid Stern,ed.The Anthology in Jewish Literature(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004) 53–80
• Y.N. Epstein,Mevo-ot le-Sifrut haTalmudim
• Uziel Fuchs,Talmudam shel Geonim: yaḥasam shel geone Bavel lenosaḥ ha-Talmud ha-Bavli(The Geonic Talmud: the Attitude of Babylonian Geonim to the Text of the Babylonian Talmud): Jerusalem 2017
• David Weiss Halivni,Mekorot u-Mesorot(Jerusalem: Jewish Theological Seminary, 1982 on)
• Louis Jacobs,"How Much of the Babylonian Talmud is Pseudepigraphic?" Journal of Jewish Studies 28, No. 1 (1977), pp. 46–59
• Saul Lieberman,Hellenism in Jewish Palestine(New York: Jewish Theological Seminary, 1950)
• Moses Mielziner,Introduction to the Talmud:repr. 1997, hardbackISBN978-0-8197-0156-5,paperbackISBN978-0-8197-0015-5
• Jacob Neusner,Sources and Traditions: Types of Compositions in the Talmud of Babylonia(Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1992).
• Aviram Ravitzky,Aristotelian Logic and Talmudic Methodology(Hebrew): Jerusalem 2009,ISBN978-965-493-459-6
• Andrew Schumann,Talmudic Logic:(London: College Publications 2012),ISBN978-1-84890-072-1
• Strack, Herman L.and Stemberger, Günter,Introduction to the Talmud and Midrash,tr.Markus Bockmuehl:repr. 1992, hardbackISBN978-0-567-09509-1,paperbackISBN978-0-8006-2524-5

On individual tractates

• Moshe Benovitz, Berakhot chapter 1:Iggud le-Farshanut ha-Talmud(Hebrew, with English summary)
• Stephen Wald, Shabbat chapter 7:Iggud le-Farshanut ha-Talmud(Hebrew, with English summary)
• Aviad Stollman, Eruvin chapter 10:Iggud le-Farshanut ha-Talmud(Hebrew, with English summary)
• Aaron Amit, Pesachim chapter 4:Iggud le-Farshanut ha-Talmud(Hebrew, with English summary)
• Netanel Baadani, Sanhedrin chapter 5:Iggud le-Farshanut ha-Talmud(Hebrew, with English summary)
• Moshe Benovitz, Sukkah chapters 4–5:Iggud le-Farshanut ha-Talmud(Hebrew, with English summary)

Historical study

• Shalom Carmy (ed.)Modern Scholarship in the Study of Torah: Contributions and LimitationsJason Aronson, Inc.
• Richard KalminSages, Stories, Authors and Editors in Rabbinic BabyloniaBrown Judaic Studies
• David C. Kraemer,On the Reliability of Attributions in the Babylonian Talmud,Hebrew Union College Annual 60 (1989), pp. 175–90
• Lee Levine,Ma'amad ha-Hakhamim be-Eretz Yisrael(Jerusalem: Yad Yizhak Ben-Zvi, 1985), (=The Rabbinic Class of Roman Palestine in Late Antiquity)
• Saul Lieberman,Hellenism in Jewish Palestine(New York: Jewish Theological Seminary, 1950)
• John W. McGinley, 'The Written' as the Vocation of Conceiving Jewishly.ISBN0-595-40488-X
• David Bigman,Finding A Home for Critical Talmud StudyArchived2004-09-05 at theWayback Machine

Full text resources

• Talmud and English translation, from the Steinsaltz edition
• Talmud Bavli (Soncino translation)(English). The Soncino Press translation of the Talmud Bavli inPortable Document Format.No index volume and nominor-tractates.
• MishnahArchived2012-12-05 atarchive.today(Hebrew)
• ToseftaArchived2013-10-11 atArchive-It(Hebrew)
• Talmud YerushalmiArchived2013-10-11 atArchive-It(Hebrew)
• Talmud BavliArchived2013-10-11 atArchive-It(Hebrew)
• Full searchable Talmud on Snunit(Hebrew)
• Rodkinson English translationSee above, under#Talmud Bavli.
• E-DafImages of each page of the Babylonian Talmud
• Tractate Megillah:.pdf download showing Yemenite vocalization
• Shas.org Daf Viewer(Hebrew)

External links

• TalmudatCurlie
• Sefaria.org
• Jewish Encyclopedia: Talmud
• Jewish History: TalmudArchived2014-11-18 at theWayback Machine,aish
• Talmud/Mishnah/Gemara,jewishvirtuallibrary.org
• Jewish Law Research Guide,University of MiamiLaw Library
• A survey of rabbinic literaturebyOhr Somayach
• Introduction to the TalmudArchived2016-09-02 at theWayback Machineby Rabbi M. Taub
• Talmud translation, 13th–14th century,atE-codices