The Talmud

[agedman]

In another thread, the poster proclaimed the Talmud as evil.

Short history:
The Talmud is in two parts.

The Mishnah and the Gemara.

The Mishnah is the oral Jewish laws in written form.

The Gemara is like the BB, it records the rabbinic discussions concerning the Mishnah.

The Gemara is a compilation of 2nd to 5th century started in Jerusalem and finished in Babylonia. The Babylonian document is held as the most authentic and accurate.

Rabbi Moses Maimonedes (from France) distilled some of this monstrosity down, and his work has been recognized as the standard for all Jews.

Question?

Is there anyone on the BB who has actually read from either the Mishnah or Gemara?


If so, what are your thoughts concerning the Talmud?


For anyone who desires to look, here is The Babylonian Talmud which takes each Mishnah and then presents various Gemara statements. Tractate Eruvin

 

[Just_Ahead]

Browsing among library stacks was something I did long before personal computers and the Internet arrived.

Many years ago, decades ago, I found myself in the basement of the old King Library at the University of Kentucky. There I came across an old copy of the Talmud in English. Many volumes filled a shelf. The volumes were tattered on the spines.

Putting that day's research on hold, I spent several hours flipping through several volumes.

I walked away from that experience feeling impressed at the Talmud's preservation of Jewish religion and culture.

This Wikipedia article gives a good introduction to the Talmud.
Here are a few folk sayings from the Talmud.

 

[Deacon]

The Talmud (Hebrew for “study”) is the record of rabbinic teachings that spans a period of more than six hundred years, beginning in the first century c.e. and continuing through the sixth and seventh centuries c.e. The Talmud is actually made up of two separate works: The Mishnah, primarily a compilation of Jewish laws, written in Hebrew and edited around the year 200 c.e. in Israel; and the Gemara, the rabbinic commentaries and discussions on the Mishnah, written in Hebrew and Aramaic, emanating from both Babylonia and Israel over the next three hundred to five hundred years. In actuality, there are two Talmuds—the Yerushalmi (the “Jerusalem” Talmud, or to be more geographically precise, the Talmud of the Land of Israel), and the Bavli (the “Babylonian” Talmud). The Bavli was edited after the Yerushalmi and is much more widely known, studied, and quoted. The Babylonian Talmud is generally printed in twenty folio (or oversize) volumes. It contains over 5,400 pages, and is composed of more than 2,500,000 words. There are many people who study a page of Talmud every day; it takes them over seven years to complete the entire work.
From Swimming in the Sea of Talmud, By Michael Katz and Gershwin Schwartz​

The Talmudic literature was the commentary of Jesus day. If you want to understand the culture and better understand how the people of first century Judaism thought and argued, then you need to be familiar with what they studied.

One of my (many) favorite YA fictional novels is called, ‘The Promise’ by Chaim Potok. The author describes the training involved in conservative Judaism and Hasidic Judaism as they study the Talmud and other writings.

Rob

 

[Rob_BW]

I've read very little of it. As a piece of non-inspired literature, it is an aid on historical context and language.

 

[kyredneck]

Three posts from the 'holy book' Talmud.