Talmud
The Talmud is a collection of Jewish religious and civil laws, together with scholarly interpretations of their meaning. It ranks second to the Bible as the most sacred and influential written work of the Jewish religion. Judiasm considers the full-time study of the Talmud to be one of the most honorable occupations.

The Talmud consists of two parts, the Mishnah and the Gemara. The Mishnah is the written version of traditional Jewish oral law. Short passages of the Mishnah are followed by extremely thorough explanations, which make up the Gemara. The scholars who wrote the Gemara did not always agree in their interpretations of the Mishnah. As a result, the Gemara includes many debates on small details of Jewish law. It also discusses history and Jewish customs, and includes folk tales.

The Talmud consists of 63 section called tractates, which are divided into six orders. Each order deals with a different subject . For example, the order Nashim (women) discusses marriage, divorce, and other matters that concern relationships between a man and a woman. Other orders cover such subjects as religious feasts, and civil and criminal law.

According to Jewish tradition, the Mishnah originated in the time of Moses during the 1200's BCE and was memorized and handed down from generation to generation. Its contents were collected and written down from about AD 70 to 200. The Gemara, which has two versions, was written between about 200 and 500. The Palestinian Gemara was completed about 425 and the Babyloninan Gemara about 500.


From "Talmud" by Jacob Neusner in the World Book Encyclopedia,1988.