The Talmud is the fundamental code of Jewish rabbinic civil and canon instructions. There are two compilations, the Jerusalem Talmud (often called Yerusalmi) and the Babylonian Talmud (babli, pronounced bav-li). As one scholar observes, "If the Jews are 'a people of the Book,' that book is the Talmud, especially the Babylonian Talmud. The Babli sets forth the outline of a system of Judaism which is adhered to today."
The Talmud is composed of two collections:
The Mishnah which are the oral laws that came into existence by the end of 2nd Cent AD.
The Gemara which are the comments of rabbis from the 2nd-5th Cent on the Mishnah.
The materials in the Talmud may be divided into two kinds:
The Halakah, which are legal enactments and teachings, together with discussions about how they were reached, and make up about a third of the Talmud, &
The Haggadah (or Aggadah), which are non-legal precepts and interpretations of the enactments in the form of stories, legends, anecdotes, etc.
The Mishnah is organized into 6 orders, which are further divided into a total of 63 tractates, and then into chapters. The two Talmudim are quite different in terms of content, style and emphasis.
While the Talmud helps us to better understand the faith of modern Jews, it has little of direct significance for preaching and teaching of the Gospel.
©ALBERITH