RMPS - Int2/Higher - World Religions - Judaism - Education Scotland

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THE MEANS Halachah, the Oral Law and the Talmud Halachah and the Oral Law Halachah is the collective term used for Jewish law. The word can also be used for one particular law. According to Jewish tradition when God gave Moses the Torah, He also taught him how the commandments were to be kept. This was passed down by word of mouth and was part of the oral tradition. The Oral Law made it possible for Jews to live by the Torah as new conditions arose. The first systematic arrangement of the Oral Law was made by Rabbi Akiva 2 and served as the basis for the Mishnah. Rabbi Akiva classified the oral laws under specific headings and related the Oral Law to the Written Torah. Over the centuries new discoveries and social conditions have changed people’s ways of living and thinking about the world we live in. For example, the development of information technology and medical science have led Jews to raise new questions, such as whether computer hacking is theft and whether surrogate motherhood and cloning is permitted. This is why rulings continue to be added to the Halachah. It is an ongoing process and is always based on the principles outlined in the Torah. The Mishnah The Oral Law consisting of interpretations of the written law was preserved and handed down by word of mouth from generation to generation by sages. This collection of oral laws was later written down by Rabbi Judah Hanasi (‘Hanasi’ literal meaning ‘the prince’) in a text known as the Mishnah at the end of the second century. It was a time of great persecution following the destruction of the Jewish kingdom by the Romans. Many scholars were killed and Rabbi Judah Hanasi was concerned that as a result much of the Oral Law might be totally lost. The Gemarah Just as the Mishnah was an interpretation and development of the Written Law, so the Gemarah was a record of the further interpretations and discussions of the Mishnah over many centuries. The Mishnah and the Gemarah together form the Talmud. Eventually about the end of the 66 2 The foremost scholar of his age, a patriot and martyr. He lived 50–135 CE RMPS: WORLD RELIGIONS – JUDAISM (INT 2, H) © Learning and Teaching Scotland
THE MEANS fifth century these were classified, edited and written down. Thus ended several hundred years in which all of the later commentaries had been handed down orally. This is what is known as the Babylonian Talmud. In addition to law, it also contains a vast amount of material on all sorts of subjects such as medicine, social conditions, comments on events of the day and so on. It is therefore not only a record of discussions but an entire social history. A similar attempt to do this in Israel had also been made about fifty years earlier and is known as the Jerusalem Talmud. Of the two, the Babylonian Talmud is considered the more authoritative and is therefore what is normally referred to as the Talmud. To this day the Talmud is the main subject studied in a Jewish academy known as a yeshiva (pr. ye-sheev-a). If one studied at the rate of one page a day, it would take fourteen years to complete a study of the Talmud. The Talmud is written in a very cryptic form and can be difficult to interpret. Therefore many rabbis wrote commentaries to guide people through it. By far the most important is that of Rashi (Rabbi Shlomo ben Yitzhak) and today’s standard printed Talmud contains Rashi’s commentary along with others at the sides of the text. Activity 27 Examine the page from the Talmud reproduced on p68 and read the accompanying notes on p69. (a) Write a comment about the size of print of the extract (b) How many types of print do you think there are? (c) How many additions are there? (d) Where is the page number? (e) How many commentaries are there? Suggestions for further research and activities Find out more about Rabbi Akiva, Rabbi Judah Hanasi and Rashi at the Jewish Virtual Website www.us-israel.org Standard printed Talmud page: www.ucalgary.ca/~elsegal/ TalmudPage.html#Page RMPS: WORLD RELIGIONS – JUDAISM (INT 2, H) 67 © Learning and Teaching Scotland
Page 1 and 2:
Religious, Moral and Philosophical
Page 3 and 4:
CONTENTS Introduction 1 Section 1:
Page 5 and 6:
INTRODUCTION Using these support ma
Page 7 and 8:
SECTION 1 JUDAISM - AN OVERVIEW The
Page 9 and 10:
JUDAISM - AN OVERVIEW that commemor
Page 11 and 12:
SECTION 2 What does it mean to be h
Page 13 and 14:
The concept and image of God THE HU
Page 15 and 16:
THE HUMAN CONDITION He had already
Page 17 and 18:
Creation THE HUMAN CONDITION Jews b
Page 19 and 20: Shabbat THE HUMAN CONDITION God res
Page 21 and 22: THE HUMAN CONDITION of the Torah, c
Page 23 and 24: Suggestions for further reading and
Page 25 and 26: THE HUMAN CONDITION Yet, even in ju
Page 27 and 28: SECTION 3 Yetzer Harah and Yetzer T
Page 29 and 30: THE CAUSE OF THE HUMAN CONDITION Su
Page 31 and 32: Suffering is at times inexplicable
Page 33 and 34: SECTION 4 THE GOALS The meaning of
Page 35 and 36: THE GOALS The Shema is the most imp
Page 37 and 38: THE GOALS The meaning of obedience
Page 39 and 40: THE GOALS Activity 17 1. Give the r
Page 43 and 44: Activity 18 1. Read the Ten Command
Page 47 and 48: THE GOALS rest is commentary. Go an
Page 49 and 50: The importance of repentance Repent
Page 51 and 52: Rosh Hashanah THE GOALS Rosh Hashan
Page 53 and 54: Source THE GOALS For the sin that w
Page 55 and 56: 3. Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are
Page 57 and 58: SECTION 5 The concept of the Messia
Page 59 and 60: Olam ha-Bah THE FINAL AIM OF EXISTE
Page 61 and 62: THE FINAL AIM OF EXISTENCE Genesis
Page 63 and 64: SECTION 6 The Torah THE MEANS Torah
Page 65 and 66: THE MEANS The prophetic writings al
Page 67 and 68: The Ten Commandments THE MEANS The
Page 69: Activity 26 THE MEANS (a) Categoris
Page 73 and 74: A page from the Talmud (see Activit
Page 75 and 76: THE MEANS Theoretically, the term h
Page 77 and 78: SECTION 7 Moral and social responsi
Page 79 and 80: THE PRACTICES THAT HELP ACHIEVE THE
Page 83 and 84: Rites of passage and education Brit
Page 89 and 90: APPENDIX Glossary APPENDIX Amidah:
Page 91 and 92: APPENDIX Tanakh: the term for the H
Page 93 and 94: Useful addresses J E Levingstone (f
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RMPS - Int2/Higher - World Religions - Judaism - Education Scotland

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