The Talmud - Pathways

© 2008
In a time of chaos, the rabbis decide to do the unprecedented –
write down the Oral Law.
by Rabbi Ken Spiro
At various times during the Hadrian persecutions, the sages were forced
into hiding, though they managed to reconvene at Usha in 122 CE, and then
again at Yavneh in 158 CE. With so much persecution and unrest, with the
Jewish people fleeing the Land of Israel, the rabbis knew that they would
not be able to keep a central seat of rabbinic power alive for long. Yet,
during these great periods of chaos, some of the finest rabbinic minds made
their mark. Among them:
• Rabbi Akiva (whom we discussed in the previous class)
• Rabbi Akiva’s chief disciple, Rabbi Meir, also the husband of the
legendary Bruria
• Rabbi Simon Bar Yochai, the author of the Zohar, the central text of
the Kabbalah
• Rabbi Simon Bar Yochai’s son, Rabbi Eliezer
• Rabbi Simon Ben Gamliel II, the descendant of the House of Hillel
and a direct descendant of King David
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Judah HaNasi
Now, another man was to emerge and impact the Jewish world in a major
way; he was the son of Rabbi Simon Ben Gamliel II – Rabbi Judah HaNasi
(“Judah, the Prince”).
Rabbi Judah HaNasi is one personality who is absolutely fundamental to
understanding this period of time, and one of the greatest personalities of
Jewish history. So great was he that he is now affectionately referred to in
Jewish scholarship as only the Rebbe.
He had a unique combination of attributes – being both a great Torah
scholar and a strong leader – that gave him the power to lead the Jewish
people at this chaotic time. He was also a man of tremendous personal
wealth, which put him in a position to wheel and deal and do what needed
to get done, not just with the Jews in the Land of Israel but with the Roman
authorities as well.
Hadrian died in 139 CE and with his death came an improvement in the
treatment of the Jewish community in Israel. During a period of relative
quiet, Rabbi Judah HaNasi managed to befriend the Roman emperors who
succeeded Hadrian, particularly Marcus Aurelius. Writes historian Rabbi
Berel Wein:
Providentially, in the course of the Parthian war, Marcus Aurelius met
Rabbi [Judah HaNasi], and they became friends and eventually
confidants. Marcus Aurelius consulted with his friend in Judea on
matters of state policy as well as on personal questions... The years
of Marcus Aurelius’ reign, ending in his death in 180 CE, was the
high-water mark in the intercourse between Rome and the Jews. The
Jews, under the leadership of Rabbi [Jehudah HaNasi] would use this
period of blissful respite to prepare themselves for the struggle of
darker days surely lurking around the corner. 1
At this time – circa 188 CE – the Mishnah was born.
1 Wein, Berel, Echoes of Glory, p. 224. Also see: Talmud, Tractate Avodah Zara 10a-b; Midrash, Breishit
Rabbah 67:6; 75:5
2

Mishnah
What is the Mishnah?
In past installments, we discussed the fact that at Mount Sinai the Jewish
people received the Written Torah and the Oral Torah. The Oral Torah was
the oral explanation of how the written laws should be executed and
followed.
The Oral Torah passed from generation to generation and was never written
down. 2 Why? Because the Oral Torah was meant to be fluid. The principles
stayed the same, but the application of those principles was meant to be
adapted to all types of new circumstances.
This worked exceptionally well as long as the central authority – the
Sanhedrin – remained intact, and the chain of transmission was not
interrupted. (That is, teachers were able to freely pass on their wisdom to
the next generation of students.) But in the days since the destruction of
the Temple, the Sanhedrin had been repeatedly uprooted and teachers had
to go into hiding.
Rabbi Judah HaNasi realized that things
would not get better any time soon. He
saw that the Temple would not be rebuilt
in his generation and possibly in many
generations to come. He saw the Jews
fleeing the land as a result of the constant
persecutions and impossible living
conditions. He saw that the central
authority was weaker than ever and might
cease altogether. To make sure that the chain of transmission would never
be broken, he decided that the time had come to write down the Oral
Torah. 3
2 Midrash, Tanchumah Ki Tisa 34; Talmud, Tractate Gittin 60a.
3 For a detailed explanation of actions of Rabbi Judah HaNasi see Maimonides, Mishneh Torah
Introduction. See also Iggerot d’Rabbi Sheriram Gaon 1:1.
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This was a mammoth undertaking. Although much of the work may have
already been done by previous generations of rabbis, the monumental task
of editing, explaining and organizing this vast amount of material was left to
Rabbi Judah. The end result of this massive undertaking was a definitive,
yet cryptic (the basic principles were all there, yet a teacher was still
required to elucidate the material) version of the entire Oral Law called the
Mishnah. (Incidentally, the word Mishnah means “repetition” because it was
studied by repeating – Mishnah then, by extension, means “learning.”)
Maimonides, in the introduction to his Mishneh Torah, explains it as follows:
He gathered together all the traditions, enactments, interpretations
and expositions of every position of the Torah, that either came down
from Moses, our teacher, or had been deduced by the courts in
successive generations. All this material he redacted in the Mishnah,
which was diligently taught in public, and thus became universally
known among the Jewish people. Copies of it were made and widely
disseminated, so that the Oral Law might not be forgotten in Israel.
The Mishnah, which is written in Hebrew, is divided into six basic segments
or “orders” and further subdivided into 63 tractates with a total of 525
chapters. The six segments deal with six basic areas of Jewish law:
• Zeraim, literally “seeds,” covering all agricultural rules and laws for
foods as well as all blessings
• Moed, literally, “holiday,” dealing with the rituals of Shabbat and
other Jewish holidays
• Nashim, literally “women,” examining all the issues between men
and women such as marriage, divorce, etc.
• Nezikin, literally “damages,” covering civil and criminal law
• Kodshim, literally “holy things,” concerning laws of the Temple
• Taharot, literally “pure things,” concerning laws of spiritual purity
and impurity
Rabbi Judah HaNasi finished the Mishnah in 190 CE in the town of Tzipori in
the Galilee. You can visit the site today, and the area is very interesting
from an archeological perspective. At a site called Beit She’arim (where the
Sanhedrin had previously been located prior to its move to Tzipori), there is
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a vast number of burial caves carved into the side of a mountain. Based on
evidence found at the site, archaeologists believe that one of these caves
contains the grave of Rabbi Judah HaNasi, along with many other great
scholars of that time.
Writing the Talmud
During the centuries following the completion of the Mishnah, the chain of
transmission of the Oral law was further weakened by a number of factors.
Economic hardship and increased persecution of the Jewish community in
Israel caused many Jews, including many rabbis, to flee the country. Many
of these rabbis emigrated to the Babylon region (today’s Iraq) of the
Persian Empire.
As a result, the role of the rabbis of Israel as the sole central authority of
the Jewish people came to an end. This decentralization of Torah authority
and lack of consensus among the rabbis led to further weakening of the
transmission process. Thus it became clear to the sages of this period that
the Mishnah alone was no longer clear enough to fully explain the Oral Law.
It was written in shorthand fashion and in places was cryptic. This is
because it was very concise, written on the assumption that the person
reading it was already well-acquainted with the subject matter. So the
rabbis began to have discussions about it and to write down the substance
of these discussions.
Since at this time a significant portion of the Jewish population was living in
Babylon, which was outside the bounds of the Roman Empire, the rabbis
there put together their discussions, the end product of which was called
Talmud Bavli or the Babylonian Talmud. Even before this process had begun
in Babylon, another set of discussions took place in the Land of Israel, and
the end result was Talmud Yerushalmi or the Jerusalem Talmud.
(Incidentally, the Jerusalem Talmud was not written in Jerusalem; it was
written in Tiberias, the last place where the Sanhedrin sat, but was called
the Jerusalem Talmud in deference to the Sanhedrin’s rightful home.)
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Due to persecution of the Jewish community in Israel, the Jerusalem
Talmud, completed in the mid 4 th century CE, was never fully edited. The
Jerusalem Talmud is much shorter (it contains only four of the six sections
of the Mishnah) and is harder to understand than the Babylonian Talmud.
The situation of the Jews in Babylon was much more stable and the rabbis
there had considerably more time to edit and explain the subject matter.
Although there are two Talmuds, they are not really separate. The rabbis of
Babylon had access to the Jerusalem Talmud while they were working on
their text. But in case of a dispute, the Babylonian Talmud is followed. 4
Because the Babylonian Talmud is considered more authoritative and the
Jerusalem Talmud is more difficult to study, Jewish students pouring over
the Talmud in yeshivas today are using chiefly the Babylonian Talmud.
The Talmud is more than just an application of the details of the Jewish law
as expounded in the Mishnah. It’s the encyclopedia of all Jewish existence.
The Talmud also contains a lot of Agadata – stories that are meant to
illustrate important points in the Jewish worldview. These stories contain a
wealth of information on a huge range of topics. You name it, it’s in there.
This information has always been vital to the Jewish people because Jewish
law was never applied by reading a sentence in the Torah and executing it
to the letter. Take for example, “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.” It
was never Jewish law that if someone blinded you, that you should go and
blind him. What is the good of having two blind people? It was always
understood on two levels: 1) that justice must be proportional (it’s not a life
for an eye), and 2) that it means the value of an eye for the value of the
eye, referring to monetary damages. Thus, the Talmud presented the
written and oral traditions together.
To read the Talmud is to read a lot of arguments. On every page it seems
that the rabbis are arguing. This kind of argument – the purpose of which
was to arrive at the kernel of truth – is called pilpul. This word has a
negative connotation outside the yeshiva world, as people read these
4 HaRif on Talmud, Tractate Eruvin 35b.
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arguments and it seems to the uneducated eye that the rabbis are merely
splitting hairs, and that some of the arguments have absolutely no basis in
everyday life. But this is not so.
The reason why the rabbis argued about things that may not have any
application to everyday life was to try to get to truth in an abstract way – to
understand the logic and to extract the principle. These rabbis were
interested in understanding reality and in doing the right thing. Reality is
what Judaism is all about – the ultimate reality being God.
Another important point is that much of the dispute is focused on relatively
minor points while the larger issues were generally not disputed. You don’t
see a single argument as to whether or not you can eat pork, or whether or
not you can light a fire on Shabbat. These things were given, they were
totally agreed upon. Only small points were subject to discussion. And these
rabbis were wise enough to know that a day would come when the
principles established by getting to the kernel of truth would have far
reaching implications.
Gemara
When you look at the page of the
Babylonian Talmud today, you will find the
Hebrew text of the Mishnah is featured in
the middle of the page. Interspersed
between the Hebrew of the Mishnah are
explanations in both Hebrew and Aramaic
which are called the Gemara.
The Aramaic word Gemara means “tradition.” In Hebrew, the word Gemara
means “completion.” Indeed, the Gemara is a compilation of the various
rabbinic discussions on the Mishnah, and as such completes the
understanding of the Mishnah.
The texts of the Mishnah and Gemara are then surrounded by other layers
of text and commentaries from a later period.
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The text of the Mishnah is quoting rabbis who lived circa 100 BCE to 200
CE. These rabbis are called the Tana’im, or “teachers.” In this group are
included such greats as Rabbi Johanan Ben Zakkai, Rabbi Simon Bar Yochai,
Rabbi Akiva, and of course Rabbi Judah HaNasi. (In the Gemara, they
usually have the title Rebbe before their first name although there are many
exceptions such as the names: Hillel, Shamai, Ben Azai and Ben Zoma.)
The text of the Gemara is quoting the rabbis who lived circa 200 CE to
about 500 CE. These rabbis are called, Amora’im, “explainers” or
“interpreters.” In this group are included Rav Huna, Rav Ashi, etc. (Names
of the Babylonian Amora’im are usually preceded by the title Rav as
opposed to the Israeli Amora’im who continued to use the title
Rabbi/Rebbe. This is because the authentic institution of rabbinic ordination
was only done in the Land of Israel.)
PERIOD CIRCA CHAIN OF TRANSMISSION
Moses
Mount Sinai 1312 BCE Joshua
The Elders
1260 BCE -
800 BCE
The
800 BCE –
Prophets 5 410 BCE
The Great
Assembly
Zugot
Pinhas and the 70 Elders
Eli
Samuel
King David
King Solomon
Ahijah
Elijah
Elisha
Jehoiada
Zechariah
Hosea
Amos
Isaiah
Micah
Joel
Nahum
Habakuk
Zephaniah
Jeremiah
Baruch
410 BCE – 120 Men of the Great Assembly
312 BCE Simon HaTzaddik, last remnant
Jose Ben Joezer and Jose Ben Johanan
Jehoshua Ben Perahiah and Nittai of Arbel
260 BCE – Judah Ben Tabbai and Simon Ben Shatach
5 Of course, Moses and Joshua were also prophets, as were many of those that came before this time
period and after it, however the period is named after the figures that dominated it.
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(“Pairs”)
Tana’im
(“Teachers”)
Amora’im
(“Explainers”)
10 CE
10 CE –
200 CE
200 CE –
500 CE
Shemaiah and Avtalion
Hillel and Shammai
R’Simon Ben Hillel, R’Johanan Ben Zakkai
Rabban Gamliel the Elder, R’Eliezer Ben
Hyrcanus, R’Jehoshua ben Hananiah,
R’Simon Ben Netanel, R’Elazar Ben Arakh
Rabban Simon Ben Gamliel I, R’Akiva,
R’Tarfon, R’Simon Ben Elazar, R’Johanan Ben
Nuri
Rabban Gamliel II, Rebbe Meir, Rebbe
Ishmael, Rebbe Judah, Rebbe Jose, R’Simon
Bar Yochai
R’Simon Ben Gamliel II
R’Judah HaNasi (codifier of the Mishnah)
Rav Samuel, Rabbi Johanan (compiler of
Jerusalem Talmud)
Rav Huna, Rav Judah, Rav Nachman, Rav
Kahana, Rabba Bar Hanna, Rav Ami, Rav Asi
Rabbah, Rav Josef, Rav Hisda, Rabba Bar
Huna
Abaja, Rava
Rav Ashi and Ravina (compilers of the
Babylonian Talmud)
The surrounding text of today’s Talmud also quotes Rishonim, literally “the
first ones,” rabbinic authorities (circa 1000 CE to 1500 CE) who predated
Rabbi Joseph Caro, the 16 th century author of the Code of Jewish law known
as the Shulchan Aruch. Among the most prominent Rishonim are: the 11 th
century commentator Rashi, his students and descendants who were the
chief authors of the commentary called Tosfot, and the 12 th century
philosophers Maimonides and Nachmanides. We will discuss the
contributions of these rabbis in classes 44 and 47.
Just how important was the work of Rabbi Judah HaNasi and those that
followed him would become very clear in the next 200 years when the
Jewish people would face another threat to their religion. This is when the
Roman Empire decided to convert its entire population to Christianity.
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