Talmud ? What is that ?

B"H

Many times I like to quote from the Talmud. But what actually is the Talmud ?

For Jews it mostly means a thick book full of laws. Complicated laws which only seem to make sense after a longer period of intense studies. Non – Jews, on the other hand, consider the Talmud as something mystic or bad mouthing the non – Jewish world. We can find plenty of Christian anti – Semitic websites quoting from the Talmud in an absurd wrong way. Taking Talmudic quotes or passages completely out of the context and turning it into something Gentile hatred. Those sites do this on purpose and they don't bother about explanations and interpretations. Anything Jewish must be bad to begin with. Times haven't changed too much since the Middle Ages and its Inquisition.

In fact, the Talmud is not easy to understand. Professional studies are required and no one should quote without any understanding. People without former studies can easily misinterpret the Talmud, as they are not familiar with the metaphors; let alone the necessary commentaries and commentators. Moreover, most translations into different languages (except for the English Steinsaltz – Artscroll - Edition) are a catastrophe. The Mishna is written in Hebrew and the following Gemarot are in Aramaic. Translations can hardly express the plays on words in the Hebrew and Aramaic context. One of the most famous play on words in the Talmud are the first sentences on page 2a in the Tractate of Avodah Zarah (Idol Worship). No one would even notice the play on words without the original edition.

Thousands of books have been written about the Talmud. Here I am only referring to a brilliant book from the Chabad – Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz (Jerusalem), "The Essential Talmud". I took many of my following explanations from Rabbi Steinsaltz's book.

First of all, you have to understand something very basic.
The Talmud is not a strange edition to the Torah; but it would be impossible to understand the Torah and keep its laws (Mitzwot) without the Talmud. Where the Torah doesn't tell us "how", the Talmud provides all the details. Torah and Talmud are the foundation of Judaism. The Talmud is a "guide" to practical Judaism.

Hardly any other Jewish book has caused so many controversies and bloodshed throughout history. Most of the time this happened due to misinterpretations and wrong understanding. The church hates the Talmud and throughout history, especially during the Middle Ages, several Talmud burnings took place. At other times, Talmud study was forbidden to Jews. Thus, the church was hoping that Jews would forget about their religion and eventually convert to Christianity.

The formal Talmud definition is "a summary of the oral law" put together by the Sages from Palestine and Babylon in the course of the centuries. Basically the Talmud consists of two units: the Mishna and the Gemara. Both together form the Talmud. As I mentioned before, the Mishna consists of laws only and was written in Hebrew. After the Mishna text, you always find the Gear (Plural: Gemarot), the Rabbinic discussions about the interpretation of the law.

Nevertheless, this simple way of explanation is far too artificial, as the Talmud includes so much more. It is a collection of Jewish wisdom from 2000 years. It is a mixture of laws, legends and philosophy; everything contains a unique logic together with an extraordinary pragmatism. Further contexts are history, science, anecdotes and even humor. The Talmud is a collection of paradoxes: a well arranged logic frame and each word was chosen carefully and then interpreted. Those who look for absolute halachic answers will be disappointed. More than 90 % of the given halachic solutions are "Machloket – open to different interpretations, discussions and disputes". The most famous Talmudic dispute took place between the House of Shammai and the House of Hillel. This dispute lasted for a whole century. In the end, a compromise was found:
"Both, Hillel and Shammai, speak the word of G – d".
Only the fact that one method is preferred (until today, the Halacha of Hillel is valid) doesn't mean that the other method (Shammai (1)) is halachically invalid.

The Talmud consists of many different tractates which weren't written by only one author. The authors lived in different time periods and each of them added his own opinions. Thus, they were confronted with different problems and circumstances. Due to these facts, the Talmud doesn't have a clear trend or specific objective. Every debate in the Gemara is unique and every subject is discussed according to the particular time period. The entire Talmud is a back and forth of questions and answers. An antique method of Talmud study was to study the answer carefully in order to figure out the question. Finding out the question is necessary, as the many times, the Talmud doesn't tell us the question. After reaching a certain basic knowledge, the student should be able asking himself and other questions claim a doubt. The Talmud is not a religious work where everyone has to agree upon. On the contrary, it demands and allows doubts. The student only receives his true answers through spiritual communication (the intellectual and emotional debate).

For several generations, especially in the days of the "Judges" as well as the time of the "First Temple" (approx. 950 – 586 C.E.), laws were not always kept as required. After a while, the prophets always asked the people to do Teshuva (repentance). Very early, our Sages (rabbis, commentators) had to admit that many names for plants or animals mentioned in the Talmud were already unknown in their times and couldn't be identified anymore. Furthermore, many concepts or Mitzvot from the Torah had to be interpreted, as the Torah itself doesn’t provide us with further explanations. For example, the "Totafot" – a word from the biblical "Shema Israel – Prayer". The Rabbis learned out of this context that the Tefillin derive from this concept. In the course of time, customs and lifestyles changed and thus, new problems and questions came up. Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz here particularly mentions the Shabbat. It says in the Torah that we shall work for six days and rest on the seventh day. Each generation, however, had a totally different understanding of what exactly work and rest mean. All the time, work and rest had to be defined anew. Additionally, many Torah passages can only be understood through their detailed interpretation in the Talmud. The Korbanot (sacrifices) for instance. Or when the Torah demands from a husband to provide his wife with a Get (divorce certificate) after the actual divorce. In this case, the Torah doesn't tell what it should say in this Get but only the Talmud does.

Each generation has more demand for interpretation. The Israelites under Moshe still knew all Torah explanations without even thinking about solutions. Later on, the young generation learnt from the elders and further generations had to study more and more. The "Anshei Knesset HaGedolah – Men of the Great Assembly" collected holy writings and then decided which of them is going to become part of the Nevi'im (Book of Prophets). The Men of the Great Assembly gave shape to the Torah by dividing its verses; just the way we know it from the Torah Parashot on Shabbat. Which Parasha is being read ? From where to where ? Furthermore, the synagogue service and its rituals were established as well the "Amidah – prayer" (the Shemona Ezrei).

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(1) Shammai:
There are commentaries claiming that in the time of Meshiach, we will only follow the halachic interpretations of Shammai

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TO BE CONTINUED !!!