What Is The Talmud?
The Talmud is the basic book of Judaism.
Encyclopedia Britannica states that the Hebrew term “Talmud” refers to a
compilation of ancient teachings regarded as sacred by Jews from the time it
was compiled until modern times and still regarded so by religious Jews. [1]
In the words of Rabbi Dr. Jacob Neusner, it is “the foundation-document
of Judaism” [2]
Babylonian and Palestinian Talmuds
There are two versions of the Talmud. The
Anti-Defamation League states,
“There are two editions of the Talmud; one was
composed by Babylonian Jews and one by Jews who lived in ancient
Jerusalem. Generally a citation from the Talmud refers to the Babylonian
version, which is considered authoritative. The Jerusalem Talmud is not
generally taught in even the most Orthodox Jewish schools today, though
advanced Talmud scholars sometimes study it.” [3]
Professor Shanak explains it further:
“Basically, the Talmud consists of two parts.
First, the Mishnah - a terse legal code consisting of six volumes, each
subdivided into several tractates, written in Hebrew, redacted in Palestine
around AD 200 out of the much more extensive (and largely oral) legal material
composed during the preceding two centuries. The second and by far
predominant part is the Gemarah - a voluminous record of discussions on and
around the Mishnah. There are two, roughly parallel, sets of Gemarah, one
composed in Mesopotamia (‘Babylon’) between about AD 200 and 500, the other in
Palestine between about AD 200 and some unknown date long before 500. The
Babylonian Talmud (that is, the Mishnah plus the Mesopotamian Gemarah) is much
more extensive and better arranged than the Palestinian, and it alone is
regarded as definitive and authoritative. The Jerusalem (Palestinian)
Talmud is accorded a decidedly lower status as a legal authority, along with a
number of compilations, known collectively as the ‘talmudic literature’,
containing material which the editors of the two Talmuds had left out.” [4]
Another author confirms that the Babylonian Talmud is
regarded as the authoritative version as well,
“The authority of the Babylonian Talmud is also
greater than that of the Jerusalem Talmud. In cases of doubt the former
is decisive.” [5]
Authors of Talmud
According to Talmud scholars, the Talmud is the
written form of the teachings of the Pharisees. So who were the “Pharisees”?
The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia states under the subject of
“Pharisees,”
“The Jewish religion as it is today traces its
descent, without a break, through all the centuries, from the Pharisees.
Their leading ideas and methods found expression in a literature of enormous
extent, of which a very great deal is still in existence. The Talmud is
the largest and most important single piece of that literature … and the study
of it is essential for any real understanding of Pharisaism.”
Concerning the Pharisees, the 1905 edition of the
Jewish Encyclopedia says under the subject of “Pharisees”:
“With the destruction of the Temple (70 A.D.) the
Sadducees disappeared altogether, leaving the regulation of all Jewish affairs
in the hands of the Pharisees. Henceforth, Jewish life was regulated by
the Pharisees; the whole history of Judaism was reconstructed from the
Pharisaic point of view, and a new aspect was given to the Sanhedrin of the
past. A new chain of tradition supplanted the older priestly tradition (Abot
1:1). Pharisaism shaped the character of Judaism and the life and thought
of the Jew for all the future.”
Rabbi Michael Rodkinson states,
“Is the literature that Jesus was familiar with in his
early years yet in existence in the world? Is it possible for us to get
at it? Can we ourselves review the ideas, the statements, the modes of
reasoning and thinking, on moral and religious subjects, which were current in
his time, and must have been [resolved] by him during those silent thirty years
when he was pondering his future mission? To such inquiries, the learned
class of Jewish rabbis answers - by holding up the Talmud. Here, say
they, is the source from whence Jesus of Nazareth drew the teaching which
enabled him to revolutionize the world; and the question becomes, therefore, an
interesting one to every Christian, What is the Talmud? …The Talmud, then, is
the written form of that which, in the time of Jesus, was called the Traditions
of the Elders, and to which he makes frequent allusions.” [6]
Rabbi Dr. Louis Finkelstein, Instructor of Talmud, and
later president of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, writes:
“Pharisaism became Talmudism, Talmudism became
Medieval Rabbinism, and Medieval Rabbinism became Modern Rabbinism. But
throughout these changes of name, inevitable adaptation of custom, and
adjustment of Law, the spirit of the ancient Pharisee survives unaltered.
When the Jew reads his prayers, he is reciting formulae prepared by
pre-Maccabean scholars; when he dons the cloak prescribed for the Day of
Atonement and Passover Eve, he is wearing the festival garment of ancient
Jerusalem; when he studies the Talmud, he is actually repeating the arguments
used in the Palestinian academies.” [7]
Jesus is reported to have strongly denounced this very
sect of Jewish priests known as the Pharisees:
John 8:44 “Ye are of your father the devil, and the
lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning,
and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he
speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of
it.”
In addition, Jesus is reported to have said that they
nullified all the Commandments of God by their Tradition, “teaching for
doctrines the commandments of men” (Mark 7:13; Matt. 15:6-9, etc.). His
invective, in truth, cannot be equaled. All of Matthew 23 is like a
whiplash. He likened Pharisaism to a white sepulcher, indeed beautiful
outwardly, but “inside full of dead men’s bones and of all uncleanness.”
Christ climaxed one condemnation after another with the expletive,
“Hypocrites!” He called the Pharisees children of them that killed the
Prophets. He foretold they would go on killing, crucifying and
persecuting until the guilt for all the righteous blood shed from Abel on down
would be upon them. “Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye
escape the damnation of hell?” Christ asked.
[4] Professor Israel Shahak, Jewish History,
Jewish Religion: The Weight of Three Thousand Years (Boulder: Pluto Press,
1994) ch. 3.
[5] R.C. Musaph-Andriesse, From Torah to
Kabbalah: A Basic Introduction to the Writings of Judaism, p. 40).
[7] Rabbi Dr. Louis Finkelstein, The Pharisees:
The Sociological Background of Their Faith, page xxi,
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