Talmud -Introduction

Today I went to the Temple to study Talmud. Now I would like to discuss something about the Talmud. Moses received the "Tablets of stone" or ten commandents on Mt Sinai which is called in the Talmud, the Mishna. The rest of the 613 commandants are contained in the Prophets and Writings. The Talmud is concerned with the oral law given to Moses. So you have in the Talmud the Mishna (the laws) and the Gemara or the commentary on those laws. To state this in another way, the Talmud is actually a series of books approximately (70 books) that compiles two diffent type of writings - the Mishna, or the primary body of Jewish civil and religious law, and the rabbinic disucssion which are known as the Gemara. The Talmud or Oral Law, tells Jews how to live and pray as Jews.

The Talmud is arranged according to Tractate which begin on page 2 of each book. It should be noted that there are two versions of the Talmud: Bablonian Talmud and the lessor used Jersulam Talmud.

According to tradition, when Moses died, he left behind a complete body of law. Nothing could be added to the teaching of Moses, nor could anything be subtracted from it.