Part 11 (1/2)

No. 4.--Seder Nezekeen contains 10 sections.

No. 5.--Seder Kodosheem contains 11 sections.

No. 6.--Seder Taharous contains 12 sections.

-- Total 63 sections.

CHAPTER XIII.

Of the Gemara, or Completion, which is usually styled Talmud.

In the foregoing chapter we described the manner in which the Mishna was compiled, together with its contents, from its first delivery by Moses till the time of its being committed to writing by Rabbi Judah the Prince. We shall now proceed in regular order to explain what the Talmud is, and how it was composed by the several learned men among the Jews both in Jerusalem and in Babylon.

The compilation of the Talmud ranks among the most ancient Hebrew writings. It consists of two distinct heads--the Mishna and the Gemara, and both together form the Talmud.

The Mishna, as already explained, chiefly contains the oral or traditional laws transmitted down to posterity from the time of Moses the Lawgiver, to that of Rabbi Judah the Prince or Na.s.si.

The Gemara consists of expositions and comments on the Mishna, as also various other subjects connected with Jewish literature, and more especially Jewish theology. It contains also treatises on moral philosophy, ethics, mathematics, astronomy and chronology, and many other branches of the different sciences known in those days. The Gemara or expositions on the Mishna was commenced in the days of the Rabbins, Gamaliel and Simeon, the two sons of Rabbi Judah the Holy, about the year 3980 of the creation, and was completed and compiled into one body by Rav As.h.i.+, President, and Raviny, Vice President, who are considered the actual compilers of the Babylonian Talmud. This took place about the year 4260.

The authors of the Talmud in general are styled Amooroim, dictators, as they dictated the several explications of the Mishna, as discussed in the different schools, and which are all found in the Talmud. The comments and expositions are known by the name of Gemara, which signifies completion, because therein is fully explained all the traditional doctrines of the Jewish law and its religion. The Mishna is the text, the Gemara the comment, or glossary, and both together form the Talmud.

There are two Talmudim. The first is styled Talmud Yerushalmi, or Jerusalem Talmud. This was compiled by Rabbi Jochanan in five sedorim or divisions. This Talmud does not contain the whole of the Mishna. It was completed about the year 4060. The second Talmud is called Talmud Bably, or Babylonian Talmud, which was completed about two hundred years after the other Talmud. The Talmud Yerushalmi is the least esteemed of the two, and consequently less studied and quoted by the learned among Israel. It is the Babylonian Talmud which is usually studied and consulted in all points of jurisprudence, as connected with all religious affairs, both in, and out, of the synagogue. It is therefore to be understood, that whenever the Talmud is simply notified, it means the Babylonian Talmud; as the other Talmud is never quoted, unless particularly and expressly mentioned.

The Talmud Bably is arranged in the following order. The Mishna forms the text, and the Gemara is annexed as the comment or glossary. The same order is observed as with the Mishna, although it must be observed that the Gemara appears only on thirty-six sections, whereas the whole of the Mishna contains sixty-three sections, as explained in the foregoing chapter. The order of the Talmud is as follows:

No. 1.--Seder Zeroeem contains 1 section.

No. 2.--Seder Moed contains 11 sections.

No. 3.--Seder Nosheem contains 7 sections.

No. 4.--Seder Nezekeen contains 8 sections.

No. 5.--Seder Kodosheem contains 8 sections.

No. 6.--Seder Taharous contains 1 section.

-- Total 36 sections.

CHAPTER XI.

APPENDIX.

Having given a brief description of the Mishna and the Talmud, and their contents, we now direct the attention of the reader to the following observations, as a summary to the preceding two chapters.

The Pentateuch, or Five Books of Moses, is generally understood by the term ”written law,” and the Talmud as the oral or traditional law. The oral law was handed down from Moses to Joshua, from the elders to the prophets, and from them to the Great Synod, which consisted of one hundred and twenty of the most learned men of the age, and in like manner from time to time, until the days of Rabbi Judah, already mentioned. This great man, seriously contemplating the state of his nation as regarded their religious affairs, and perceiving that those who were learned in the law were gradually diminis.h.i.+ng in number, feared that the knowledge of the oral law might ultimately be forgotten, and with it the essential portion of the law of Moses. In the true spirit of devotion and piety, this Rabbi collected all the doctrines and precepts which had been taught orally, down to that period, and with the a.s.sistance of his pious colleagues, committed them to writing, and arranged them in the order of the Mishna, as already described. After the Mishna had been written, and presented to the nation at large, it was received by them with a general and unanimous consent. It was universally approved, and was held by them as an authentic doc.u.ment, delivered to Moses by the Almighty, while on the mount, as an explanation of the written law. The prevailing opinion among the people then was, that the Mishna had been handed down by tradition, and they were confirmed in such opinion by the conviction that the same had been taught to them in their youth in the various schools and academies which were established for such purposes. It was then considered expedient by the learned in those days, that some further explanation should be given, in order to render the Mishna more intelligible to the general cla.s.s of readers.

With this view, some of the most eminent among the Jewish doctors, taught in the schools the oral law together with the signification thereof, and in this way they ill.u.s.trated all the most abstruse and difficult pa.s.sages by useful and instructive commentaries. These ill.u.s.trations and glossaries increased from time to time, which formed the Talmud, such as it is at present in the possession of the Israelites. It abounds with aphorisms and ethics, which were introduced by the Rabbins and Doctors who composed the Talmud, in the course of their discussions. It was in this manner, that they supported the opinions advanced by them on the various subjects upon which they treated. These subjects were frequently ill.u.s.trated by moral tales and allegories, such being the tutelar system prevalent among most of the oriental nations in those days.

In the said Talmud the Rabbins taught also the various arts and sciences, such as known in those times, although it may be conceded that they may not have reached to such perfection as in the present enlightened age; nevertheless the principle was known by the Israelites of old, and practically applied by them as far as necessity demanded. It is well known that astronomy, geometry, architecture, physics, natural philosophy, as well as many of the other sciences, were in high cultivation both before and after the Babylonian captivity.

The building of the tabernacle in the wilderness--the beautiful temple of Solomon,--the superb edifice erected by Herod the Great, may certainly be advanced as specimens of the science of architecture, in which must naturally be included that of geometry. It cannot be denied that the Jews were also famous in hydraulics, aqueducts, etc., military tactics and war implements, engineering, agriculture, etc.