Subject: The Babylonian and Jerusalem Talmud
Date: Tue, 17 Mar 1998 22:38:50 +0000
To: "Hebraic Heritage Newsgroup"<heb_roots_chr@geocities.com>

From:          JUICE Administration <juice@virtual.co.il>
To:            geography@virtual.co.il
Subject:       The Talmud

Shalom all 

QUESTION:
 I do not understand what you mean: "It is divided into various 
Tractates." And what is the difference between the Jerusalem Talmud and 
the Babylonian Talmud?

A.
 There are two  separate compilations of the Oral Law, which is know as 
the  Talmud. The Jerusalem Talmud was authored in  Israel Most of the 
Jerusalem Talmud was compiled by Rabbi Johanan who lived in the third 
century. It was probably  completed in Tiberias around the middle of the 
4th Century and reflect the debates and discussions held in Eretz 
Israel.. Much of the Yerushalimi  or Jerusalem Talmud  is incomplete, 
maybe due to the political torment of the times. The languages and 
materials of the different Talmud's also differ, as well as its size, 
which is 1/3 of the Babylonian.

 The Babylonian Talmud was complied by Rav Ashi in the end of the fourth  
century but probably not completed until the end of the  fifth. It is 
also know as the Talmud Bavli and unlike the Jerusalem version, which is 
mostly legalistic, it includes many stories parables  and folklore which 
is know as Aggadah. 

 The Talmud itself consists of the Mishnah and the discussion around it, 
which is, called the Gemarah. There  are six orders  each of which has a 
different legal definition. For example Women ( Nashim) deals with 
Marriage and Divorce laws etc.  Damage ( Nezikin)  consists of  civil 
suits etc. Each of these orders is divided as well in to tractates.  It 
is these tractates that I uses as a source and which can be found by 
looking up the page. Each page has two sides (no ? really)  but only one 
number . So that if you see Brachot 23b, it means the flip side of page 
23. 

Q. 
 Also,  which is better - the Babylonian or the Jerusalem Talmud?

 A. 
It is not a matter of better,  yet for the most part the only Talmud  
widely  studied is the Babylonian.

 The best readable English version is probably Steinsaltz although if
I  remember correctly Art Scroll also put out a very fine edition 

Eli Birnbaum
 
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