A Guide to the Layout of a Talmud Page [6] EIN MISH- [5] MESORET page tractate name chapter number chapter name PAT, NER HASHAS: MITZVAH: [4] [3] (Heb., ‘Trans- (Heb., ‘Well of TOSAFOT: The Tosafot (Heb., ‘additions’) RASHI: Rashi (an acronym for R’ mission of the Justice, Lamp are medieval commentaries on the text of the Shlomo Yitzchaki) was an eleventh cen- Six Orders’) An of Command- Talmud composed mainly in the twelfth and tury scholar active in France. Rashi index compiled ment’) Two in- thirteenth centu- compiled the first by R’ Yehoshua dices compiled [1] Boaz (16th c. by R’ Yehoshua ries. The Tosafot MISHNAH: The Mishnah (Heb., ‘repeti- complete commen- Italy), later Boaz in the six- tion’) is the primary record of the teaching, tary on the Talmud. are not the product expanded by teenth century. decisions, and disputes of a group of Jew- of a single author His commentary R’ Yesheyahu These provide ish religious and judicial scholars, known focuses on helping references to or school of com- Berlin (18th as Tannaim, who were active from about students understand c., Germany), major Jewish mentators, but are 30 bce to 200 ce, mostly in the areas now law codes that rather the work of the plain mean- Mesoret haShas known as Israel and Palestine. Originally ing of the text. Both provides cross report authorita- a variety of tal- tive rulings on transmitted orally, the Mishnah was redact- the Mishnah and references to mudic scholars topics covered ed into its current form and committed to Gemara are writ- similar pas- in the Mishnah living mainly in writing around the year 200 ce by R’ Yehu- ten in a brief, terse sages elsewhere and Gemara. dah haNasi. The language of the Mishnah is in the Talmud. France, Germany, style, without the External works and Spain. While Hebrew. The Mishnah is divided into sixty- referenced use of punctuation Rashi’s comments three ‘tractates,’ which are organized into in this way six ‘orders’ according to their subject matter. or vowel markings. include Ram- focus on the plain [2] Rashi’s comments [8] GLOSSES: bam’s (12th GEMARA: The Gemara (Aramaic, meaning of the ‘study,’) is an analysis of and expansion are therefore di- Most modern c., Spain and text, the tosafists printed Talmud Egypt) Mishneh upon the material presented in the Mishnah. rected toward help- editions include Torah (Heb., tend to concen- Taken together, the Mishnah and Gemara ing readers work short defini- Repition of trate on analysis make up the Talmud. The Gemara records their way through tions, com- the Law’), of difficult pas- the oral discussions of a group of scholars, the text and under- ments, emenda- the Shulkhan sages, exploring known as Amoraim, who were active from stand its basic form tions, and cross Arukh (Heb., ce references from ‘Set Table’) issues, contradic- about 200 to 500 , in the areas of pres- and content. Rashi ent day Iraq, Israel, and Palestine. These a variety of of R’ Yosef b. tions, and prob- also offers expla- scholars active Ephraim Caro lems raised by discussions often center around statements nations of unusual during the of the Tannaim and are structured by the 16th c., Israel), the text of the Ge- or rare vocabulary 17th through the Arba’ah anonymous voice of a redactor (or group of and concepts and 19th centuries. Turim (Heb., mara. Often the stam Among the redactors) known as the (Heb., ‘plain’ occasionally in- ‘Four Rows’) Tosafot approach or ‘unattributed’). There are two versions of most impor- of R’ Ya’akov a subject using the Gemara. The Yerushalmi (also known dicates preferred tant of these b. Asher (14th the logic and style readings in cases commentaries c. Spain), as the ‘Jerusalem’ or ‘Palestinian’ Talmud) of inquiry of the was compiled in what is now northern Is- where manuscripts are those of and the Sefer differ. Rashi’s com- R’ Eliyahu b. Mitzvot Gadol Gemara. Occa- rael around 400 ce. The Bavli or Babylonian mentary is always Shlomo (the (Heb., ‘Great sionally Tosefot Talmud was redacted about a hundred years ‘Gra,’ or ‘Gaon Book of Com- later in the Jewish communities of Meso- set in a semi-cur- of Vilna,’ 18th address an in- Boaz (16th c., Italy), this index provides citations for biblical references. Yehoshua is Light’) Compiled by R’ (Heb., ‘Torah mandments’ sive typeface called terpretation or potamia. Traditionally the redaction of the c., Lithuania), of R’ Moshe Bavli is attributed to R’ Ashi and his student ‘Rashi script,’ is po- the Hagahot b. Ya’akov of explaination of- Ravina. The Talmud Bavli is the more com- sitioned on the gut- haBah (Heb.: Coucy (13th c, fered by Rashi to monly studied of the two and is considered ter side of a printed ‘Commentaries France). OR: TORAH of the Bah’) examine it more [7] to be more authoritative when the two offer page of Talmud. of R’ Yoel thoroughly or to different legal rulings. The primary language Sirkes (17th [9] OTHER present an alter- of the Gemara in both versions is Aramaic, although quoted material c., Poland), the COMMEN- native approach in Hebrew is common (mostly from biblical texts or earlier tannaic comments of TARIES: to the subject. material), and words in Greek, Latin, or other languages occasionally R’ Yeshayahu Various other On a printed Tal- occur. In literary form, the Gemara is a complex combination of legal Berlin (18th commentaries debate, case law, legend, textual analysis, and philosophical inquiry. c., Germany), appear in the mud page, the and the Gilyon margins of a comments of the Its subject matter covers nearly every imaginable facet of ancient Jew- haShas (Heb.: ish life, ranging from religious, civil, and criminal law to biblical inter- printed page Tosefot are set ‘Marginalia on of Talmud. pretation to speculation about and investigation of the natural world. the Six Orders’) None of these in a semi-cur- of R’ Akiva minor works sive typeface known as ‘Rashi script,’ and they always appear immediately adjacent to the Eger (19th c., cover the en- Mishnah and Gemara in the large block of text positioned opposite Rashi’s commentary. Germany). tire Talmud, so different tractates include different commentaries in this area. Among these are the comments of Rabbenu Chananel (11th c., Tunisia), the Sefer haMafteah (Heb., ‘Book of the Key’) of R’ Nissin (11th c., Tunisia), Tosefot Yeshanim (Heb.: ‘Additions of the Ancients’) 13th c. France and Germany), the Mainz Commentary compiled by the students of Rabbenu Gershom b. Yehudah (11th c., Germany), the Tosefot Rid (Heb.: ‘Additions of the Rid) of R’ Yesheyahu diTrani (13th c., Italy), and the Shittah Mequbbetzet (Heb: ‘Gathered Interpretation’) of R’ Bezalel Ashkenazi (16th c., Egypt and Jerusalem). This work is licensed under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 3.0 United States License, Joshua Parker 2010. Available at: http://www.joshua-parker.net/portfolio/resourceguides/talmud_layout.pdf .