Talmud – The Jewish Oral Law and Commentary on the Torah

Origins and Purpose

Centuries of war, exile and foreign rule scattered the Jewish people and raised questions the written Torah did not directly answer. In response, generations of scribes and rabbis interpreted the Law and preserved their rulings orally. Compiled in the fifth century, the Talmud gathered these oral laws and traditions as a commentary on the Torah (Genesis to Deuteronomy) — never to replace Scripture, but to show how Scripture was to be lived.

The Talmud consists of two layers. The first is the Mishnah, a written codification of the oral law organized into six divisions around 200 AD. The second is the Gemara, a vast rabbinic commentary on the Mishnah that records the debates and rulings of the rabbis. It exists in two editions — the shorter Jerusalem Talmud and the more extensive Babylonian Talmud, which became the standard text of Jewish study.

Authority and Influence

Within Judaism the Talmud became the centre of religious life, second in authority only to the Hebrew Scriptures. Its teaching guided worship, ethics, diet, family life and civil law, and carried through centuries of dispersion it preserved Jewish identity and practice wherever communities settled — one of the most influential religious works ever compiled.

The Talmud is still followed today. Orthodox Judaism regards it as the authoritative source of Jewish law alongside the Torah, and students in Jewish religious schools for the study of Torah and Talmud devote years to studying its debates; many observant Jews live daily by rulings drawn from it on the Sabbath, kosher food, prayer, marriage and the festivals.