TALMUD, the traditionary or un written laws of the Jews. It is called unwritten, to distinguish it from the textual or written law; and is, in fact, the interpretation which the rabbins affix to the law of Moses, which embodies their doctrine, polity, and ceremonies, and to which many of them adhere more than to the law itself. There are two Taltnuds, that of Jerusalem and that of Babylon; not to mention those of Onkelos and Jonathan, which are rather paraphrases than volumes of traditionary doctrines.— The Talmud of Jerusalem consists of two parts—the Gemara, and the Mishna. The Mishna signifies a doubling or reiteration ; the Gemara, a work brought to perfection or completed—from the Chalice gamar, to finish or complete. The Gemara and the Mishna, together, strictly speaking, form the Talmud; but the rabbins are wont to designate the Pentateuch of Moses the first part of the Talmud, and which is simply the law. The second part is the Mishna, which is a more extensive explication or amplifi cation of the law; and the third part the Gemara, as finishing and completing it. The 3lishna, is the work of Rabbi Judah II akkadosh, 120 years after the destruc tion of the temple of Jerusalem. It is written in a tolerably pure style, and its reasonings are much more solid than those of the Gemara, which the Jewish doctors, it is stated, have stuffed with dreams and chimeras, and many igno rant and impertinent questions and dis putations. The Gemara was written
about 100 years afterwards by Rabbi Jochanan, the rector of the school at Tiberias. These two works form the Je rusalem Talmud. But the Talmud of Jerusalem is less esteemed than the Talmud of Babylon formed by Rabbi Asa or Aser, who had an aeadamy for forty years at a place called Sara, near Baby lon, whence it was denominated the Babylouish Talmud. It is this Talmud which the Jews more frequently consult; and it is especially esteemed by those Jews who live beyond the Euphrates, from the circumstance that it was com piled at Babylon. Rabbi Asa was called to his fathers before this celebrated corm mentary on the Mhdina was completed; but it was finished by his disciples (some say his children) about 590 years after Christ. With the exception of the sacred authors, these Talmuds, after the Chaldee paraphrases, are the most ancient hooks of doctrine possessed by the Jews.