(7) Kherithoth, excisions, of the sins subject to the penalty of excision and their expiation. Meila, trespass, concerning the sins of pro fanin sacred things. (9) Tamid, the daily sacrifice, a description of the Temple service connected with the daily morning and evening sacrifice. (10) Middoth, measurements, giv ing chiefly the measurements and description of the Temple courts, gates and halls. (11) Kin nim, birds' nests, an account of the sacrifices which consist of fowls, the offering of the poor. Order VI: (1) Khelim, as to how domestic vessels become unclean ritually. (2) Ohaloth, tents, as to how tents and houses become ritually unclean. (3) Negaim, of laws as to leprosy of men, garments and houses. (4) Parah, the heifer, treats of the red heifer and its ashes as a purifying agent. (5) Teharoth, purifica tion. (6) Mikvaoth, wells, how wells and reservoirs are fit to be used for ritual purifica tion. The remaining six treatises concern various kinds of ritual uncleanness.
The Mishna The men who are mentioned as authorities in the Mishna are among the most notable names in Jewish history for about five and a half centuries from the era of the scribes to the death of Rabbi (210). They include the scribes of Soferim, who suc ceeded Ezra, and continued for about two cen turies, the teachers who headed the Sanhedrin in pairs from the Maccabean struggle until the period of Hillel and Shamai, and finally the disciples of the two latter and their succes sors. These were called Tanaim teachers, whose opinions extend over fully two centuries, and whose disputations reveal marked intellectual keenness. Another class of rabbis received the name of Amoraim, speakers or expounders, whose labors were carried on in the schools of Tiberias, Sepphoris and Caesarea in Palestine, and in Nahardea, Sura and Pumbaditha in Babylonia. Their province was to explain the terse Mishna phrases, examine into their sources, reconcile apparent contradictions and apply the traditional principles to new cases. The Pales tinian Amoraim were titled rabbis, the Baby lonian rab or mar. They date from the death of Judah the Prince to the end of the 5th cen tury, which marks the compilation of the Baby lonian Talmud. They number several hundreds, while their predecessors, the Tanaim, amounted to about 120.
The The name Gemara, which means completion or doctrine, which has come to be used interchangeably with Talmud, is practically a commentary on the Mishna; although some of its elements may be older. It embraces the discussions and interpretations of the Amoraim, but contains in addition a vast bulk of matter often unconnected with the Mishna text and touching upon law, history, ethics and homiletics. The Palestinian Talmud, the .work of the schools and schoolmen of Pal estine, was more distinctly national, being com posed on Jewish soil, and was completed about 370, although a later date is claimed by some. The Babylonian Talmud was finished about a century later. If rabbis like Jochanan, Rab and Samuel were pioneers in the work, others gave the finishing touches, men like Rabba (270-330), Abayi (280-338) and Rava (299 352). while Ashi (352-427) and Rabina (d.
499) are associated with its actual compilation. The Palestinian Gemara in its present form ex tends only over 39 out of the 63 treaties of the Mishna, thus indicating a probable loss of many treatises. The deficiency may partly be due to persecutions which abruptly closed the schools in Palestine, and partly to the fact that the Palestinian Gemara hardly received the favor and attention which commentators have given to the Babylonian. It is stated that Ashi de voted 30 years to the task of compilation and then revised the entire work. His Gemara cov ers only 37 of the treatises of the Mishna.
The Two Gemaras The Ge maras differ in language, style and method. The Mishna is in new Hebrew, which was developed during the era of the second Temple. While the popular language was Aramaic, the ancient Hebrew was retained for the liturgy and legal forms. Contemporary languages had their in fluence on it, and the Aramaic, Greek and Latin were drawn upon and modified by the Hebrew idiom. In regard to the Palestinian Gemara, the language is the West Aramaic, which was current in Palestine in the age of the Amoraim. The language of the Babylonian is a blend of Hebrew, East Aramaic and Persian, with other dialects whose decipherment is often attended with much difficulty. Of the main elements of the Gemara, the halakhah or abstract law ele ment, and the hagadah or legend, the former is more fully represented in the Palestinian, while the latter is more at home in the Babylonian edi tion. In size the Palestinian is about one-third of the Babylonian, and only in modern times has J aroused the attention of Jewish scholars. The study of the Babylonian Talmud, however, flour ished in North Africa and thence passed to Spain, France, Germany and Poland and was ever a subject of interest and devotion. It gave rise to a vast library of rabbinical literature. Not the least curious incident connected with the spread of this study is that the four mes sengers sent by the schools of Babylonia in their days of decline to collect funds from their richer brethren in other lands were taken cap tive by the Spanish pirates and sold in different slave-markets. All were redeemed by their co religionists and they became the heads of the community at Cairo, Kairwan in Africa, Cor dova and possibly in Narbonne. Among names eminent in the diffusion of Talmudic learning from the East to the West after the era of Sherira Gaon, his son Hai Gaon and Samuel bar Hophni, were Gershom ben Judah of Metz, Isaac of Troyes, Jacob ben Yakar of Worms, Nathan ben Jechiel of Rome, Isaac ben Judah of Mayence and the famous Rashi, his sons-in law and disciples. After the expulsion of the Jews from England (1290) and France (1306), Poland became a favored home for them and a seat of Talmudic learning whose glory has not yet been extinguished, although in other lands such lore is less cultivated. Of recent years, however, a fresh impulse has been, given to Talmudic studies both in Europe and the United States.