Babylonian Talmud

“ It is true that the intellectual tendency prevailing in the Babylonian Talmud, aided by climatic influences and other accidental circumstances, degenerated not infrequently into subtilty and scholasticism; for no historical phenomenon exists without an unfavorable side. But even this abuse contributed to bring about clear conceptions, and rendered possible the movement toward science. The Babylonian Amoraïm created that dialectic, close-reasoning, Jewish spirit, which in the darkest days preserved the dispersed nation from stagnation and stupidity. ”

“ The legal, religious and other decisions formulated in the pontifical communications of one generation usually became the venerated teaching of the next, and a new class of literature thus sprang into existence. (See Gaon.) Meanwhile, as the Babylonian schools decayed, Talmudic learning was assiduously pursued outside its oriental home, and some Babylonian Talmudists apparently reached the West. However, the fortunes of the Talmud in a hostile world now become part of the history of the Jews, and the many interesting vicissitudes cannot be recapitulated here. (See Jews, §§ 44 sqq.) ”

“ As there had been a very large and learned class of Jews in Babylon from the Captivity to the time of Christ, there was also a corresponding number of very important schools in several cities on the Euphrates and east of it. These also gathered a Talmud, with its Mishna and Gamara; but this—called the Babylonian Talmud—was of later origin than the Jerusalem Talmud. ”

“ The Talmud Yerushalmi embodies the discussions on the Mishnah (q.v.) of hundreds of doctors, living in Palestine, chiefly in Galilee, from the end of the 2d till about the middle of the 5th century, whilst the Babylonian Talmud embodies chiefly the discussions on the same Mishnah of hundreds of doctors living in various places in Babylonia, such as Nehardeʕa, [8] Ḳaphri, [9] Maḥuza, [10] Shekhanṣib, [11] but notably at the two great academies of Sura and Pumbaditha, from about 190 to nearly the end of the 6th century. ”

“ The first impulse to the compilation of the Talmud marks one of the most important epochs in Jewish history. From this time forward the Babylonian Talmud (Talmud Babli) became an active, potent, and influential element. Ashi, however, did not entirely complete this gigantic task; for, although he directed his ardor wholly to the work of compilation, the creative power was not so completely conquered either in him or his contemporaries, that they were content to entirely restrict their energies to the work of compilation. ”

“ We have evidence in the Gospels, of the length to which tradition had run even in our Lord’s day, and how He had, declared that the Pharisees ‘had made the Word of God of none effect’ through it. But after that time the Cabbalist and Masoric Rabbins, who were the successors of the Pharisees, laid greater stress than ever on the importance of tradition; and the completion of the Babylonian Talmud in the sixth century, was, as it were, the keystone of their work. We cannot wonder that men of sense and reverent feeling should be shocked at the wild fables and ridiculous fancies of the Talmudists. ”

“ Jochanan, the supposed compiler of the Jerusalem Talmud; and Ashi and Abina, the former probably the arranger of the Babylonian Talmud. This latter Talmud, the one invested with authority among Jews, by reason of its varying fortunes, is the most marvellous literary monument extant. Never has book been so hated and so persecuted, so misjudged and so despised, on the other hand, so prized and so honored, and, above all, so imperfectly understood, as this very Talmud. ”

“ We nevertheless will be grateful to any one who will call our attention to things which arc not comprehensible in the commentary, this being our first venture of the kind, more especially as we think we shall be compelled to do the same with other Mishnayoths to which the Babylonian Talmud has no Gemara. ”

“ Rashi takes the quotation from Baba meṣiʕ'a to signify the concrete Babylonian Talmud, which, however, is impossible. ↑ See T. B., Ḳiddushin, leaf 40b: "Is theory (ותלמור) greater or practice (ותלמור ) greater? . . . They all answered, Theory is greater because it leads to practice." Talmud, as will have been seen, is here given as synonymous with Limmud. ”

“ There are two distinct works to which the title Talmud is applied; the one is the Jerusalem Talmud (completed about the year 370 C. E.) , the other the Babylonian (completed a century later) . At first, as we have seen, the Rabbinical schools were founded on Jewish soil. But Palestine did not continue to offer a friendly welcome. Under the more tolerant rulers of Babylonia or Persia, Jewish learning found a refuge from the harshness experienced under those of the Holy Land. ”

“ I like to associate Hebrew ceremonies rather with the wonderful Talmudic days of the Babylonian rabbonim than with the savage primitiveness of the years of Exodus and Deuteronomy. There are some queer things about music in the Talmud; but they are sometimes extravagant as that story about the conch-shell blown at the birth of Buddha—“where of the sound rolled on unceasingly for four years!” The swarthy fishermen of our swampy lakes do blow conch-shells by way of marine signalling; and whenever I hear them I think of that monstrous conch-shell told of in the Nidānakathā. ”

“ They were transported, one to Egypt, another to Africa, a third to Cordova, and the fourth to Narbonne. Instead of assisting to raise the school of Sora, these four Talmudists unwittingly contributed to the downfall of the Gaonate.
The copies of the Talmud in Sora, which were now no longer used, were, later on, transferred to Spain. Babylonia, so long the center of Judaism, had to yield its supremacy in favor of a foreign place. The decay of one of the Babylonian schools, and the decline of interest that followed upon it, were utilized by the Karaites to make converts amongst the Rabbanites. ”

“ The Talmud discusses and formulates rules upon points which other religions leave to the individual; it inculcates both ceremonial and spiritual ideas, and often sets up most lofty ethical standards. The bonds, rigorous and strange as they often appear to others, were a sacrament enshrined in the imagination of the lowliest follower of the Talmud. Some of the keenest legalists (e.g. the Babylonian Rab) are famous for their ethical teaching, and for their share in popular exposition; one of the best ethical systems of medieval Judaism (by Baḥya ibn Pekuda) is founded upon the Talmud ”

“ By the designation (Talmud) are meant Mishnah, Tosefta and G'mara of Talmud Babli and, eventually, Talmud Y'rushalmi. By (Mishnah and Tosefta) or (Mishnah, Tosefta, and Y'rushalmi) is meant a Talmudic treatise in the collection of Mishnah &c., to which no discussions in either G'mara or respectively in the Babylonian are extant. ”

“ The Babylonian, or that due to the studies and discussions of the Jewish doctors in the various Hebrew colleges of Babylon (Sura, Pumbaditha, and so forth) : in this the Gemara is some ten times as large as the Mishnah. When we speak of the Talmud it is that of Babylon which is always meant. Its language is Eastern Aramaic. 2. The Palestinian Talmud, compiled and edited by the heads of the Hebrew schools in Palestine, Tiberius, Sepphoris, and so forth. Its language is Western Aramaic, and its final editor is said to be Rabbi Ashe, who died A.D. 427. ”

“ The latter were carried off by Napoleon I. to Paris in 1809, but in 1815 were returned to Vienna. ↑ Various writers assert that there exist many books containing Latin translations of various treatises of the Babylonian Talmud. Upon examination these books turn out to contain either a translation only of Mishnic treatises with or without excerpta from, and with or without scholia on, Gemara, or disputations which introduce small pieces of Gemara. ”

“ Unfortunately they died before accomplishing their task, and the Gemara had to undergo the chances of transmission from hand to hand until the appearance upon the scene of Rabana Jose, president of the last Saburaic College in Pumbeditha, who foresaw that his college was destined to be the last, owing to the growing persecution of the Jews from the days of "Firuz." He also feared that the Amoraic manuscripts would be lost in the coming dark days or materially altered, so be summoned all his contemporary associates and hastily closed up the Talmud, prohibiting any further additions. ”

“ It is also a well-known fact that Emperor Nicholas I. of Russia assigned 100,000 rubles for a translation of the Talmud; and that Dr. Pinner, who translated tract Berachoth into German, a work considered of little merit by all scholars, nevertheless received 10,000 rubles from him. A German translation of the Talmud is now being published through the effort of Gentiles. I am proud to say that I am the first who has not sought the support of Gentiles, and that all that I have done was brought about by my coreligionists. ”

“ The Talmud by no means restricts this love of one's enemies to members of one's own people. As man is bidden to pray to God for sinners (Sohar to Genesis, fol. 67) , so God says to Moses: “Israelite or Gentile, man or woman, slave or free, all are alike for you” (Jalkut, c. 20b) . In accordance with this, and in agreement with Levit. xix, 9, the Talmud commands them not to prevent the Gentile poor from gleaning in the fields (Gittin, c. 5) , and repeatedly represents Abraham the Israelite as a model of tolerance. ”

“ We do not mean to ascribe any peculiar degree of folly to the rabbies. Persons calling themselves Christians have been just as foolish, have believed stories just as absurd, and have handed them down as religious truths. But then, we do not receive these legends as a part and parcel of our religion. We are as free to say of them, as of the Talmudic fables, that they are wicked falsehoods. But the modern Jews tell us that the Talmud is a divine book—that it contains their religion, and that without it Moses and the Prophets are unintelligible ”

“ The keener intellects received wealthy brides as a reward for their mental exertions. Rich parents took pride in having sons-in-law educated in Talmudic schools, and sought for them at the fairs. The Polish Jews, by reason of this fervent zeal, acquired a Talmudic deportment, so to speak, which showed itself in every movement and every utterance, by ungraceful shrugging of the shoulders and a peculiar movement of the thumbs. Every conversation, whether of a perfectly indifferent nature or even upon matters of business, resembled a disputation upon the Talmud. ”

“ At the same time, it is the arena for the debating and investigating of subjects growing out of the Mishna, or suggested by a literature developed along with the Talmudic literature. These discussions, debates, and investigations are the opinions and arguments of the different schools, holding opposite views, developed with rare acumen and scholastic subtlety, and finally harmonized in the solution reached. The one firm and impregnable rock supporting the gigantic structure of the Talmud is the word of the Bible, held sacred and inviolable. ”

“ It is dreadful to contemplate that some venerable rabbi, presiding over a yeshibah, in his anxiety to discover and communicate to others some new interpretation, should offer a perverted explanation of the Talmud, though he himself and every one else be fully aware that the true meaning is different. Can it be God's will that we sharpen our minds by fallacies and sophistries, spending our time in vain and teaching the listeners to do likewise? ”

“ In Italy, where secular education was not held in such abhorrence as was the case in Northern Europe, in the seventeenth century two women wrote Italian poetry and made translations from Hebrew. These are Deborah Ascarelli and Sarah Copia Sullam. An attempt to rationalize Talmudic passages was made as early as the beginning of the sixteenth century. Jacob ibn Habib, who was among the exiles from Spain, settled in Constantinople, and collected the Haggadic passages of the Talmud, with the intention of publishing them with an apologetic commentary. ”

“ The relationship of Talmudism to the Old Testament has been likened to that of Christian theology to the Gospels; the comparison, whether fitting or not, may at least enable one to understand the varying attitudes of Jewish thinkers to their ancient sources. With closer contact to the un-oriental West and with the inevitable tendencies of modern western scholarship the Talmud has entered upon a new period, one which, though it may be said to date from the time of Moses Mendelssohn (see Jews, § 48) , has reached a more distinctive stage at the present day. ”

“ The form of the prayer in the matter of its age may be in dispute; but back in the ancient and modern Talmud is the authorization of the practice: “He who wishes that his vows and oaths shall have no value, stand up at the beginning of the year and say: ‘All vows which I shall make during the year shall be of no value.’” That answers our reader’s question. This article does not say that all Jews thus deliberately assassinate their pledged word. It does say that both the Talmud and the prayer book permit them to do so, and tell them how it may be accomplished. ”

“ Much more—have the Talmud and the Talmudists as much weight in Judaism, as the apostles in Christianity? The Gospel language is divine and infallible; the Talmudical (in what does not regard precept or dogma) is in no respect so. No Jew concedes inspiration to the Pharisees, as no Christian refuses it to the Gospels. Paul is the Moses of Christians. The Pharisees are the Fathers of the Jewish Church. Can the words of the one have the same weight, the same value, as those of the other? No one will say so. Besides, when the Jewish Church formulized its doctrines it was dominant. ”