Editing Talmud (section)

==The Two Talmuds==
In antiquity, the two major centres of Jewish scholarship were located in [[Talmudic Academies in Syria Palaestina|Galilee]] and [[Talmudic Academies in Babylonia|Babylonia]]. A Talmud was compiled in each of these regional centres. The earlier of the two compilations took place in Galilee, either in the late fourth or early fifth century, and it came to be known as the [[Jerusalem Talmud]] (or ''Talmud Yerushalmi''). Later on, and likely some time in the sixth century, the Babylonian Talmud was compiled (''Talmud Bavli''). This later Talmud is usually what is being referred to when the word "Talmud" is used without qualification.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hatch |first=Trevan G. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rpafDwAAQBAJ&dq=galilee+babylon+talmud+sixth+fifth+century&pg=PA7 |title=A stranger in Jerusalem: seeing Jesus as a Jew |date=2019 |publisher=Wipf & Stock |isbn=978-1-5326-4671-3 |location=Eugene, Oregon |pages=7}}</ref> Traditions of the Jerusalem Talmud and its sages had a significant influence on the milieu out of which the Babylonian Talmud arose.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Cohen |first=Barak S. |title=For Out of Babylonia Shall Come Torah and the Word of the Lord from Nehar Peqod: The Quest for Babylonian Tannaitic Traditions |date=2017 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-90-04-34702-1 |series= |location=}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Cohen |first=Barak Shlomo |date=2009 |title=In Quest of Babylonian Tannaitic Traditions: The Case of Tanna D'Bei Shmuel |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/ajs-review/article/abs/in-quest-of-babylonian-tannaitic-traditions-the-case-of-tanna-dbei-shmuel/84044099BD0D4958E1ADC044C3E9E725 |journal=AJS Review |language=en |volume=33 |issue=2 |pages=271–303 |doi=10.1017/S036400940999002X |issn=1475-4541|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

===Jerusalem Talmud===
{{Main|Jerusalem Talmud}}
[[File:Yerushalmi Talmud.jpg|thumb|A page of a medieval Jerusalem Talmud manuscript, from the [[Cairo Geniza]]]]
The Jerusalem Talmud (''Talmud Yerushalmi'') is known by several other names, including the Palestinian Talmud<ref>{{cite web |last1=Moscovitz |first1=Leib |date=January 12, 2021 |title=Palestinian Talmud/Yerushalmi |url=https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/display/document/obo-9780199840731/obo-9780199840731-0151.xml |access-date=December 19, 2022 |work=[[Oxford Bibliographies Online]] |doi=10.1093/OBO/9780199840731-0151 |isbn=978-0-19-984073-1}}</ref> (which is more accurate, as it was not compiled in Jerusalem), or the {{Lang|he|Talmuda de-Eretz Yisrael}} ("Talmud of the Land of Israel").<ref>{{Cite book |last=Schiffman |first=Lawrence |title=From Text to Tradition: A History of Second Temple and Rabbinic Judaism |date=1991 |publisher=Ktav Publishing House |isbn=978-0-88125-372-6 |location= |pages=227}}</ref> The Jerusalem Talmud was a written codification of oral tradition that had been circulating for centuries<ref name = "Britannica">{{Cite encyclopedia
|url = http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/439785/Palestinian-Talmud
|title = Palestinian Talmud
|year = 2010
|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica
|access-date = August 4, 2010
}}
</ref> and represents a compilation of scholastic teachings and analyses on the [[Mishnah]] (especially those concerning agricultural laws) found across regional centres of the [[Land of Israel]] now known as the [[Talmudic Academies in Syria Palaestina|Academies in Galilee]] (principally those of [[Tiberias]], [[Sepphoris]], and [[Caesarea Maritima|Caesarea]]). It is written largely in [[Jewish Palestinian Aramaic]], a [[Western Aramaic languages|Western Aramaic language]] that differs from [[Jewish Babylonian Aramaic|its Babylonian counterpart]].<ref name = "JSTOR">{{Cite journal
|title = Scholarly Dictionaries of Two Dialects of Jewish Aramaic
|year = 2005
|journal=  AJS Review
|jstor = 4131813
|last1 = Levine
|first1 = Baruch A.
|volume = 29
|issue = 1
|pages = 131–144
|doi = 10.1017/S0364009405000073
|s2cid = 163069011
}}</ref><ref name = "Project Gutenberg">{{Cite book
|url = https://www.gutenberg.org/files/37985/37985-h/37985-h.htm
|title = A Literary History of the Arabs
|author = Reynold Nicholson
|year = 2011
|publisher = Project Gutenberg, with Fritz Ohrenschall, Turgut Dincer, Sania Ali Mirza
|access-date =  May 20, 2021}}</ref> The compilation was likely made between the late fourth to the first half of the fifth century.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Amsler |first=Monika |title=The Babylonian Talmud and late antique book culture |date=2023 |publisher=Cambridge university press |isbn=978-1-009-29733-2 |location=Cambridge |pages=127}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hezser |first=Catherine |date=2018 |title=The Creation of the Talmud Yerushalmi and Apophthegmata Patrum as Monuments to the Rabbinic and Monastic Movements in Early Byzantine Times |url=https://www.academia.edu/26503937 |journal=Jewish Studies Quarterly |language=en |volume=25 |issue=4 |pages=368 |doi=10.1628/jsq-2018-0019 |issn=0944-5706}}</ref>

Despite its incomplete state, the Jerusalem Talmud remains an indispensable source of knowledge of the development of the Jewish Law in the Holy Land. It was also an important primary source for the study of the Babylonian Talmud by the [[Kairouan]] school of [[Chananel ben Chushiel]] and [[Nissim ben Jacob]], with the result that opinions ultimately based on the Jerusalem Talmud found their way into both the [[Tosafot]] and the [[Mishneh Torah]] of [[Maimonides]]. Ethical maxims contained in the Jerusalem Talmud are scattered and interspersed in the legal discussions throughout the several treatises, many of which differ from those in the Babylonian Talmud.<ref>Mielziner, M. (Moses), Introduction to the Talmud (3rd edition), New York 1925, p. [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015013247625;view=1up;seq=7 xx]</ref>

===Babylonian Talmud<!--'Babylonian Talmud' redirects here-->===
[[File:Talmud set.JPG|thumb|right|A full set of the Babylonian Talmud]]

The Babylonian Talmud (''Talmud Bavli'') consists of documents compiled over the period of [[late antiquity]] (3rd to 6th centuries).<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title= Talmud and Midrash (Judaism) / The making of the Talmuds: 3rd–6th century |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]] |year= 2008 |url= http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/581644/Talmud-and-Midrash/34869/The-making-of-the-Talmuds-3rd-6th-century#ref=ref24372 |access-date= 28 October 2013}}</ref> During this time, the most important of the Jewish centres in [[Mesopotamia]], a region called "[[Babylonia]]" in Jewish sources (see [[Talmudic academies in Babylonia]]) and later known as [[Iraq]], were [[Nehardea]], Nisibis (modern [[Nusaybin]]), Mahoza ([[al-Mada'in]], just to the south of what is now [[Baghdad]]), [[Pumbedita]] (near present-day [[al Anbar Governorate]]), and the [[Sura Academy]], probably located about {{Cvt|60|km||abbr=}} south of Baghdad.<ref>{{cite book |author=[[Moshe Gil]] |title= Jews in Islamic Countries in the Middle Ages |year= 2004 |page= 507 |publisher= BRILL |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=8vTTCwG0nKIC&pg=PA507 |isbn= 9789004138827}}</ref>

The Babylonian Talmud comprises the culmination of centuries of analysis and dialectic surrounding the Mishnah in the Talmudic Academies in Babylonia. According to tradition, the foundations of this process of analysis were laid by [[Abba Arika]] (175–247), a disciple of [[Judah ha-Nasi]]. Tradition ascribes the compilation of the Babylonian Talmud in its present form to two Babylonian sages, [[Rav Ashi]] and [[Ravina II]].<ref name=":4">Nosson Dovid Rabinowich (ed), ''[[The Iggeres of Rav Sherira Gaon]]'', Jerusalem 1988, pp. 79, 116</ref> Rav Ashi was president of the Sura Academy from 375 to 427. In this time, he began the creation of the written Talmud, a written project passed onto and completed by Ravina, the final [[Amoraim|Amoraic]] expounder. Accordingly, the latest traditional date for the Talmud is often placed at 475, the year Ravina died. However, even on traditional views, a final redaction is still thought to have been made by the ''[[Savoraim]]'' ("reasoners", "considerers") in the sixth century.<ref>Nosson Dovid Rabinowich (ed), ''[[The Iggeres of Rav Sherira Gaon]]'', Jerusalem 1988, p. 116</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Eisenberg |first=Ronald L. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cK72EAAAQBAJ&pg=PT89 |title=What the Rabbis Said: 250 Topics From the Talmud |date=2010 |publisher=Praeger |isbn=978-0-313-38450-9 |location= |pages=43 |oclc=548555671}}</ref>

===Comparison===
Unlike the Western Aramaic dialect of the Jerusalem Talmud, the Babylonian Talmud has a Babylonian Aramaic dialect. The Jerusalem is also more fragmentary (and difficult to read) due to a less complete [[Redaction criticism|redactional process]].<ref name="AZexile">{{cite book |author=AM Gray |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/book/75475 |title=Talmud in Exile: The Influence of Yerushalmi Avodah Zarah |publisher=Brown Judaic Studies |year=2005 |isbn=978-1-93067-523-0}}</ref> Discussions in the Babylonian Talmud are more discursive, rambling, rely more on anecdote and argumentation by syllogism and [[Inductive reasoning|induction]], whereas those in the Jerusalem Talmud are more factual and apply argumentation through logical [[Deductive reasoning|deduction]]. The Babylonian Talmud is much longer, with about 2.5 million words in total. Proportionally, more Babylonian material is non-legal (''[[aggadah]]''), constituting a third of its material, compared to a sixth of the Jerusalem.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last1=Pasachoff |first1=Naomi E. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=z4eaj09hscAC&dq=influence+of+the+jerusalem+talmud+on+the+babylonian+talmud&pg=PA110 |title=A concise history of the Jewish people |last2=Littman |first2=Robert J. |date=2005 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=978-0-7425-4366-9 |location=Lanham, Md. |pages=110}}</ref> The Babylonian Talmud has received significantly more interest and coverage from commentators.<ref name=JVLTalJ>[[Encyclopaedia Judaica]]
{{citation |url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/talmud-jerusalem
   |publisher=[[Gale (publisher)|Gale]] |title=Bavli and Yerushalmi – Similarities and Differences}}</ref> 

[[Maimonides]] drew influence from both Babylonian and Jerusalem Talmuds, although he favored the latter over the former when principles between them conflicted.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OX25O1Zqj7gC&dq=maimonides+deference+to+the+babylonian+talmud&pg=RA1-PA77 |title=Windows onto Jewish Legal Culture: Fourteen Exploratory Essays |date=2024 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-415-50049-4 |editor-last=Ben-Menahem |editor-first=Hanina |edition= |location= |pages=77 |editor-last2=Edrei |editor-first2=Arye |editor-last3=Hecht |editor-first3=Neil S.}}</ref> As the Palestinian Jewish community declined in influence and the Babylonian community became the intellectual center of the Diaspora, the Babylonian Talmud became the more widely accepted and popular version.<ref name=":3" /> Whereas the Jerusalem Talmud only includes the opinions of Israelite rabbis (the ''Ma'arava''), the Babylonian Talmud also includes Babylonian authorities, in addition to later authorities because of its later date. As such, it is regarded as more comprehensive.<ref>{{citation |title=Judaism: The Oral Law -Talmud & Mishna |website=[[Jewish Virtual Library]] |url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/the-oral-law-talmud-and-mishna}}</ref><ref>{{citation |author=Joseph Telushkin |title=Literacy: The Most Important Things to Know About the Jewish Religion, Its People and Its History |date=26 April 1991 |publisher=HarperCollins |isbn=0-68808-506-7}}</ref>

Neither covers the entire Mishnah. For example, the Babylonian commentary only covers 37 of 63 Mishnaic tractates. In particular:
* The Jerusalem Talmud covers all the tractates of [[Zeraim]], while the Babylonian Talmud covers only tractate [[Berakhot (tractate)|Berachot]]. This might be because the agricultural concerns of Zeraim were not as notable in Babylonia.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Essential Talmud |last=Steinsaltz |first=Adin |author-link=Adin Steinsaltz |isbn=978-0-465-02063-8 |year=1976 |publisher=BasicBooks, A Division of HarperCollins Publishers}}{{page needed|date=November 2019}}</ref> As the Jerusalem Talmud was produced in the Land of Israel, it consequently has a greater interest in Israelite geography.
* Unlike the Babylonian Talmud, the Jerusalem Talmud does not cover the Mishnaic [[Kodashim]], which deals with sacrificial rites and laws pertaining to the [[Second Temple|Temple]]. A good explanation for this is not available, although there is some evidence that a now-lost commentary on this text once existed in the Jerusalem Talmud.
* In both Talmuds, only one tractate of [[Tohorot]] (ritual purity laws) is examined, that of the menstrual laws ([[Niddah]]).