Diary of A Tour in Greece, Turkey, Egypt, and The Holy Land/Volume 2/Appendix 2

THE TALMUD.

(See vol. i. p. 317.)

IT has been very generally believed among the Jews, that when God gave to Moses the written law, He gave him also another, not written; and that this was preserved by tradition among the doctors of the synagogue, until rabbi Judah, surnamed the Holy, collected these traditions together, and (150 B. C.) reduced them to writing. The collection thus formed received the name of Mishna, or Second Law. After a while, commentaries were written on the Mishna, and amongst these, that of rabbi 290

Johanas, composed about 230 A. D., and bearing the name of Gemara, or Completion, was the most celebrated. The Mishna and the Gemara together, form what is called the Jerusalem Talmud, or Doctrine; for, after the Jews had removed in great numbers to Babylon, the rabbis there composed new commentaries on the Mishna, and those, which were completed about 500 A. D., received the name of the Babylonian Talmud.

Fordington Vicarage,

April 20, 1841

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