Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 19.djvu/26

* TALMAGE. 12 TALMUD. leges (1886) ; From the Pyramids to the Metrop- olis (1892); Fro7n Uanyer to Throne (1S04); The Earth Girdled (1895) ; and The Pathway of Life (1895). Dr. Talmage's sermons were writ- ten in a popular vein and were characterized by extravagant statements and fantastic figures of speech. For his life and work consult Adams (Chicago, 1902). TALMUD (Aram, talimtd, instruction; con- nected with Heb. lamad, to learn). The name given to the comprehensive compilation of laws and ceremonial regulations pertaining to Rab- binical Judaism together with the elaborate dis- cussion of those laws and regulations. As al- ready implied in this definition, the Talmud con- sists of two divisions, which in the compilation are kept distinct : ( 1 ) the laws and regulations which are technically comprised under the desig- nation Mishna (literally, teaching, then used concretely for 'the law,' as that which is taught or which is the outcome of teaching) ; (2) the discussion and elaboration of the laws, com- prised under the term Chemara, (literally, 'sup- plement,' 'completion,' and then also in the sense of 'tradition,' 'doctrine'). The language of the Mishna is Hebrew ; that of the Gemara Aramaic, which both in Palestine and Babylonia drove out Hebrew as the popular speech. Of these .two divisions, the compilation of the Mishna comes first in the order of time and also in importance. In its present form it consists of six main divisions known as Sedarlm, comprising 63 treatises or Massektoth. This comprehensive compilation, which is attributed to Rabbi Jehuda ha-Nasi (c.219 a.d. ) represents the close of an intellectual and religious process that may be said to date from the acceptance of the 'Priestly Code' through Ezra and Nehemiah in B.C. 444 as the supreme and sole standard of religious observances and secular regulations. The accep- tance of this code definitely established obedience to a law for which divine origin w'as claimed as the test for fidelity to Yahweh. The observer of the law was the only type of the faithful Jew possible under this conception of religious duty. Such a princi])le necessarily led to the study of the law as the highest vocation of the individual. The law could not be observed unless it was known and thoroughly luiderstood, and genera- tions of scholars arose who strove to determine the exact meaning of the enactments in the codes and to account for numerous existing practices not specifically recorded in them, by deduction from principles underlying the code itself. The attempts to deduce the established religious prac- tices and the constantly growing ceremonial de- tails from the law itself resulted naturally in the formation of smaller and larger collections, which may have served either as notes for the pupils or as guides for the teachers, and despite a certain opposition that always manifested itself against committing to writing the large body of oral tradition, which, according to the theory of Rab- binic theology, was revealed simultaneously with the written law at Sinai, it was inevitable, if the practices established by or based upon this oral tradition were to maintain their hold as in- gredient parts of Judaism, that they should be given a fixed form equally with tlie 'written' law. We have direct evidence for the existence of 'Mishnaic' compilations prior to the days of Rabbi Jehuda ha-Nasi, but the general acceptance which his compilation met naturally drove the earlier (and probably more incomplete) ones out of the field. Traces of these are to be found in the supplement to the Mishna, where enact- ments and observations are referred to which dif- fer from those found in the Jlishna ; they are designated as the Bdraytha (i.e. outside). An- other collection of this kind is known as the Tosci/htcl ('addition'), which, however, partakes of the character of the Gemara. Passing on to the supplement to the Mishna, its rise represents the natural continuation of the process which led to the Mishna. In the course of several centuries there was a large ac- cumulation of material that could only be pre- served by being committed to writing. The com- bination of the Mishna with the Gemara forms the Talmud proper, and for the Babylonian schools the first authoritative compilation of the discussions of the several generations was made by Rah A.shi. the head of the school at Sura, who flourished from 375 to 427 ; but additions were made by later authorities, such as Rab- Abina, and the final touches were given to it about the first half of the sixth century. In a certain sense, however, the Gemara was never finished, for of the 63 treatises of the Mishna, 26 have no Gemara. The Palestinian schools also compiled their discussions, and in this com- pilation the influence of Rabbi Jochanan ( 189- 279), head of the school at Tiberias, is para- mount, though the redaction of the Palestinian Talmud — the work of a series of authorities — did not take place until the fourth century, while additions continued to be made to it in the fifth century. Considerable portions of this Palestin- ian Talmud are lost. In fact, the Jlishna of only the first four Sedarim or divisions has been pre- served, and a portion of one treatise in the sixth division. In the second division the Gemara is not complete, four chapters of one treatise being wanting, and likewise in the fifth division the Gemara is lacking to the last chapter of one treatise and to two other treatises. That the Palestinian Talmud once existed in a more com- plete form is certain and it is more than likely that there was a Gemara. to most of the treatises of the entire six divisions. The loss of such a con- siderable portion is due in part to the almost constantly disturbed conditions that prevailed in Palestine, and in part to the subsequent neglect of the Palestinian Talmud, which never acquired the authority that came to be enjoyed by the Babylonian compilation. The Babylonian Gemara in fact drove its rival entirely out of the field, and as a consequence the Babylonian Talmud be- came the main factor in the history and develop- ment of Judaism. To characterize and convey an idea of the contents of the Mishna is a comparatively simple matter, but it is almost an impossible task to in- dicate the heterogeneous character of the Gemara, more particularly of the Babylonian Talmud. The discussions on the Mishna led the Rabbis and their pupils far away from the subject, at times, indeed, a section coming to a close without a re- turn to the starting point. In the course of these digressions, anecdotes, bits of historical gossip, folk-lore, the popular science of the day, and mathematical calculations are intermixed with sober and playful exegesis of the Old Testament by the application of a series of hermeneutical principles evolved in the schools of Palestine and