Mayzlish Saul Charney Leon - Battle of the two Talmuds: Judaisms struggle with power, glory, & guilt

To Rene Paley-Bain, for whose wonderful editing and stringent commitment to perfection we owe tremendous gratitude. Most likely, this book could not have seen the light of day without her contribution.

To Carole Stuart, my publisher, who has shown a great understanding of a potential of books that examine all aspects of Jewish history.

To Professor Natti Laor for his strong guidance, illumination, and dedication that contributed enormously to the efficacy of this book. He is a renowned psychiatrist, philosopher, and Talmudic scholar, and his keen observations have been extremely important and integral to the understanding of some of the complexities in the text.

To Dr. Charles Friedlander, a renowned physician with a tremendous knowledge of Jewish history, who has been inspirational to me in my writing books on Jewish subjects.

To my office staff, Bruce Block, Rob Essex, Nikki Istre-fovic and Marissa Dockery, who have been extraordinarily patient and understanding of my time commitment and have always encouraged my writing.

To Edna Lavie for her help in excellently translating the Hebrew manuscripts.

To the Bar-Ilan University Library staff for their erudition and guidance.

To the librarians of the Rambam Library in Beyt Ariela, Tel Aviv.

To the following researchers who were enormously helpful: Rabbi Dr. Yitzchak Alfasi, the Hasidut researcher; Akiva Zimmerman, researcher of the prayer and cantorial (haza-nui) field; and Rabbi Avraham Hacohen Bias, researcher of the treasure of the Jerusalem Talmud, for their valuable assistance.

T O BEGIN, WE NEED TO ASK: What is the Talmud? While the question is simple, the answer is not. Philosophically, the Talmud is an unfinished symphony of discourse and commentaries on the body of laws that frame Jewish life. It reads like a discussion across generations conducted by rabbis who pose questions, advance arguments, and, naturally, disagree.

As you might imagine, such a transcription of cross-generational debates does not flow in an obviously logical pattern. Instead its more like free association. In addition, the editing is not systematic. And although it is spoken of as if it is a single document, there is not one Talmud, but two, each version developed in a distinct geographic location. Moreover, they are written in a mixture of Hebrew and the two dialects of Aramaic that were spoken in early Palestine, which we will call Israel, and in Babylonia, where they were compiled. All these factors are what make it difficult, if not daunting, for the uninitiated student.

The Talmud is not a fictional work, although it contains legends and stories. Nor is it simply a legal work, although it discusses laws and commandments and how they should be observed. It is not an orderly commentary, although it does attempt to interpret the oral and written discourse and traditions of previous generations. Its purpose is not to solve problems or to establish the law, but to record the wisdom of sages past who attempted to resolve questions, thereby facilitating study and setting the stage for future study. It is the religious centerpiece of Judaism, the place where the student can learn about the spiritual and intellectual essence of Judaism. Yet its pages reveal so much more: history, biography, biblical interpretation, philosophy, medicine, botany, astronomy, as well as folklore and superstition.

To understand how this monumental work evolved, lets look at the big picture first. The Bible is the most important document of Jewish literature. The first of its three sections, the Torah (the five books of Moses) is the core of Jewish law. And lawthe commandmentsis at the heart of Jewish practice. According to tradition, the Torah was revealed to Moses and the Jewish people at Mount Sinai. Yet, from the beginning, questions arose about how to put the law into practice.

The Torah is written in spare language, and Moses and the elders were immediately faced with the need to interpret it and to apply it to their lives. For example, the Fourth Commandment states: Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy (Exodus 20:8) and goes on to tell us only that no work should be done on that day. So how are we actually supposed to observe the Sabbath? What about feeding the animals? Irrigating the fields? Cooking? All these questions and hundreds more were discussed and expounded upon by generations of elders, scribes, sages, and students. These discussions, passed down orally from generation to generation, formed a body of knowledge that came to be known as the Oral Law. This process of interpreting and expounding is the engine that has powered, and continues to power, Judaism and the Jewish people. It is also the basis of this great work we call the Talmud. In time, the Oral Law, like the Torah on which it was based, began to be thought of as divine revelation.

The Biblethe Torah (the Written Law) and its two other parts, the Prophets and Writingswas completed in about 200 BCE. From that time until about 250 CE, sages referred to as tannaim (singular, tannd) or repeaters, studied, taught, and expanded this body of oral commentary and debate. Eventually it became clear that the Oral Law, though previously forbidden to be written down, could no longer remain confined to the memory of the tannaim. Geopolitical circumstances, as well as the passage of time, raised the possibility that details of the oral tradition would be forgotten. In addition, the lack of a rational method of resolving disputes, apart from coercion, and the need for a consistent code of law to govern both civic and religious life argued for a permanent document. And so Rabbi Judah Ha-Nasi, who understood the precarious position of Jewish learning in the second century CE, began the process of redacting the Oral Law, which culminated in the construction of the Mishnah. (The word mishnah with a lower case m also denotes a single paragraph of this collection.)

Because the Mishnah, too, was quite terse and sometimes cryptic, the subsequent five centuries saw the addition of more commentary and discourse to this body of law and discussion. Together with the Mishnah, these additions, the Gemara (plural, gemarot), which in Aramaic also means study, form the Talmud. Also included in the Talmud are baraitot (singular, baraita), external commentary and opinions, which had not been incorporated into the Mishnah.

That two Talmuds were compiled, one in Babylonia and the other in the Land of Israel, is a course of events we will be looking at in detail later. The rabbis responsible for the redaction of the Talmud, the successors to the tannaim, were called amoraim (singular, amora), or discussers. The sages known as savoraim (expositors) made the amendments and additions that gave the Talmud its final shape.

Lets simplify the picture by making a kind of diagram:

Written Law = The Torah

Oral Law = Orally transmitted commentary on the Torah whose purpose is to explain how to fulfill the Torahs commandments