The body of the Jewish civil and canonical law not comprised in the Pentateuch.

Multivolume compendium of Jewish legal discussion and biblical exegesis, combining most of the Mishnah (for "repeated study") with the Gemara (literally, "completion"), the latter being a commentary upon the former. The Mishnah was compiled in the first years of the third century C.E. and includes the views of the Tannaim, the succession of rabbis from Hillel to Yehudah Hanasi (Judah the Prince), a stretch of some two centuries. The Gemara contains the views of the Amoraim (literally, the "bearers"). There are two Talmuds, the Yerushalmi (compiled in the land of Israel in the fourth and early fifth centuries C.E.) and the Bavli (compiled in Babylon in the fifth and early sixth centuries C.E.), although both contain much earlier material. Usually, the singular term Talmud refers to the Bavli, four times larger than the Yerushalmi and historically the more influential of the two.

the basic compendium of Jewish law, thought, and Biblical commentary; when unspecified refers to the Babylonian Talmud authored in Mesopotamia at the end of the fifth century C.E.

Hebrew, study] A voluminous, comprehensive collection of wide-ranging rabbinic discussions on Jewish law and belief. The Talmud is structured by the classifications of the Mishnah; each section begins with a passage from the Mishnah, followed by the Gemara [Aramaic for Talmud], a commentary consisting of rabbinic teachings, stories, and arguments that diverges freely to other subjects. There are two recensions of the Talmud, differing in material and length: the Babylonian Talmud, the larger and more important work, was compiled circa 500; the Jerusalem, or Palestinian, Talmud was compiled in the early fifth century. [Whenever one finds mention simply of "the Talmud," the Bablyonian text is usually being indicated.] This is the central text of rabbinic Judaism.