The
Jerusalem Talmud or
Talmud Yerushalmi ( ), often the
Yerushalmi for short, is a collection of
Rabbinic notes about the
Jewish Oral tradition as
detailed in the 2nd-century
Mishnah. Other
descriptions are
Talmud de-Eretz Yisrael (Talmud of the
Land of Israel) or, in some scholarly literature,
Palestinian
Talmud: these names are considered more accurate by some
because, while the work was certainly composed in "the West" (i.e.
the Holy Land), it originates from Galilee rather than
Jerusalem.
The Jerusalem Talmud predates its counterpart, the
Babylonian Talmud, by about 200 years and
is written in both
Hebrew and
Aramaic. It includes the core
component, the
Mishna, finalized by
Rabbi Judah the Prince (c.
200
CE) along with the written discussions of generations of rabbis in
the Land of Israel (primarily in the
academies of Tiberias
and Caesarea
) which was
compiled c. 350-
400 CE
into a series of books that became the
Gemara
( – from
gamar:
Hebrew
"[to] complete";
Aramaic "[to]
study"). The Gemara, when combined with the Mishnah, completes the
Talmud.
There are
two recensions of the Gemara, one compiled by the scholars of the
Land of Israel and the other by those of Babylonia (primarily in
the academies of Sura
and Pumbedita
, completed c. 500 CE).
The
Babylonian Talmud is often
seen as more authoritative and is studied much more than the
Jerusalem Talmud. In general, the terms "Gemara" or "Talmud,"
without further qualification, refer to the Babylonian
recension.
Historical context
Following the redaction of the Mishnah, many Jewish scholars living
in
Roman-controlled
Syria Palæstina moved to
Persia to escape the harsh decrees against
Jews enacted by the emperor
Hadrian after
Bar Kokhba's revolt. The
remaining scholars who lived in the
Galilee
area decided to continue their teaching activity in the learning
centers that had existed since Mishnaic times.
Text editions
According to the
Jewish
Encyclopedia,
"Yerushalmi has not been preserved in its entirety;
large portions of it were entirely lost at an early date, while
other parts exist only in fragments.
The editio princeps (ed.
Bomberg, Venice, 1523 et seq.), on which all later
editions are based, terminates with the following remark: "Thus far
we have found what is contained in this Talmud; and we have
endeavored in vain to obtain the missing portions."
Of the four manuscripts used for this first edition
(comp. the note at the conclusion of Shab. xx.
17d and the passage just cited), only one is now in
existence; it is preserved in the library of the University of
Leyden (see below).
Of the six orders of the Mishnah, the fifth, Ḳodashim,
is missing entirely from the Palestinian Talmud, while the sixth,
Ṭohorot, contains only the first three chapters of the treatise
Niddah (iv.
48d-51b)."
Place and date of composition
The
Jerusalem Talmud probably originated in Tiberias in the
School of Johanan ben
Nappaha. It is a compilation of teachings of the
schools of Tiberias, Sepphoris and
Caesarea
. It
is written largely in a western
Aramaic dialect that differs from its
Babylonian counterpart.
This Talmud is a synopsis of the analysis of the Mishnah that was
developed over the course of nearly 200 years by the
Talmudic Academies in
the Land of Israel (principally those of Tiberias and
Caesarea). Because of their location, the sages of these Academies
devoted considerable attention to analysis of the agricultural laws
of the Land of Israel. Traditionally, the redaction of this Talmud
was thought to have been brought to an abrupt end around 425 C.E.,
when
Theodosius II suppressed the
Patriarchate and put an end to the practice of
formal scholarly ordination. It was thought
that the compilers of the Jerusalem Talmud lacked the time to
produce a work of the quality they had intended, and that this is
the reason why the gemara do not comment upon the whole
Mishnah.
In recent years scholars have come to doubt the causal link between
the abolition of the Patriarchate and the seeming incompletion of
the final redaction. However, as no evidence exists of
Amoraim activity in Palestine after the 370s, it is
still considered very likely that the final redaction of the
Palestinian Talmud took place in the late fourth or early fifth
Century.
Comparison to Babylonian Talmud
There are significant differences between the two Talmud
compilations. The language of the Jerusalem Talmud is a western
Aramaic dialect which differs from
that of the Babylonian. The Talmud
Yerushalmi is often fragmentary and difficult to read, even for
experienced Talmudists. The redaction of the Talmud Bavli, on the
other hand, is more careful and precise. The traditional
explanation for this difference was the idea that the redactors of
the Jerusalem Talmud had to finish their work abruptly (see above).
A more probable explanation is the fact that the Babylonian Talmud
was redacted for at least another 200 years, in which a broad
discursive framework was created. The law as laid down in the two
compilations is basically similar, except in emphasis and in minor
details. Some scholars, for example
David Weiss Halivni, describe the longer
discursive passages in the Babylonian Talmud as the "Stammaitic"
layer of redaction, and believe that it was added later than the
rest: if one were to remove the "Stammaitic" passages, the
remaining text would be quite similar in character to the Jerusalem
Talmud.
Neither the Jerusalem nor the Babylonian Talmud covers the entire
Mishnah: for example, a Babylonian Gemara exists only for 37 out of
the 63 tractates of the Mishnah. In particular:
- The Jerusalem Talmud covers all the tractates of Zeraim, while
the Babylonian Talmud covers only tractate Berachot. The reason
might be that most laws from the Orders Zeraim (agricultural laws
limited to the land of Israel) had little practical relevance in
Babylonia and were therefore not included. The Jerusalem Talmud has
a greater focus on the Land of Israel
and the Torah's agricultural laws pertaining
to the land because it was written in the Land of Israel where the
laws applied.
- The Jerusalem Talmud does not cover the Mishnaic order of
Kodashim, which deals with sacrificial
rites and laws pertaining to the Temple, while the Babylonian Talmud does cover
it. It is not clear why this is, as the laws were not directly
applicable in either country following the Temple's 70 CE destruction.
- In both Talmuds, only one tractate of Tohorot (ritual purity laws related to the Temple
and sacrificial system) is examined, since the other tractates deal
exclusively with Temple-related laws of ritual purity.
The Babylonian Talmud records the opinions of the rabbis of Israel
as well as of those of Babylonia, while the Jerusalem Talmud only
seldom cites the Babylonian rabbis. The Babylonian version contains
the opinions of more generations because of its later date of
completion. For both these reasons it is regarded as a more
comprehensive collection of the opinions available. On the other
hand, because of the centuries of redaction between the composition
of the Jerusalem and the Babylonian Talmud, the opinions of early
amoraim might be closer to their original form in the Jerusalem
Talmud.
Influence of the Jerusalem Talmud
The influence of the Babylonian Talmud has been far greater than
that of the
Yerushalmi. In the main, this is because the
influence and prestige of the Jewish community of Israel steadily
declined in contrast with the Babylonian community in the years
after the redaction of the Talmud and continuing until the
Gaonic era. Furthermore, the editing of the
Babylonian Talmud was superior to that of the Jerusalem version,
making it more accessible and readily usable.
Despite this, 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 resource in the study of the Babylonian Talmud by
the Kairouan
school of
Hananel ben Hushiel and
Nissim Gaon, with the result that
opinions ultimately based on the Jerusalem Talmud found their way
into both the Tosafot and the Mishneh Torah of Maimonides.
The Babylonian Talmud has traditionally been studied more widely
and has had greater influence on the
halakhic
tradition than the Jerusalem Talmud. A notable exception are
the Jewish
Romaniotes, who traditionally
follow and learn the Jerusalem Talmud.
With the modern Jewish
return to the land of
Israel, the Jerusalem Talmud has taken on greater relevance and
popularity with talmudic and rabbinical scholars. Modern scholars
of the 19th and 20th centuries turned to the Yerushalmi as an
invaluable source for the history of Judaism and the development of
rabbinical law in late antiquity.
There are traditions that hold that in the Messianic Age the
Jerusalem Talmud will have priority over the Babylonian. This may
be interpreted as meaning that, following the restoration of the
Sanhedrin and the line of
ordained scholars, the work will be completed and
"out of Zion shall go the Law, and the word of the Lord from
Jerusalem".
Translations into English
- Talmud of the Land of Israel: A Preliminary Translation and
Explanation Jacob Neusner,
Tzvee Zahavy, others. University of
Chicago Press. This translation uses a form-analytical presentation
which makes the logical units of discourse easier to identify and
follow.
- Schottenstein Edition of the Yerushalmi Talmud
Mesorah/Artscroll. This translation is the counterpart to
Mesorah/Artscroll's Schottenstein Edition of the Talmud (i.e.
Babylonian Talmud). (n.b. currently incomplete – only some volumes
available)
- The Jerusalem Talmud ed. Heinrich W. Guggenheimer, Walter de Gruyter (
Publisher's Website). This edition is only
available on Order Zeraim and part of Order Nashim. Contains a bare
translation with simple footnotes clarifying only the most
problematic points.
All these translations are problematic: Neusner's for its gross and
often amateurish inaccuracies, the Artscroll for its
traditionalism, harmonization attempts, and the fact that they have
not yet completed the entire Yerushalmi, and Guggenheimer's for its
incompleteness, rarity, and very thin critical apparatus.
Commentators on the Jerusalem Talmud
The first page of the Yerushalmi with
the commentary of Moshe Margolies, the
pnei moshe
to the Babylonian Talmud, the Jerusalem Talmud has not received as
much attention from commentators, and such traditional commentaries
as exist are mostly concerned with proving that its teachings are
identical to Bavli.
A modern edition and commentary, known as
Or Simchah, is currently being prepared in Beersheba
; another edition in preparation, including
paraphrases and explanatory notes in modern Hebrew, is Yedid
Nefesh. The Jerusalem Talmud has also received some
attention from
Adin Steinsaltz, who
plans a translation into modern Hebrew and accompanying explanation
similar to his work on the Babylonian Talmud. So far only Tractate
Peah has appeared.
See also
External links
Notes
- G. Stemberger, Einleitung in Talmud und Midrasch
(München 1992), p. 172–5.
- C.E. Hayes, Between the Babylonian and Palestinian Talmuds,
accounting for halakhic difference in selected sugyot from Tractate
Avodah Zarah (New York 1997), p. 20–1.
-
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,966474-2,00.html
- http://www.steinsaltz.org/dynamic/content.asp?id=4
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