Language Studies

Aramaic Thoughts

Aramaic Literature - Part 2 - The Talmud

Of the two Talmuds, the Babylonian and the Jerusalem, the Babylonian has been more influential, in part because it is more complete than the Jerusalem. The Jerusalem Talmud lacks all of the fifth order and most of the sixth order of the Mishnah, while the Babylonian Talmud contains even those Mishnah tractates for which there is no Talmud commentary, as well as the Rashi and tosefot commentaries on those sections.

Due to its widespread influence the Babylonian Talmud has become the primary defining text of Judaism. The date of its finalization and its commitment to writing are uncertain. In one sense, it only becomes finalized with it publication in printed form in the 16th century. There were certainly hand-copied manuscripts of the Talmud before that time, and there is no doubt a high level of agreement among the manuscripts that served as the basis for the printed edition. However, this finalization of the text, and its acceptance by the various Jewish communities around the world was never a formal process. In this, it may be likened to the development of Roman Catholicism. Various doctrines were developed by Catholic theologians over the centuries, and these doctrines were widely accepted, and perhaps even assumed to be authoritative, but they did not officially become authoritative until they were acted upon by official council of the church. The difference being that in Judaism there was never the calling of a council, so the authority of the Talmud for Jewish faith and life has always been more de facto than de jure.

It should be noted that since the widespread acceptance of the Talmud as defining for Jewish faith, Judaism has become more the people of the Talmud than it has the people of the Bible. Many evangelical Christians seem to assume that Jews are very knowledgeable regarding the Old Testament, perhaps being embarrassed by their own ignorance of that part of the Bible. However, I have not found that to be the case. It is difficult, of course, to generalize, but I think it safe to say that Jews as a whole are familiar with the Hebrew Bible (the Old Testament) primarily through the Talmudic instruction and the regular synagogue readings. As with most Christians, there is little personal study or direct involvement with the Old Testament text itself.

Unlike Christianity, Judaism has never been a religion with a systematic theology. The Talmud, like the Mishnah before it, is essentially a codification of tradition. Perhaps the closest Christianity has come to this was in the great catena (chain) commentaries of the Middle Ages. The commentaries were put together by scholars as a way of collecting and summarizing the commentaries on the Bible from the preceding ages of the church. But unlike Christianity, Judaism had no Jesus to explain. It had no Triune view of God to explain. As a result, the theology of Judaism was never worked out in systematic fashion, but in terms of practice, codifying behaviors as distinctively Jewish. In that sense it may be said that Judaism is a theology of practice in a sense in which Christianity is not.

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