What is the Talmud? Summary & How to Read It!

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily match my own. - Dr. Bart D. Ehrman

The Talmud is one of the most central and complex texts in Jewish tradition, serving as a foundational pillar for religious study, legal reasoning, and cultural identity. Often misunderstood or overlooked outside of Jewish communities, the Talmud represents centuries of rabbinic debate, legal interpretation, and philosophical reflection. But what is the Talmud, and why has it held such enduring authority within Judaism?

In this article, I’ll investigate the origins and structure of the Talmud, its historical development, and its role as a commentary on Jewish oral law. I’ll also look at the differences between the two major versions of the Talmud and explain why one has become more influential over time.

Finally, I’ll touch on how the Talmud engages with topics like Jewish law, ethics, ritual purity, and even early Christian figures, including Jesus. Whether you're new to Jewish studies or simply curious about one of the most important works in religious history, this article will provide a clear and accessible introduction to the Talmud.

By the way, if you want to read the Talmud in English, you can purchase the entire 73 volumes here. However, you can also find an online version of the entire Talmud here.

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What Is the Talmud in Judaism?

Let’s begin by exploring the Jewish Talmud significance. The Hebrew word Talmud means “teaching” or “learning,” but what is the Talmud for Jews following their faith?  It is a compilation of ancient teachings which is sacred and thus authoritative within Judaism. Its teachings address questions of Jewish practice and theology, covering a vast scope.

Moreover, there are actually two Talmuds: the Jerusalem Talmud, probably compiled between the late 4th and early 5th centuries CE, and the Babylonian Talmud (also called the Bavli), probably compiled sometime between the 6th and 7th centuries CE. I’ll say more about these two Talmuds later, but for reasons I’ll go into, when most people refer to the Talmud today, they are referring to the Babylonian Talmud.

History of the Talmud: The Mishnah

In 70 CE, the Romans destroyed the temple in Jerusalem. In addition to the obvious tragedy of the razing of Jerusalem, the destruction of the temple forced Judaism into a major shift in focus and emphasis.

Up to that point, the temple had been the focal point for all Jewish religious activities. In the temple, offerings mandated by the Hebrew Bible were performed daily, on the Sabbath, and on special Jewish holy days. In short, the temple and its rituals maintained the connection between the Jewish people and their God. With its destruction, Jews had to find new ways of maintaining this link.

While Jews already had the written Torah (Jewish Law), a group of teachers and thinkers known as the rabbis began to pass down oral traditions, or what would become known as the Oral Torah. Sara Ronis writes that the Oral Torah was “an extensive body of biblical interpretation, theological reflection, and discussions of Jewish law and its applications (known as halakah).”

Between the 2nd and 3rd centuries CE, rabbis living in Israel compiled the oral teachings concerned with halakah into a collection called the Mishnah (Hebrew for “repetition” or “study”). One interesting thing about the Mishnah is how it is organized. Sara Ronis writes that the Mishnah addresses almost every imaginable facet of Jewish life and practice but in an unusual way. The editors offer the opinions of multiple rabbis, often disagreeing with one another, on each topic. Furthermore, there is no final conclusion given as to which is correct.

In their Introduction to the Talmud and Midrash, Hermann Strack and Günter Stemberger note that scholars are not entirely certain why no ultimate conclusions were offered for each topic:

While the answer remains unclear, Ronis notes that the Mishnah quickly became the basis of further discussions and interpretations related to halakhah in both Israel and Babylonia, both centers of Jewish learning in which editors would later compile these interpretations into their own Talmuds. In other words, the Talmud is an extensive commentary on the sayings in the Mishnah.

By the way, while the Mishnah was composed entirely in Hebrew, the Talmud was written mostly in Aramaic, the main language of most Jews in the ancient world. Specifically, the Babylonian Talmud was written in a mix of Hebrew and Jewish Babylonian Aramaic while the Jerusalem Talmud’s writings are in the Galilean Aramaic dialect.

So why did the Babylonian Talmud become more authoritative for Jewish communities than the older Jerusalem Talmud? In the introduction to their English translation of the Jerusalem Talmud, Jacob Neusner and Heinrich Guggenheimer write that the Babylonian Talmud is simply “better edited, more complete, better commented, easier to understand, and less prone to alternative readings.”

Topics Addressed in the Talmud

In his book Structure and Form in the Babylonian Talmud, Louis Jacobs notes that the Talmud is divided into several major sections: The Mishnah, consisting of legal opinions, the Gemara, a set of commentaries on the Mishnah, the Baraita, content about statements from outside the Mishnah, and the Minor Tractates, a set of short discourses written later than the rest of the Talmud.

In addition, the Mishnah contains six orders or categories of topics. They include Zeraim (Seeds), which primarily concerns laws about agricultural products and tithes, Moed (Festival), about the rituals of Jewish holidays, Nashim (Women) relating to family law, Nezikin (Damages) focusing on civil and criminal law, Kodashim (Holies) concerning descriptions of the sacrifices previously performed in the temple, and Tohorot (Purities), which deals with the distinction between ritual purity and impurity.

If you’re going to attempt the monumental task of reading the Talmud, it might be best to choose one of the above orders or categories and then see what statements and opinions the rabbis gave about practices under that category. The Talmud is not a book to read straight through like a novel or a book of essays. It’s more like a reference to consult when questions about religious practice arise.

Talmud vs. Torah

As I said earlier, after the destruction of the temple, the religious importance once given to offering temple sacrifices shifted to sacred texts. This began, of course, with the Torah, which was the earliest story and manual of Jewish practices. However, as time went on, the Babylonian Talmud (I’ll just call it the Talmud from now on) became a crucial text, especially for rabbinic education. In fact, it remains central for many Jewish communities today.

Since the Talmud addresses nearly every facet of Jewish life, is it as significant for religious Jews as the Torah or the rest of the Hebrew Bible? In other words, are the Torah and the Talmud equally sacred? In a word, no.

The reason for this is the source of both works. The Torah, the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, is believed to have been dictated to Moses directly by God. Since its source is divine, it is positioned as the most sacred book for religious Jews. The Talmud, on the other hand, is the result of years of expert interpretations and discussions based originally on the Torah. The general belief is that no one can accurately interpret the Torah without the help of the Talmud.

It's clear, though, that both texts are absolutely essential to the practice of Judaism.

Jesus in the Talmud

Some of the oral traditions collected in the Mishnah can be traced back to the 1st century CE after the destruction of the temple. This means that those original rabbis were well aware of Christians. As we’ll see, Jesus is mentioned in a few statements in the Talmud.

In the Jewish Annotated New Testament, Burton Visotzky points out some of these Talmudic references to Jesus and Christianity, noting that the composition of the earliest rabbinic texts occurred late in the 1st century in Galilee, Jesus’ home region. However, they don’t mention Jesus or Christians since, as Visotzky writes, “Christianity was seen as but a minor heresy posing no threat to rabbinic Judaism.”

However, one later Talmudic text calls Jesus “Jesus son of the Panther.” “Panther” was a common epithet for a Roman soldier. This text, in other words, was making fun of the idea of Jesus’ having no earthly father, instead claiming that a Roman soldier sired him. On the other hand, the rabbi in this text, Eliezer, accepts as valid a teaching of Jesus on whether money earned from sex work could be given to temple priests. This shows the ambivalence some early rabbis had toward Jesus.

Nevertheless, Visotzky says that after the Roman Empire became Christian in the 4th century, rabbinic attitudes toward Jesus and Christianity changed, becoming uniformly negative. There are thinly-veiled rejections of the idea of the virgin birth and the resurrection of Jesus, as well as the concept of the Trinity, all found in the Jerusalem Talmud. However, the majority of anti-Christian references between the 3rd and 6th centuries appear in the Babylonian Talmud (although there are very few references to Christianity).

These include stories about Jesus’ trial and crucifixion, claims that he was punished in hell after his death, and satirical references to the dishonesty of Christian judges. Unfortunately for historians, these references shed no light on the historical Jesus, although they do show the changing attitudes of the rabbis in reference to Jesus and Christianity.

Conclusion

The Talmud is a collection of ancient Jewish teachings addressing just about every aspect of Jewish life. It began with the Mishnah, a collection of oral traditions compiled by rabbis in Israel starting in the late 1st century CE. Later commentaries on the Mishnah, as well as other additions, were then added.

This first compilation is known as the Jerusalem Talmud. A later collection, known as the Babylonian Talmud, would eventually be considered more authoritative, and its influence continues in Jewish communities today.

Its importance was partly due to the destruction of the Jerusalem temple in 70 CE, a catastrophe which forced Jews to recenter their religion on texts rather than on temple sacrifices. However, the teachings initially found in the Mishnah don’t give easy answers to complex questions. Instead, they provide various competing opinions on many topics without telling readers which is ultimately correct.

Because the Mishnah collected Jewish wisdom going back to the 1st century CE, there are scattered references to Jesus and Christianity in the Talmud. While some early references mix negative and positive opinions on Jesus, those few references in the Babylonian Talmud are uniformly negative, reflecting conflicts between Christians and Jews in the 4th century and beyond.

What is the Talmud in the context of Jewish religious life? It addresses such topics as correct practices around agricultural products, family law, civil and criminal law, and ritual purity. The rulings presented in the Talmud on these topics and more have guided people of the Jewish faith for millennia and remain the bedrock of rabbinic education.