Jerusalem Talmud
The Jerusalem Talmud, also known as the Talmud of the Land of Israel or Palestinian Talmud, is a collection of rabbinic notes on the second-century Jewish oral tradition known as the Mishnah. Naming this version of the Talmud after Palestine or the Land of Israelrather than Jerusalemis considered more accurate, as the text originated mainly from Galilee in Byzantine Palaestina Secunda rather than from Jerusalem, where no Jews were allowed to live at the time.
The Jerusalem Talmud predates its counterpart, the Babylonian Talmud, by about a century. It was written primarily in Galilean Aramaic. It was compiled between the late fourth century to the first half of the fifth century. Both versions of the Talmud have two parts, the Mishnah, which was finalized by Judah ha-Nasi around the year 200 CE, and either the Babylonian or the Jerusalem Gemara. The Gemara is what differentiates the Jerusalem Talmud from its Babylonian counterpart. The Jerusalem Gemara contains the written discussions of generations of rabbis of the Talmudic academies in Syria Palaestina at Tiberias and Caesarea.
Name
This version of the Talmud is frequently named the Jerusalem Talmud or the Palestinian Talmud. The latter name, after the region of Palestine – or the Land of Israel – is considered more accurate, as the text originated mainly from Galilee in Byzantine Palaestina Secunda rather than from Jerusalem, where no Jews were allowed to live at the time. The use of the parallel terms dates to the period of the geonim, alongside other terms such as "Talmud of the Land of Israel", "Talmud of the West", and "Talmud of the Western Lands".Origins and historical context
The Jerusalem Talmud probably originated in Tiberias in the School of Johanan bar Nappaha as a compilation of teachings of the schools of Tiberias, Caesarea, and Sepphoris. It is written largely in Galilean Aramaic, a Western Aramaic dialect that differs from its Babylonian counterpart.This Talmud is a synopsis of the analysis of the Mishnah that was developed for nearly 200 years by the Talmudic academies in Syria Palaestina. Because of their location, the sages of these Academies devoted considerable attention to the analysis of the agricultural laws of the Land of Israel.
Manuscripts
The Leiden Jerusalem Talmud is today the only extant complete manuscript of the Jerusalem Talmud and available at Leiden University Libraries. It was copied in 1289 by Jehiel ben Jekuthiel Anav and shows elements of a later recension. The additions which are added in the biblical glosses of the Leiden manuscript do not appear in extant fragments of the same Talmudic tractates found in Yemen, additions which are now incorporated in every printed edition of the Jerusalem Talmud. These Yemenite fragments, a consequence of isolation the Yemenite community, are important as source material.The Leiden manuscript is important in that it preserves some earlier variants to textual readings, such as in Tractate Pesachim 10:3, which brings down the old Hebrew word for charoset, viz. dūkeh, instead of rūbeh/rabah, saying with a play on words: "The members of Isse's household would say in the name of Isse: Why is it called dūkeh? It is because she pounds with him." The Hebrew word for "pound" is dakh, which rules out the spelling of rabah, as found in the printed editions. Yemenite Jews still call it dūkeh.
Leiden University Libraries has digitised both volumes of the manuscript and made it available in its Digital Collections.
Among the Hebrew manuscripts held in the Vatican Library is a late 13th-century – early 14th-century copy of Tractate Sotah and the complete Zeraim for the Jerusalem Talmud : Berakhot, Peah, Demai, Kilayim, Sheviit, Terumot, Maaserot, Maaser Sheni, Ḥallah and Orlah. L. Ginzberg printed variant readings from this manuscript on pp. 347–372 at the end of his Fragments of the Yerushalmi. Saul Lieberman printed variants at the end of his essay, ʿAl ha-Yerushalmi, Jerusalem 1929. Both editors noted that this manuscript is full of gross errors but also retains some valuable readings.
Dating
Premodern estimates
Traditionally, the redaction of this Talmud was thought to have been brought to an abrupt end around 425, when Theodosius II suppressed the Nasi of the Sanhedrin and put an end to the practice of semikhah. The redaction of the Jerusalem Talmud was done to codify the laws of the Sanhedrin as the redaction of the Mishnah had similarly done during the time of Judah ha-Nasi. It was thought that the compilers of the Jerusalem Talmud worked to collect the rulings of the Sanhedrin and 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, or that certain sections were lost.Modern estimates
Current perspectives on the dating of the closure of the text of the Palestinian Talmud rely on an understanding of activity of rabbinic scholarship and literary production, identifying datable historical datapoints mentioned by the text, and its reliance on and citation by other datable texts. Broadly, the Palestinian Talmud is dated at some time from the second half of the fourth century to the first half of the fifth century.Christine Hayes has argued that a lack of evidence for Amoraim activity in Syria Palaestina after the 370s implies that the text was closed by around 370. However, reference to historical events from around or even slightly after 370 may push the earliest possible date to the late 4th century. For example, the Roman general Ursicinus, who had a public role between 351 and 359, is mentioned several times in a legendary context, suggesting that these references are somewhat later than his public career. Furthermore, there is also a reference to the Persian campaign of the Roman emperor Julian from 363. While less clear, there is also confidence that the Roman official "Proclus" named by the Palestinian Talmud corresponds to a Roman official also named Proclus, who became the governor of Palestine around 380 and eventually climbed to the position of praefectus urbi Constantinopolis which he held between 388 and 392. The final generation of rabbis whose opinions are found in the text belong to the second half of the fourth century. The time of the editing and compilation of these opinions would likely have occurred in the generation of their disciples, again leading to a date of the text during the late fourth or the early fifth century.
The dating of the Palestinian Talmud is definitively prior to that of the Babylonian Talmud, which relies heavily on it. The Babylonian Talmud was composed at some time between the mid-sixth century to the early-seventh century, but prior to the onset of the Arab conquests. This provides an upper absolute boundary as to when the Palestinian Talmud could have been compiled. To further push down the upper boundary, some lines of the Palestinian Talmud are also extant in the Tel Rehov inscription which dates to the 6th or 7th century.
Contents and pagination
In the initial Venice edition, the Jerusalem Talmud was published in four volumes, corresponding to separate sedarim of the Mishnah. Page numbers are by volume as follows:- Zeraim: Berakhot ; Pe'ah ; Demai ; Kilayim ; Sheviit ; Terumot ; Maasrot ; Maaser Sheni ; Hallah ; Orlah ; Bikkurim.
- Moed: Shabbat ; Eruvin ; Pesachim ; Yoma ; Shekalim ; Sukkah ; Rosh ha-Shanah ; Beẓah, Ta'anit ; Megillah ; Ḥagigah ; Mo'ed Ḳaṭan.
- Nashim: Yebamot ; Sotah ; Ketuvot ; Nedarim ; Gittin ; Nazir ; Kiddushin.
- Nezikin : Bava Kamma ; Bava Metziah ; Bava Batra ; Sanhedrin ; Makkot ; Shevuot ; Avodah Zarah ; Horayot ; Niddah.
In addition, each chapter of the Jerusalem Talmud is divided into "halachot"; each "halacha" is the commentary on a single short passage of Mishnah. Passages in the Jerusalem Talmud are generally references by a combination of chapter and halacha, by a page in the Venice edition, or both.
Missing sections
In addition to the sedarim of Tohorot and Kodashim, several tractates and parts of tractates are missing from the Jerusalem Talmud. The last four chapters of Shabbat, and the last chapter of Makkot, are missing. Niddah ends abruptly after the first lines of chapter 4. Tractates Avot and Eduyot are missing from both the Jerusalem and Babylonian Talmuds. Tractate Shekalim from the Jerusalem Talmud is printed in printings of both the Jerusalem and the Babylonian Talmud.According to the Jewish Encyclopedia,
Missing passages
Occasionally, the rishonim quote passages from the "Yerushalmi" which are not found in extant versions of the Jerusalem Talmud.Proposed explanations for this include the following:
- The current Jerusalem Talmud has been truncated from its original version by the scribes who copied it.
- For these rishonim, "Yerushalmi" was a collective term which included any work of midrash from the Land of Israel, and not necessarily a reference to the Jerusalem Talmud proper.
- A separate text, summarizing the Jerusalem Talmud, was composed at some stage and the rishonim quote this work rather than the Jerusalem Talmud proper.
Comparison to Babylonian Talmud
The Jerusalem Talmud is often fragmentary and difficult to read, even for experienced Talmudists. The redaction of the Babylonian Talmud, 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. A more probable explanation is the fact that the Babylonian Talmud was not redacted for at least another 200 years, in which a broad discursive framework was created. In a novel view, David Weiss Halivni describes 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.
The two compilations are similar in examining the Mishnah according to rabbinic tradition, but numerous differences exist in the details in their interpretations. Such differences are listed and examined in depth in the modern works Amrei Bemaarava and Darkhei Hatalmudim.
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 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 from the order of Tohorot is examined, since the other tractates deal exclusively with Temple-related laws of ritual purity.