The Talmud (“instruction, learning”) is a central text of Rabbinic Judaism. It is also traditionally referred to as Shas, a Hebrew abbreviation of shisha sedarim, the “six orders”. The Talmud has two components. The first part is the Mishnah, the written compendium of Judaism’s “Oral Torah.” The second part is the Gemara, an elucidation of the Mishnah and related Tannaitic writings that often ventures onto other subjects and expounds broadly on the Tanakh. The terms Talmud and Gemara are often used interchangeably, though strictly speaking that is not accurate. The whole Talmud consists of 63 tractates, and in standard print is over 6,200 pages long. It is written in Tannaitic Hebrew and Aramaic. The Talmud contains the teachings and opinions of thousands of rabbis on a variety of subjects, including Halakha (law), Jewish ethics, philosophy, customs, history, lore and many other topics. The structure of the Talmud follows that of the Mishnah, in which six orders (sedarim; singular: seder) of general subject matter are divided into 60 or 63 tractates (masekhtot; singular: masekhet) of more focused subject compilations, though not all tractates have Gemara. Each tractate is divided into chapters (perakim; singular: perek), 517 in total, that are both numbered according to the Hebrew alphabet and given names, usually using the first one or two words in the first mishnah. A perek may continue over several (up to tens of) pages. Each perek will contain several mishnayot with their accompanying exchanges that form the “building-blocks” of the Gemara; the name for a passage of gemara is a sugya (סוגיא; plural sugyot). A sugya, including baraita or tosefta, will typically comprise a detailed proof-based elaboration of a Mishnaic statement, whether halakhic or aggadic. A sugya may, and often does, range widely off the subject of the mishnah. In a given sugya, scriptural, Tannaic and Amoraic statements are cited to support the various opinions. In so doing, the Gemara will highlight semantic disagreements between Tannaim and Amoraim (often ascribing a view to an earlier authority as to how he may have answered a question), and compare the Mishnaic views with passages from the Baraita. Rarely are debates formally closed; in some instances, the final word determines the practical law, but in many instances the issue is left unresolved. Zera’im (Seeds):
- Berachot: laws of blessings and prayers
- Pe’ah: laws concerning the mitzvah of leaving the corner of one’s field for the poor as well as the rights of the poor in general
- Demai: laws concerning the various cases in which it is not certain whether the Priestly donations have been taken from the produce
- Kil’ayim: laws concerning the forbidden mixtrues in agriculture, clothing, and breeding of animals
- Shevi’it: laws concerning with the agricultural and fiscal regulations concerning the Sabbatical Year
- Terumot: laws concerning with the terumah donation given to the Priests
- Ma’aserot: laws concerning the tithe to be given to the Levites
- Ma’aser Sheni: laws concerning the tithes that is to be eaten in Jerusalem
- Challah: laws concerning the offering of dough to be given to the Priests
- Orlah: laws concerning the prohibition of the immediate use of a tree after it is planted
- Bikurim: laws concerning the first fruit gifts to the Priests and the Temple
Moed (Appointed Season):
- Shabbat: laws concerning the 39 prohibitions of work on Shabbat
- Eruvin: laws concerning the Eruv (Shabbat boundaries) concerning public and private domains
- Pesachim: laws concerning Pesach and the paschal sacrifice
- Shekalim: laws concerning the collection of the half-shekel and the expenses and expenditures of the Temple
- Yoma: laws concerning the mitzvot of Yom Kippur (primarily the ceremony of the Kohen Gadol)
- Sukkah: laws concerning the mitzvot of Sukkot as well as the sukkah and the four species
- Beitzah: laws concerning the mitzvot on Yomim Tovim (holidays)
- Rosh Hashannah: laws concerning the regulation of the calendar by the new moon and the services of the festival of Rosh Hashannah
- Taanit: laws concerning the special fast days in times of drought and other occurences
- Megillah: laws concerning the mitzvot of reading Megillah Esther on Purim as well as other passages from the Torah and Nevi’im
- Moed Katan: laws concerning the Chol HaMoed (intermediate festival days) of Pesach and Sukkot
- Chagigah: laws concerning the Three Pilgrimage Festival (Pesach, Shavuot, Sukkot) and the pilgrimage offerings that are to be brought to Jerusalem
Nashim (Women):
- Yevamot: laws concerning the duty of a man to marry his deceased brother’s childless widow, prohibited marriages, halizah, and the right of a minor to have her marriage annulled
- Ketubot: laws concerning the settlement made upon the bride, fines paid for seduction, mutual obligations of the husband and wife, and the rights of the widow and stepchild
- Nedarim: laws concerning the various forms of vows, invalid vows, renunciation of vows, and the power of annulling vows made by a wife or daughter
- Nazir: laws concerning a Nazirite’s vow, renunciation of a Nazirite vow, enumeration of what is forbidden to a Nazirite, and the Nazirite vows of women and slaves
- Sotah: laws concerning the rules and rituals imposed upon a woman suspected by her husband of adultery, religious formulas made in Hebrew or other languages, seven types of Pharisees, reforms of John Hyrcanus, and the civil war between Aristobulus and Hyrcanus
- Gittin: laws concerning various circumstances of delivering a get (bill of divorce)
- Kiddushin: laws of the rites connected to betrothal and marriage, the legal acquisition of slaves, chattels and real estate, and the principles of morality
Nezikin (Damage):
- Bava Kamma: laws concerning civil matters (damages and compensation)
- Bava Metzia: laws concerning civil matters (torts and property)
- Bava Batra: laws concerning civil matters (land ownership)
- Sanhedrin: laws concerning the rules of court proceedings in the Sanhedrin, the death penalty, and other criminal matters
- Makkot: laws concerning deals with collusive witnesses, cities of refuge, and the punishment of lashes
- Shevuot: laws concerning the oaths and their consequences
- Eduyot: case studies of legal disputes in Mishnaic times and the miscellaneous testimonies illustrating various sages and principles of halakhah
- Avodah Zarah: laws concerning interactions between Jews and idolators
- Avot: collection of the sages’ favorite ethical maxims
- Horayot: laws concerning the communal sin-offering brought for major errors by the Sanhedrin
Kodashim (Holy Things):
- Zevachim: laws concerning animal and bird sacrifices
- Menachot: laws concerning grain-based offerings
- Chullin: laws concerning slaughter and meat consumption
- Bechorot: laws concerning the sanctification and redemption of the firstborn animal and firstborn human
- Erachin: laws concerning dedicating a person’s value or a field to the Temple
- Temurah: laws concerning the substitution for an animal dedicated for a sacrifice
- Kereitot: laws concerning the penalty of karet and sacrifices associated with their unwitting transgression
- Me’ila: laws concerning restitution for the misappropriation of Temple property
- Tamid: laws concerning the Tamid sacrifice
- Middot: laws concerning the measurements of the second Temple
- Kinnim: laws concerning the complex laws of the mixing of bird offerings
Tohorot (Purities):
- Kelim: laws concerning various utensils and their purity
- Oholot: laws concerning the uncleanness of a corpse and objects around the corpse
- Negaim: laws concerning the laws of tzaraath
- Parah: laws concerning the Red Heifer
- Tohorot: laws concerning purity (especially contracting impurity and the impurity of food)
- Mikavot: laws concerning the mikvah
- Niddah: laws concerning the niddah (woman during her menstrual cycle or shortly after giving birth)
- Machshirin: laws concerning liquids that make food susceptible to ritual impurity
- Zavim: laws concerning a person who has seminal emissions
- Tevul Yom: laws concerning a special kind of impurity where a person immerses in a mikvah but remains unclean for the remainder of the day
- Yadayim: laws concerning impurity related to the hands
- Uktzin: laws concerning the impurity of the stalks of fruit