Editing Talmud (section)

==In Jewish scholarship==
From the time of its completion, the Talmud became integral to Jewish scholarship. A maxim in [[Pirkei Avot]] advocates its study from the age of 15.<ref>As Pirkei Avot is a tractate of the Mishnah, and reached its final form centuries before the compilation of either Talmud, this refers to ''[[#Gemara|talmud]]'' as an activity rather than to any written compilation.</ref>

Rabbi [[Adin Steinsaltz]] writes that "If the Bible is the cornerstone of Judaism, then the Talmud is the central pillar ... No other work has had a comparable influence on the theory and practice of Jewish life, shaping influence on the theory and practice of Jewish life" and states:<ref name="AdinSteinsaltz">Adin Steinsaltz, "Chapter 1: What is the Talmud?" in ''The Essential Talmud'' (2006). Basic Books: pp. 3-9.</ref>

{{quote|The Talmud is the repository of thousands of years of Jewish wisdom, and the oral law, which is as ancient and significant as the written law (the Torah) finds expression therein. It is a conglomerate of law, legend, and philosophy, a blend of unique logic and shrewd pragmatism, of history and science, anecdotes and humor... Although its main objective is to interpret and comment on a book of law, it is, simultaneously, a work of art that goes beyond legislation and its practical application. And although the Talmud is, to this day, the primary source of Jewish law, it cannot be cited as an authority for purposes of ruling...

Though based on the principles of tradition and the transmission of authority from generation to generation, it is unparalleled in its eagerness to question and reexamine convention and accepted views and to root out underlying causes. The talmudic method of discussion and demonstration tries to approximate mathematical precision, but without having recourse to mathematical or logical symbols.

...the Talmud is the embodiment of the great concept of ''mitzvat talmud Torah'' - the positive religious duty of studying Torah, of acquiring learning and wisdom, study which is its own end and reward.<ref name="AdinSteinsaltz" />|sign=|source=}}

The following subsections outline some of the major areas of Talmudic study.

===Legal interpretation===
One area of Talmudic scholarship developed out of the need to ascertain the [[Halakha]] (Jewish rabbinical law). Early commentators such as [[Isaac Alfasi]] (North Africa, 1013–1103) attempted to extract and determine the binding legal opinions from the vast corpus of the Talmud. Alfasi's work was highly influential, attracted several commentaries in its own right and later served as a basis for the creation of halakhic codes. Another influential medieval Halakhic work following the order of the Babylonian Talmud, and to some extent modelled on Alfasi, was "the ''Mordechai''", a compilation by [[Mordechai ben Hillel]] ({{circa}} 1250–1298). A third such work was that of [[Asher ben Yechiel]] (d. 1327). All these works and their commentaries are printed in the Vilna and many subsequent editions of the Talmud.

A 15th-century Spanish rabbi, [[Jacob ibn Habib]] (d. 1516), compiled the ''[[Ein Yaakov]]'', which extracts nearly all the [[Aggadah|Aggadic]] material from the Talmud. It was intended to familiarize the public with the ethical parts of the Talmud and to dispute many of the accusations surrounding its contents.

===Commentaries===
{{Main|Rabbinic literature}}
{{Further|Yeshiva#Talmud study}}
[[Geonim|Geonic]]-era (6th-11th centuries) commentaries have largely been lost, but are known to exist from partial quotations in later medieval and early modern texts. Because of this, it is known that now-lost commentaries on the Talmud were written by Paltoi Gaon, [[Sherira ben Hanina|Sherira]], [[Hai ben Sherira|Hai Gaon]], and Saadya (though in this case, Saadiya is not likely to be the true author).{{Sfn|Strack|Stemberger|2012|p=217}} Of these, the commentary of [[Paltoi ben Abaye]] (''c.'' 840) is the earliest. His son, [[Zemah ben Paltoi]] paraphrased and explained the passages which he quoted; and he composed, as an aid to the study of the Talmud, a lexicon which [[Abraham Zacuto]] consulted in the fifteenth century. [[Saadia Gaon]] is said to have composed commentaries on the Talmud, aside from his Arabic commentaries on the Mishnah.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=Talmud Commentaries |website=JewishEncyclopedia.com|url=http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/14214-talmud-commentaries|access-date=2020-06-18}}</ref>

The first surviving commentary on the entire Talmud is that of [[Chananel ben Chushiel]]. Many medieval authors also composed commentaries focusing on the content of specific tractates, including [[Nissim ben Jacob]] and [[Gershom ben Judah]].{{Sfn|Strack|Stemberger|2012|p=218–219}} The commentary of [[Rashi]], covering most of the Talmud, has become a classic. Sections in the commentary covering a few tractates (Pes, BB and Mak) were completed by his students, especially [[Judah ben Nathan]], and a sections dealing with specific tractates (Ned, Naz, Hor and MQ) of the commentary that appear in some print editions of Rashi's commentary today were not composed by him. In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, a genre of rabbinic literature emerged surrounding Rashi's commentary, with the purpose of supplementing it and addressing internal contradictions via the technique of ''pilpul''. This genre of commentary is known as the [[Tosafot]] and focuses on specific passages instead of a running continuous commentary across the entire Talmud.{{Sfn|Strack|Stemberger|2012|p=219–220}}

Many Talmudic passages are difficult to understand, sometimes owing to the use of Greek or Persian loanwords whose meaning had become obscure. A major area of Talmudic scholarship developed to explain these passages and words. Some early commentators such as Rabbenu [[Gershom ben Judah|Gershom of Mainz]] (10th century) and [[Chananel ben Chushiel|Rabbenu Ḥananel]] (early 11th century) produced running commentaries to various tractates. These commentaries could be read with the text of the Talmud and would help explain the meaning of the text. Another important work is the ''Sefer ha-Mafteaḥ'' (Book of the Key) by [[Nissim Ben Jacob|Nissim Gaon]], which contains a preface explaining the different forms of Talmudic argumentation and then explains abbreviated passages in the Talmud by cross-referring to parallel passages where the same thought is expressed in full. Commentaries (''ḥiddushim'') by [[Joseph ibn Migash]] on two tractates, Bava Batra and Shevuot, based on Ḥananel and Alfasi, also survive, as does a compilation by [[Zechariah Aghmati]] called ''Sefer ha-Ner''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://hebrewbooks.org/40633|title=HebrewBooks.org Sefer Detail: ספר הנר – ברכות – אגמתי, זכריה בן יהודה|website=hebrewbooks.org}}</ref>

The ''Tosafot'' are collected commentaries by various medieval Ashkenazic rabbis on the Talmud (known as ''[[Tosafists]]'' or ''Ba'alei Tosafot''). One of the main goals of the ''Tosafot'' is to explain and interpret contradictory statements in the Talmud. Unlike Rashi, the ''Tosafot'' is not a running commentary, but rather comments on selected matters. Often the explanations of ''Tosafot''  differ from those of Rashi.<ref name=":0" />

Among the founders of the Tosafist school were [[Rabbeinu Tam]], who was a grandson of Rashi, and, Rabbenu Tam's nephew, [[Isaac ben Samuel]]. The Tosafot commentaries were collected in different editions in the various schools. The benchmark collection of Tosafot for Northern France was that of [[Eliezer of Touques]]. The standard collection for Spain was [[Asher ben Jehiel|Rabbenu Asher]]'s ''Tosefot haRosh.'' The Tosafot that are printed in the standard Vilna edition of the Talmud are an edited version compiled from the various medieval collections, predominantly that of Touques.<ref>For a list see Ephraim Urbach, s.v. "Tosafot," in ''Encyclopedia of Religion''.</ref>

A recent project, ''Halacha Brura'', founded by [[Abraham Isaac Kook]], presents the Talmud and a summary of the halachic codes side by side, so as to enable the "collation" of Talmud with resultant Halacha.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.halachabrura.org/ |title=A labor of great magnitude stands before us, to repair the break between the Talmudic deliberations and the halachic decisions... to accustom students of the Gemara to correlate knowledge of all the halacha with its source and reason... |author=Rav Avraham Yitzchok Ha-Cohen Kook |date=February 17, 2008 |publisher=Halacha Brura and Birur Halacha Institute |access-date= 20 September 2010 }} It should not be confused with the halachic compendium of the same name by rabbi David Yosef.</ref>

===Pilpul===
During the 15th and 16th centuries, a new intensive form of Talmud study arose. Complicated logical arguments were used to explain minor points of contradiction within the Talmud. The term ''[[pilpul]]'' was applied to this type of study. Usage of ''pilpul'' in this sense (that of "sharp analysis") harks back to the Talmudic era and refers to the intellectual sharpness this method demanded.

Pilpul practitioners posited that the Talmud could contain no redundancy or contradiction whatsoever. New categories and distinctions (''hillukim'') were therefore created, resolving seeming contradictions within the Talmud by novel logical means.

In the [[Ashkenazi Jews|Ashkenazi]] world the founders of ''pilpul'' are generally considered to be [[Jacob Pollak]] (1460–1541) and [[Shalom Shachna]]. This kind of study reached its height in the 16th and 17th centuries when expertise in pilpulistic analysis was considered an art form and became a goal in and of itself within the yeshivot of Poland and Lithuania. But the popular new method of Talmud study was not without critics; already in the 15th century, the ethical tract ''Orhot Zaddikim'' ("Paths of the Righteous" in Hebrew) criticized pilpul for an overemphasis on intellectual acuity. Many 16th- and 17th-century rabbis were also critical of pilpul. Among them are [[Judah Loew ben Bezalel]] (the ''Maharal'' of Prague), [[Isaiah Horowitz]], and [[Yair Bacharach]].

By the 18th century, pilpul study waned. Other styles of learning such as that of the school of Elijah b. Solomon, the [[Vilna Gaon]], became popular. The term "pilpul" was increasingly applied derogatorily to novellae deemed casuistic and hairsplitting. Authors referred to their own commentaries as "al derekh ha-peshat" (by the simple method)<ref>''Al'' means on. ''Derekh'' mean path. PaShoot, the Hebrew root in ''ha-peshat'', means ''simple''. The prefix "ha-" means ''the''. {{cite web
   |url=https://www.biu.ac.il/JH/Parasha/eng/mishpat/kap.html
   |title=691 Kapah
   |quote=According to the plain sense (ve-al derekh ha-peshat)
   |access-date=2019-10-03
   |archive-date=2019-10-03
   |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191003071413/https://www.biu.ac.il/JH/Parasha/eng/mishpat/kap.html
   |url-status=dead
   }}</ref> to contrast them with pilpul.<ref>See ''Pilpul'', [[Mordechai Breuer]], in ''Encyclopaedia Judaica'', Vol. 16, 2nd Ed (2007), Macmillan Reference and H.H. Ben Sasson, ''A History of the Jewish People'', pp. 627, 717.</ref>

===Sephardic approaches===
Among [[Sephardi Jews|Sephardi]] and [[Italian Jews]] from the 15th century on, some authorities sought to apply the methods of [[Aristotelian logic]], as reformulated by [[Averroes]].<ref>''Kol Melechet Higgayon'', the Hebrew translation of Averroes' epitome of Aristotle's logical works, was widely studied in northern Italy, particularly [[Padua]].</ref> This method was first recorded, though without explicit reference to Aristotle, by [[Isaac Campanton]] (d. Spain, 1463) in his ''Darkhei ha-Talmud'' ("The Ways of the Talmud"),<ref>Boyarin, ''Sephardi Speculation'' (Hebrew) (Jerusalem 1989).</ref> and is also found in the works of [[Moses Chaim Luzzatto]].<ref>For a comprehensive treatment, see Ravitzky, below.</ref>

According to the present-day Sephardi scholar [[José Faur]], traditional Sephardic Talmud study could take place on any of three levels.<ref>Faur is here describing the tradition of Damascus, though the approach in other places may have been similar.</ref>
* The most basic level consists of literary analysis of the text without the help of commentaries, designed to bring out the ''tzurata di-shema'ta'', i.e. the logical and narrative structure of the passage.<ref>Examples of lessons using this approach may be found [http://www.moreshetsepharad.org/GEMARA.html here]{{dead link|date=December 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}.</ref>
* The intermediate level, ''iyyun'' (concentration), consists of study with the help of commentaries such as [[Rashi]] and the [[Tosafot]], similar to that practiced among the [[Ashkenazi Jews|Ashkenazim]].<ref>Cf. the distinction in the Ashkenazi yeshivah curriculum between ''beki'ut'' (basic familiarization) and'' 'iyyun'' (in-depth study).</ref> Historically Sephardim studied the ''Tosefot ha-Rosh'' and the commentaries of Nahmanides in preference to the printed Tosafot.<ref>[[David ben Judah Messer Leon]], ''Kevod Ḥakhamim'', cited by Zimmels, ''Ashkenazim and Sephardim'', pp. 151, 154.</ref> A method based on the study of Tosafot, and of Ashkenazi authorities such as ''[[Maharsha]]'' (Samuel Edels) and ''Maharshal'' ([[Solomon Luria]]), was introduced in late seventeenth century [[History of the Jews in Tunisia|Tunisia]] by rabbis Abraham Hakohen (d. 1715) and Tsemaḥ Tsarfati (d. 1717) and perpetuated by rabbi [[Isaac Lumbroso]]<ref>[[Chaim Joseph David Azulai]], ''Shem Gedolim'', cited Hirschberg, ''A History of the Jews in North Africa'', pp. 125–126.</ref> and is sometimes referred to as'' 'Iyyun Tunisa'i''.<ref>Joseph Ringel, "A Third Way: ''Iyyun Tunisai'' as a Traditional Critical Method of Talmud Study", ''Tradition'' 2013 46:3.</ref>
* The highest level, ''halachah'' (Jewish law), consists of collating the opinions set out in the Talmud with those of the halachic codes such as the [[Mishneh Torah]] and the [[Shulchan Aruch]], so as to study the Talmud as a source of law; the equivalent Ashkenazi approach is sometimes referred to as being "[[aliba dehilchasa]]".

===Brisker method===
In the late 19th century another trend in Talmud study arose. [[Chaim Soloveitchik|Hayyim Soloveitchik]] (1853–1918) of Brisk (Brest-Litovsk) developed and refined this style of study. [[Brisker method]] involves a [[reductionist]]ic analysis of rabbinic arguments within the Talmud or among the [[Rishonim]], explaining the differing opinions by placing them within a categorical structure. The Brisker method is highly analytical and is often criticized as being a modern-day version of [[pilpul]]. Nevertheless, the influence of the Brisker method is great. Most modern-day Yeshivot study the Talmud using the Brisker method in some form. One feature of this method is the use of [[Maimonides]]' ''[[Mishneh Torah]]'' as a guide to Talmudic interpretation, as distinct from its use as a source of practical ''halakha''.

Rival methods were those of the [[Mir yeshiva (Poland)|Mir]] and [[Telz yeshiva]]s.<ref>For a humorous description of the different methods, see Gavriel Bechhofer's [http://www.aishdas.org/rygb/derachim.htm An Analysis of Darchei HaLimud (Methodologies of Talmud Study) Centering on a Cup of Tea].</ref>
See {{slink|Chaim Rabinowitz#Telshe}} and {{slink| Yeshiva Ohel Torah-Baranovich#Style of learning}}.