Editing Talmud (section)

===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>