Editing Talmud (section)

==Structure==
The structure of the Talmud follows that of the Mishnah, divided into Six Orders (known as the ''Shisha Sedarim'', or ''Shas'') of general subject matter are divided into 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) [[#Printing|pages]]. Each ''perek'' will contain several ''mishnayot''.<ref>Jacobs, Louis, ''Structure and form in the Babylonian Talmud'', Cambridge University Press, 1991, p. 2</ref>

===Mishnah===
{{Main|Mishnah}}
The [[Mishnah]] is a compilation of legal opinions and debates. Statements in the Mishnah are typically terse, recording brief opinions of the rabbis debating a subject; or recording only an unattributed ruling, apparently representing a consensus view. The rabbis recorded in the Mishnah are known as the [[Tannaim]] (literally, "repeaters", or "teachers"). These tannaim—rabbis of the second century CE—"who produced the Mishnah and other tannaic works, must be distinguished from the rabbis of the third to fifth centuries, known as amoraim (literally, "speakers"), who produced the two Talmudim and other amoraic works".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Cohen |first1=Shaye J. D. |title=From the Maccabees to the Mishnah |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H5hLLIrh6n8C&q=206date=2006 |publisher=Westminster John Knox Press |location=Louisville |isbn=978-0-664-22743-2 |page=206 |edition=Second |website=wjkbooks.com |date=January 2006 |access-date=9 November 2020}}</ref>

Since it sequences its laws by subject matter instead of by biblical context, the Mishnah discusses individual subjects more thoroughly than the [[Midrash]], and it includes a much broader selection of halakhic subjects than the Midrash. The Mishnah's topical organization thus became the framework of the Talmud as a whole. But not every tractate in the Mishnah has a corresponding Gemara. Also, the order of the tractates in the Talmud differs in some cases from that in the ''Mishnah''.

{{mishnah|nocat}}

===Gemara===
{{Main|Gemara}}

The Gemara constitutes the commentary portion of the Talmud. The Mishnah, and its commentary (the Gemara), together constitute the Talmud. This commentary arises from a longstanding tradition of rabbis analyzing, debating, and discussing the Mishnah ever since it had been published. The rabbis who participated in the process that produced this commentarial tradition are known as the [[Amoraim]].<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=47o5AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA528|title=The Jewish Encyclopedia: A Descriptive Record of the History, Religion, Literature, and Customs of the Jewish People from the Earliest Times to the Present Day|last1=Singer|first1=Isidore|last2=Adler|first2=Cyrus|publisher=Funk and Wagnalls|year=1916|pages=527–528}}</ref> Each discussion is presented in a self-contained, edited passage known as a [[sugya]].<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Strack |first1=Hermann L. |title=Introduction to the Talmud and Midrash |last2=Stemberger |first2=Günter |last3=Bockmuehl |first3=Markus N. A. |last4=Strack |first4=Hermann L. |date=1996 |publisher=Fortress Press |isbn=978-0-8006-2524-5 |edition=2. Fortress Press ed., with amendations and updates |location=Minneapolis, Minn}}</ref>

Much of the Gemara is legal in nature. Each analysis begins with a Mishnaic legal statement. With each sugya, the statement may be analyzed and compared with other statements. This process can be framed as an exchange between two (often anonymous, possibly metaphorical) disputants, termed the ''{{lang|tmr-Latn|makshan}}'' (questioner) and ''{{lang|tmr-Latn|tartzan}}'' (answerer). Gemara also commonly tries to find the correct biblical basis for a given law in the Mishnah as well as the logical process that connects the biblical to the Mishnaic tradition. This process was known as ''talmud'', long before the "Talmud" itself became a text.<ref>e.g. [[Pirkei Avot]] 5.21: "five for the Torah, ten for Mishnah, thirteen for the commandments, fifteen for ''talmud''".</ref> 

In addition, the Gemara contains a wide range of narratives, homiletical or exegetical passages, sayings, and other non-legal content, termed [[aggadah]]. A story told in a sugya of the Babylonian Talmud may draw upon the Mishnah, the Jerusalem Talmud, midrash, and other sources.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Rubenstein |first=Jeffrey L. |title=Talmudic stories: narrative art, composition, and culture |date=1999 |publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press |isbn=978-0-8018-6146-8 |location=Baltimore, MD London}}</ref>

===Baraita===
{{Main|Baraita}}

The traditions that the Gemara comments on are not limited to what is found in the Mishnah, but the Baraita as well (a term that broadly designates [[Oral Torah]] traditions that did not end up in the Mishnah). The ''baraitot'' cited in the Gemara are often quotations from the [[Tosefta]] (a tannaitic compendium of halakha parallel to the Mishnah) and the [[Midrash halakha]] (specifically [[Midrash#Tannaitic|Mekhilta, Sifra and Sifre]]). Some [[Baraita|''baraitot'']], however, are known only through traditions cited in the Gemara, and are not part of any other collection.<ref>David Halivni, ''Midrash, Mishnah, and Gemara: The Jewish Predilection for Justified Law'' (Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press, 2009), 93–101. {{ISBN|9780674038158}}</ref>

===Minor tractates===
{{main|Minor tractate}}
In addition to the Six Orders, the Talmud contains a series of short treatises of a later date, usually printed at the end of Seder Nezikin. These are not divided into Mishnah and Gemara.