Talmud

The Talmud is a foundational body of rabbinic literature that builds on the Mishnah through extended discussion and debate. It consists of two main parts: the Mishnah and the Gemara, which analyzes and expands the Mishnah’s teachings. The Talmud preserves legal reasoning, narrative material, ethical reflection, and interpretive methods used by rabbinic teachers over several centuries. Rather than presenting a single authoritative voice, it records multiple viewpoints, disagreements, and lines of reasoning. The Talmud functions as the primary source for rabbinic law and method, shaping how Jewish texts are studied, argued, and applied.