the Torah Torah Shebiksav and Torah Sheb’al Peh

torah means 'a teaching'. The Torah is what God revealed to the
Jews. In the Torah God tells the Jews how to live. The Torah
has two sections

– the Torah Shebiksav (the Written Torah)

– the Torah Sheb’al Peh (the Oral Torah)

   
the Written Torah

the Torah Shebiksav (the Written Torah), consists of three parts:

• the Torah in the strict sense. The part that given directly to Moshe
Rabbeinu (Moses our Teacher) at Mount Sinai by God

it is made up of the Five Books of Moises (Pentateuch). Each book is called

a Chumash

• the Nevi'im (Prophets): the books which record what God said to his
prophets (nabi, pl. nebiim)

• the Kesuvim (Writings): eleven books written by prophets with

God's guidance but are not direct prophecies

they include poetic and epigrammatic works such as Psalms and Proverbs,
Job as well as a miscellany of other writings (Song of Songs, Ruth,
Lamentations, Kohelet, Esther, Daniel, Ezra-Nehemiah, Chronicles)
   
the Oral Torah

many things are not explained in the Torah Shebiksav. God gave
these further explanations to Moshe Rabbeinu on Mount Sinai
together with the Written Torah

– the explanations are called the Torah Sheb’al Peh, the Oral Torah

– the Oral Torah was passed down orally from generation to

generation

   
the Oral Torah the Mishna

circa 200 the Palestinian patriarch Rabbi Yehuda ha-Nasi

assembled a basic outline of the Torah Sheb’al Peh into a
series of books called the Mishna, Hebrew 'teaching'

   
the Oral Torah the gemara

the Mishna was primarily an outline and did not include the in-
depth analysis and explanation for every single rule. These
explanations to the Mishna are called gemara

   
the Oral Torah the Talmud

about three hundred years after the completion of the Mishna the
rabbis of Palestina and Babylonia in their yeshivas compiled
the gemara into a written work as a commentary on the
Mishna

– that completed work is called the Talmud

– the Talmud is therefore the complete collection of the Mishna and

the gemara

– the Palestinian and Babylonian yeshivas produced two different

Talmuds: the Palestinian and Babylonian Talmud

   
the Torah Torah Sheb’al Peh

the Talmud is made up of six sections. Each section is called a Seder

(Order) and contains several books called Mesechtos (Tracts). The six
Sedarim are:

– Zera’im (Seeds): deals with the laws of agriculture. It also deals with the laws of prayer
and blessings ( 11 mesechtos)

– Mo’ed (Season): deals with the laws of Shabbos and Yom Tov (holidays) (12 mesechtos)

– Nashim (Women): deals with the laws of marriage and divorce (7 mesechtos)

– Nezikin (Damages): deals with civil law, such as laws about damages and theft. It also
deals with ethics (10 mesechtos)

– Kedoshim (Holy Things): deals with sacrifices (11 mesechtos)

– Tohoros (Purities): deals with laws of ritual purity (12 mesechtos)