About the Jerusalem Talmud
The Jerusalem Talmud, also known as the Yerushalmi, or Talmud Yerushalmi, is a collection of discussions and debates about Jewish law which took place between 200-400 CE. These debates and elaborations focused on an analysis of the Jewish laws and traditions of the Mishnah. Rabbi Yehudah Hanasi wrote the Mishnah in about the year 200CE. He was also known as Rebbi. The Mishnah is an explanation of the Bible, however he wrote it in a short format. There is very little emphasis on analysis of the laws. The Jerusalem Talmud is also known as ‘Yerushalmi’, ‘Palestinian Talmud’, or ‘Talmud of the Land of Israel’
It is ironic that both the books of Talmud and Mishnah are known as the Oral Law. It had been considered taboo to put these debates into finalized books. This would over time lead to the law becoming outdated and irrelevant. Persecutions and exiles of the Jewish community of Israel threatened that the oral law would become forgotten. The Rabbis decided to write it down. It is known as the Jerusalem Talmud, but was primarily written in the Galilee region of Israel.
Using the Mishnah as its basis, the communities of Israel and Bavel (Babylon) each created their own Talmud. They recorded and memorialized the laws and underlying principals of their respective communities. The two Talmuds are similar yet different in style and content. The Talmud Bavli (Babylon) focuses and debates subjects more deeply and logically. The Jerusalem Talmud more often raises questions, provides answers, and concludes its discussion. The Jerusalem Talmud usually provides explanations to Mishnah which more closely fit to the words and cases of the Mishnah. The Bavli often reworks the Mishnah by adding or removing words or reexplains the Mishnah. This kept the Mishnah more closely aligned with the Babylonian received tradition.
The Babylonian community experienced relative peace and prosperity. The Yerushalmi community experienced persecutions, exiles, and poverty The trajectory of the two Talmuds took different paths. The leadership and structure of the Bavli provided resources to edit, review, and perfect the content of their Talmud. The strength of the Bavel community supported the great Talmudic academies of Sura and Pumpedisa. These academies produced Torah leaders and a home base for questions regarding Torah law and tradition. The diminishing Israel community suffered at the hands of the Roman Empire. They often existed in small pockets of Rabbis who did their best to preserves their law and way of life. Due to the inequity of the two communities, the Bavli and its global network prevailed over the weaker Israel community. It is for these reasons that the Bavli became the Talmud of choice for almost every student of Talmud until our day.
A challenge of studying the Jerusalem Talmud is the text itself. Sometimes there are varying traditions of the correct text. Often it almost seems that words are missing or need correction. The understanding of the text is compounded by the struggle to work with a correct version of the text. In recent times much work has been put into recreating the original text and making it more readable. We now have more accessibility for those who wish to study it. Translations and commentaries have provided more tools to help access the treasures of the Jerusalem Talmud. Great efforts have also been made to search the texts of the oldest commentaries. These texts provide evidence of the proper texts which still existed in their time. There also exist fragments and isolated texts which help us piece together original texts.
All existing editions of the Jerusalem Talmud are based on the one extant manuscript copy which is known as the Leiden Manuscript. It is being housed until today in the University of Leiden. Yechiel ben Yekusiel Anav of Rome wrote the Leiden Manuscript in the year 1289. The Leiden Manuscript and three other manuscripts were used to produce the first printed edition of the Jerusalem Talmud. It was printed in 1523 in Venice. Yechiel himself lamented that he did the best he could having made his copy from texts which were full of mistakes. The three other manuscripts have been lost since that time.
The reason for the lack of ancient Talmudic manuscripts is due to persecutions and book burnings. These burnings were carried out by the Vatican and others during those times. The most famous and tragic book burning took place in Paris on June 17, 1242. On that day 24 wagon loads of hand written manuscripts were burned, which amounted to about 10,000 hand written books.
In 1523 a Christian printer named Daniel Bomberg collaborated with a Jewish editor named Jacob ben Hayyim to produce the first printed copy of the Jerusalem Talmud.
The focus of both Talmuds are similar, however the Jerusalem puts more emphasis on the agricultural laws. These laws were much more relevant in Israel. Despite the above, the Bavli is longer than the Jerusalem Talmud. Some portions related to the sacrifices in the Temple have been lost in the Jerusalem Talmud, but we still have the Bavli on these subjects. Efforts are still going on today to find more copies or fragments of copies.
There are almost no commentaries on the Jerusalem Talmud from the Medieval era which makes it more complicated to study. However many books of Jewish law take into account the opinions mentioned in the Jerusalem Talmud. They are used to resolve questions of Jewish law, primarily where the Bavli doesn’t come to a complete conclusion.
It is of great interest to study the Jerusalem Talmud and compare and contrast if with the Bavli. This study deepens our understanding of Torah law. We see how it was understood and viewed by the communities of Bavel and the land of Israel.
In our time there is a greater interest in the Jerusalem Talmud. This has come about due to the amount of Jews who have revived the Jewish communities of Israel. This is also due to the proliferation of books and translations on the Jerusalem Talmud. It is my hope that the Jerusalem Talmud Index helps fill a void for those interested in research and study of this great Jewish treasure.