WEEK ONE GLOSSARY – INTRODUCING THE TALMUD
MISHNAH – The Mishnah is a code
of law produced by the rabbis
around the year 200 CE. The
foundation for both Talmuds, it
divides the rabbinic period into
the tannaitic period (rabbis active
until the Mishnah’s oral
publication) and the amoraic
period (rabbis active after the
Mishnah’s oral publication).
(Video 1-3, 7-13, 15-22, 24)
MAKKOT – Tractate of Mishnah
and Talmud in the order of
Neziqin (literally “damages”). The
first chapter of Makkot is about
false testimony. (Video 1-3, 8, 12,
15, 17-19)
DAF YOMI – A program of study
begun in the early twentieth
century in which one studies a
double-sided page of the Talmud
every day. The celebration that
commemorates the completing of
the Talmud every 7.5 years is
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called the Siyyum Hashas. (Video
1)
TORAH – Hebrew word that
literally means teaching but refers
to the first five books of the
Hebrew Bible, also known as the
Pentateuch. (Video 1, 3-5, 9, 11,
13, 14, 16a, 18, 22-23)
TRACTATE – A topical unit of
Mishnah. Also a subsection of
Mishnah’s orders. (Video 1-2, 4,
7-9, 15, 17-18)
586 BCE – In 586 BCE the
Babylonians destroyed the first
Jerusalem Temple and exiled the
elite population of Jerusalem to
Babylonia, where they formed a
sizable and strong Jewish
community. (Video 2)
70 CE – In 70 CE the Romans
destroyed the second Jerusalem
Temple. This profound event
would have serious repercussions
Definitions © Barry Scott Wimpfheimer
for subsequent Judaism. (Video 1-
2)
RABBINIC JUDAISM/RABBINIC
MOVEMENT – Between 70 and 750
CE, a group of rabbis recreated
the ideology of Judaism around
texts and interpretation, putting
forth a way of being Jewish that
moved away from the cultic
centrality of temple and sacrifice.
Over time this would come to be
the definitive version of Judaism
until modernity. (Video 2, 4, 6-13,
15-25)
PENTATEUCH – See Torah (Video
2, 16a, 18)
PHARISEES – The Pharisees were
a second temple sect of Judaism
that engaged in textual study and
had specific understandings of
matters of theology and ritual.
Rabbinic texts sometimes assume
the Pharisees to be the
progenitors of the rabbis. (Video
2, 9, 22)
 WEEK ONE GLOSSARY – INTRODUCING THE TALMUD
ORAL LAW – Rabbinic theology
posits the existence of an oral law
alongside the written law of the
bible. Oral law includes both
interpretations of biblical
concepts and things that are
entirely foreign to the bible.
(Video 2, 7, 11)
TALMUD – Originally, a method of
study, Talmud developed into a
genre of literature that combines
legalistic thinking with creative
biblical interpretation in a
somewhat haphazard textual
collage. Though there are two
Talmuds (Palestinian and
Babylonian), this course generally
uses the term Talmud to refer to
the more comprehensive and
better studied Babylonian
Talmud.
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NEZIQIN – One of the six
organizational orders of the
Mishnah. Neziqin covers civil and
criminal law as well as tractates
with more abstract considerations
of questions of authority and
leadership. Makkot is a tractate in
this order. (Video 2, 8)
DISCIPLE CIRCLE – A somewhat
informal study arrangement in
which students gravitated to and
studied with a single charismatic
rabbi. This was the typical setting
for rabbinic learning throughout
most of the Rabbinic period.
(Video 2, 4)
VILNA SHAS – A specific print
edition of the Talmud produced
by the Widow and Brothers
Romm Press in Vilnius, Lithuania
between 1880 and 1886. Over the
course of the twentieth century
this edition became iconic and
definitive. (Video 3, 4)
SHAS – A term derived from an
acrostic for “six orders,” it could
refer to Mishnah, Tosefta or
either Talmud, but it has come to
specifically reference the
Babylonian Talmud. (Video 3)
GEMARA – An Aramaic synonym
for the Hebrew word Talmud.
When seventeenth century
censors prohibited the use of the
word “Talmud” in printed
editions, printers replaces the
Hebrew term with its Aramaic
equivalent. (Video 3)
RASHI (RABBI SHLOMO ITZCHAKI)
– Eleventh Century Alsatian
scholar who wrote definitive
commentaries on both Torah and
Talmud. Rashi’s commentary on
the Talmud is both comprehensive
and terse, an invaluable
combination within a handwritten
manuscript culture. (Video 3)
Definitions © Barry Scott Wimpfheimer
 WEEK ONE GLOSSARY – INTRODUCING THE TALMUD
TOSAFOT/TOSAFISTS – Twelfth-
Thirteenth century school of
French and German Talmud
commentary founded by Rashi’s
grandson Rabbi Jacob ben Meir
(Tam). Tosafist work is
characterized by the attempt to
make non-local passages of the
Talmud agree with one another.
(Video 3, 4)
MISHNEH – Torah Code of Jewish
Law written by Maimonides. This
code produces its own
organization of the law and
restates it in pure literary
Hebrew. (Video 3, 4)
MAIMONIDES/RAMBAM – Twelfth
Century native of Cordoba Spain
who moved to Egypt where he was
a doctor, philosopher, rabbinic
scholar and communal leader. He
authored both Guide to the
Perplexed and Mishneh Torah.
(Video 3, 4)
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SHULHAN ARUKH – Sixteenth
century code of Jewish law written
by Rabbi Yosef Karo. Shulhan
Arukh’s pluralistic inclusion of
multiple traditions and its
appearance at the dawn of print
helped make it the definitive code
of Jewish law in modernity. (Video
3, 4)
YOSEF KARO – Sixteenth century
scholar who was a child exilee
from Iberia to Safed in present
day Israel. A legal scholar and
mystic, Karo produced Shulhan
Arukh, the definitive modern
Jewish law code. (Video 3, 4)
ARBA’AH TURIM – Code of Jewish
Law written by Rabbi Jacob ben
Meir in the early fourteenth
century. The organizational
apparatus invented in this code is
adopted by Shulhan Arukh.
(Video 3)
RABBENU HANANEL – An eleventh
century rabbi who lived in
Qairouan (present day Tunisia).
Rabbenu Hananel produced one of
the earliest Talmud
commentaries. (Video 3, 4)
PALESTINE – Present day Israel
was known as Palestine in Roman
times. During the Rabbinic
period, the rabbis were
concentrated in Judea and the
Galilee. (Video 4, 9-10, 15, 16b-
22)
BABYLONIA/BABYLON – Present
day Iraq was known in antiquity
as Babylonia. The Babylonian
Jewish community began with the
exile of elite Judeans following the
destruction of the first temple in
586 BCE. (Video 4, 6, 11, 16a, 17,
19, 23, 25)
Definitions © Barry Scott Wimpfheimer
 WEEK ONE GLOSSARY – INTRODUCING THE TALMUD
YESHIVA/OT – During the last
quarter of the first millennium CE
there were two large institutional
academies called Yeshivot (plural
of Yeshiva) in Babylonia (present
day Baghdad). These played an
important role in disseminating
and institutionalizing Rabbinic
Judaism and the Talmud. (Video
4, 25)
DIASPORA – Greek term invented
to describe the unique condition
of Judeans who insisted upon
ethnic and cultural identity
outside of the homeland.
Sometimes used to refer to all
Jewish communities outside of
Israel. (Video 4)
GEONIM – The head of the
Babylonian Yeshiva was a Gaon
(plural Geonim). The last quarter
of the first millennium is
sometimes called the Geonic
period in Jewish historiography.
(Video 4, 25)
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RESPONSUM/A – A responsum (pl. SOLOMON IBN ADERET/RASHBA –
responsa) is a formal written Thirteenth century student of
answer to a religious question, Nahmanides who produced his
often about a matter of law. The own novellae to the Talmud and
Geonim and the Yeshivot an extensive set of responsa.
produced responsa as part of their (Video 4)
curriculum and this was one of the
ASHKENAZ – Though originally a
vehicles of communicating
biblical term, the term Ashkenaz
rabbinic Judaism to the diaspora.
came in the medieval period to
(Video 4)
refer to the specific culture of
RABBENU NISSIM – An eleventh Judaism found in Germany and
century rabbi who lived in Northern France. (Video 4)
Qairouan (present day Tunisia).
SEFARAD – Though originally a
Rabbenu Nissim produced one of
biblical term, the term Sefarad
the earliest Talmud commentaries
came in the medieval period to
and was a contemporary of
refer to the specific culture of
Rabbenu Hananel. (Video 4)
Judaism found in Southern Spain
NAHMANIDES/RAMBAN – and North Africa. (Video 4)
Thirteenth century legal scholar,
GUIDE TO THE PERPLEXED –
biblical exegete and kabbalist. His
Aristotleian work of philosophy
novellae to the Talmud combine
written by Maimonides. (Video 4)
the Tosafist ideal of a unified
Talmud with traditions inherited
from Provence and northern
Spain. (Video 4)
Definitions © Barry Scott Wimpfheimer
 WEEK ONE GLOSSARY – INTRODUCING THE TALMUD
GRA/RABBI ELIJAH OF
VILNA/VILNA GAON – Eighteenth
century Lithuanian rabbi who
developed a cult of personality
despite never having an official
communal leadership position.
Instrumental in the modern
revival of Talmud study and
Yeshivot. (Video 4)
WISSENSCHAFT DES JUDENTHUMS
– Literally “The Science of
Judaism,” this movement
consisted of scholars who analyzed
ancient Jewish texts along the
lines of nineteenth century
classicists. They comprise the
earliest formal field of university
Jewish Studies. (Video 4)
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MANUSCRIPT – The dominant
mode of Talmudic transmission
from 1000-1500 was a
handwritten codex (a bound paper
book designed for writing on both
sides of the page). (Video 3, 14,
19)
PRINT EDITION – A specific
printing of the Talmud. Famous
ones include the sixteenth century
Bomberg edition and the late
nineteenth century Romm edition.
(Video 3, 14, 19)
ORDER – An order is an
organizational tier of the Mishnah.
The Mishnah is divided into six
orders. (Video 2, 3, 15, 17)
SECTS – During the late second
temple period, some elite Judean
males participated in religious
sects that separated themselves
from Jewish society at large and
from one another. The sects
attended very carefully to narrow
distinctions of ritual practice and
belief. (Video 2, 9, 22)
REFORM – This nineteenth
century religious reform program
in Germany and the United States
sought to change Judaism so that
it was more in keeping with
mainstream Protestant values and
practices. Over time, Reform
would transform Judaism and
come to include a majority of Jews
in these countries. (Video 4, 25)
Definitions © Barry Scott Wimpfheimer