Page 13 - Attractive Deception - The False Hope of the Hebrew Roots Movement

version, which, on account of its brevity and obscurity, is not much used; and the Babylonian
version, which has been held in the highest esteem by Jews of all times.

The Gemarah is followed by additions called Tosephoth(8). It was thus that Rabbi Chaia first styled
his opinions on the Mischnaioth. He and Rabbi Uschaia were the first to explain this book publicly
in the schools. Commentaries on the Mischnah which were made by the doctors outside the schools
were called Baraietoth(9), or extraneous opinions.

(8) From Tosepheth, or Tosiphta, meaning addition.

(9) From Baria, extraneous, or Baraietha, extraneous teaching.

These Commentaries were further supplemented by other decisions called Piske Tosephoth, short
theses and simple principles.

For nearly five hundred years after the Babylonian Talmud was completed, the study of literature
was greatly hampered partly due to public calamities and partly owing to dissensions among the
scholars. But in the eleventh century others wrote further additions to the Talmud. Chief among
these were the Tosephoth of Rabbi Ascher.

Besides these there appeared the Perusch of Rabbi Moische ben Maimon, called by the Jews
Rambam for short, by the Christians Maimonides...

Thus, the Mischna, Gemarah, Tosephoth, the marginal notes of Rabbi Ascher, the Piske Tosephoth
and the Perusch Hamischnaioth of Maimonides, all collected into one, constitute a vast work which
is called the Talmud.
[End Excerpt]

To recap, the Jewish people began to develop man-made interpretations of the true Law which
Yahweh had delivered to Moses at Mount Sinai. In the centuries after Moses these traditions and
precepts of men were passed along from one generation of Jewish people to the next. This Oral Law
became so expansive that lists and charts had to be drawn up in order that the rabbis should not
forget some part of the Oral Torah, yet it was not codified as a written body of instruction until Rabbi
Judah the Prince took up the task two centuries after Christ.

This original work by Rabbi Judah is known as the Mishna. The word Mishna is a Hebrew word
meaning “study and review.” The Mishna (Mischna, Mishnah) is the first section of the Talmud. It
is the first work of Rabbinic literature, being an early effort to take the Oral Torah, and put it in
writing in order to preserve the Rabbinical explanations and applications of the Hebrew Scriptures.

After Rabbi Judah preserved the Oral Torah in writing, the rabbis of ensuing centuries studied the
Mishna extensively. These rabbis produced a large amount of analysis and commentary on the
Mishna. Their recorded thoughts became known as the Gemara. The word Gemara (Gemora,
Gemarah) is derived from the Aramaic noun “gamar,” which translates as "study." The Gemara is
the second section of the Talmud.