Gemara Topics

• tannaim
• mishna
• language changes
• mishnah
• legal opinions
• tiberias
• caesarea
• questioner
• babylonia
• generalization
• talmud
• building blocks
• elaboration
• debates
• jerusalem
• hebrew
• dialogue
• principle
• authorities

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Gemara, Gemara

One version was compiled by scholars of Israel, primarily of the academies of Tiberias and Caesarea, which was published between about 350-400 CE. The other version by scholars of Babylonia, primarily of the academies of Sura, Pumbedita, and Mata Mehasia, which was published about 500 CE. By convention, a reference to the "Gemara" or "Talmud," without further qualification, refers to the Babylonian version.

The Gemara is mostly written in Aramaic, the Jerusalem Gemara in Western Aramaic and the Babylonian in Eastern Aramaic, but both contain portions in Hebrew. Sometimes the language changes in the middle of a story.

These debates and exchanges form the "building-blocks" of the gemara; the name for a passage of gemara is a sugya (; plural sugyot ). A sugya will typically comprise a detailed proof-based elaboration of the Mishna. Every aspect of the Mishnaic text is treated as a subject of close investigation. This analysis is aimed at an exhaustive understanding of the Mishna's full meaning.

The Gemara thus takes the form of a dialectical exchange. (By contrast, the Mishnah states concluded legal opinions - and often differences in opinion between the Tannaim. There is little dialogue.) The disputants here are termed the makshan (questioner, "one who raises a difficulty") and tartzan (answerer, "one who puts straight").

Do certain authorities differ or not? If they do, why do they differ? If a principle is presented as a generalization, the gemara clarifies how much is included; if an exception, how much is excluded.

Source: Wikipedia > Gemara