An early printing of the Talmud with commentary by Rashi

The Talmud (תלמוד) is considered an authoritative record of rabbinic discussions on Jewish law, Jewish ethics, customs, legends and stories. It consists of the Mishnah, a record of oral traditions, and the Gemara, which comments upon, interprets and applies these oral traditions. A section of the Mishnah is followed by the Gemara on that section. There are two distinct Gemaras: the Yerushalmi and the Bavli, and two corresponding Talmuds: Talmud Yerushalmi (Jerusalem Talmud) and the Talmud Bavli (Babylonian Talmud); The word "Talmud", when used without qualification, usually refers to the Babylonian Talmud. Neither Gemara is complete.

See also: Pirkei Avot, a section of the Mishnah.

Quotes

  • Whoever destroys a soul [of Israel], it is considered as if he destroyed an entire world. And whoever saves a life of Israel, it is considered as if he saved an entire world.
    • Mishnah Sanhedrin 4:5; Yerushalmi Talmud 4:9, Babylonian Talmud Sanhedrin 37a.
    • Variant: Whoever destroys a single life is considered by Scripture to have destroyed the whole world, and whoever saves a single life is considered by Scripture to have saved the whole world.
    • Quoted in Schindler's List as "He who saves the life of one man saves the entire world."
    • Parma Italy, mid-13th century codex; as cited in "The Origins of the Precept "Whoever Saves a Life Saves the World"", Philologos, Mosaic Magazine, Oct, 21 2016.
  • A man should endeavor to be as pliant as a reed, and never unyielding like the cedar.

Bava Metzia

  • Let every man divide his money into three parts, and invest a third in land, a third in business, and a third let him keep by him in reserve.
  • One may decline the request of a lesser person, but one may not decline the request of a great person.

other Bavas

  • A legal decision depends not on the teacher's age, but on the force of his argument.
  • If your friend calls you a donkey, prepare a saddle for your back.

Shabat

  • What is hateful to thee, do not unto thy fellow; this is the whole law. All the rest is a commentary to this law; go and learn it.
  • If one has eaten garlic and has acquired a bad odor, he must not eat more garlic because the bad odor is (about him) already.
  • Teach me the whole Torah while I stand on one foot.
  • Even if all the seas would be ink, and the reeds that grow near swamps would be quills, and the heavens would be parchment upon which the words would be written, and all the people would be scribes, all of these would be insufficient to write the unquantifiable extent of governmental responsibility -- that is, all the considerations with which a government must concern itself and deal.
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