<Ul> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> </Ul> <P> The Talmud (/ ˈtɑːlmʊd, - məd, ˈtæl - /; Hebrew: תַּלְמוּד ‬ talmūd "instruction, learning", from a root LMD "teach, study") is a central text of Rabbinic Judaism . The term "Talmud" normally refers to the collection of writings named specifically the Babylonian Talmud (Talmud Bavli), although there is also an earlier collection known as the Jerusalem Talmud (Talmud Yerushalmi) or Palestinian Talmud . When referring to the post-biblical periods during which the Talmud was being compiled, those of the Talmudic academies and the Babylonian exilarchate, Jewish sources used the term "Babylonia" long after its geopolitical obsolescence . </P> <P> It may also traditionally be called Shas (ש ״ ס ‬), a Hebrew abbreviation of shisha sedarim, or the "six orders" of the Mishnah . The Talmud has two components; the Mishnah (Hebrew: משנה, c. year 200 CE), a written compendium of Rabbinic Judaism's Oral Torah; and the Gemara (circa year 500), an elucidation of the Mishnah and related Tannaitic writings that often ventures onto other subjects and expounds broadly on the Hebrew Bible . "Talmud" translates literally as "instruction" in Hebrew, and the term may refer to either the Gemara alone, or the Mishnah and Gemara together . </P> <P> The entire Talmud consists of 63 tractates, and in standard print is over 6,200 pages long . It is written in Tannaitic Hebrew and Jewish Babylonian Aramaic and contains the teachings and opinions of thousands of rabbis (dating from before the Common Era through to the fifth century) on a variety of subjects, including Halakha (law), Jewish ethics, philosophy, customs, history, lore and many other topics . The Talmud is the basis for all codes of Jewish law, and is widely quoted in rabbinic literature . </P>

The talmud is a combination of the gemara and the