what written material is included in the talmud
the Mishnah the Gemara
title: Talmud text: called (), a Hebrew abbreviation of "", or the "six orders" of the Mishnah. The Talmud has two components; the Mishnah (Hebrew: משנה, year 200 CE), a written compendium of Rabbinic Judaism's Oral Torah; and the Gemara (circa year 500 CE), an elucidation of the Mishnah and related Tannaitic writings that often ventures onto other subjects and expounds broadly on the Hebrew Bible. The term "Talmud" may refer to either the Gemara alone, or the Mishnah and Gemara together. The entire Talmud consists of 63 tractates, and in standard print is over 6,200 pages long. It is written in Mishnaic title: Talmud text: 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", 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. Talmud translates as "instruction, learning", from a root " "teach, study". Originally, Jewish scholarship was oral. Rabbis expounded and debated the Torah (the written Torah expressed in the Hebrew Bible) and discussed the Tanakh without the benefit of written title: Talmud text: Talmud The Talmud (; Hebrew: "") is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law ("halakha") and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the centerpiece of Jewish cultural life and was foundational to "all Jewish thought and aspirations", serving also as "the guide for the daily life" of Jews. 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"). It may also traditionally be title: Talmud text: of Jewish religious teachings and commentary that was transmitted orally for centuries prior to its compilation by Jewish scholars in the Land of Israel. It is a compilation of teachings of the schools of Tiberias, Sepphoris and Caesarea. It is written largely in Jewish Palestinian Aramaic, a Western Aramaic language that differs from its Babylonian counterpart. This Talmud is a synopsis of the analysis of the Mishnah that was developed over the course of nearly 200 years by the Academies in Galilee (principally those of Tiberias and Caesarea.) Because of their location, the sages of these Academies devoted considerable attention title: Talmud text: its present form is not settled among modern scholars. Some, like Louis Jacobs, argue that the main body of the Gemara is not simple reportage of conversations, as it purports to be, but a highly elaborate structure contrived by the "Savoraim" (roughly 500–650 CE), who must therefore be regarded as the real authors. On this view the text did not reach its final form until around 700. Some modern scholars use the term "Stammaim" (from the Hebrew "Stam", meaning "closed", "vague" or "unattributed") for the authors of unattributed statements in the Gemara. (See eras within Jewish law.) There are significant