This word signifies _complement_, _perfection_. The rabbins call
the Pentateuch the law, without any addition. Next to this they have the
Talmud, which is divided into two parts: the first is only an
application of the law to particular cases, with the decision of the
ancient rabbins, and is called _mishnah_, or “second law:” the other
part, which is a more extensive application of the same law, is a
collection of determinations by rabbins, later than the _mishnah_. This
last is termed _gemara_, “perfection,” “finishing,” because they
consider it as a conclusive explanation of the law, to which no farther
additions can be made. There are two _gemaras_, or two Talmuds, that of
Jerusalem, and that of Babylon. The former was compiled, according to
the Jews, about the end of the second or third century, by a celebrated
rabbin, called Jochanan; but father Morinus maintains that the _gemara_
was not finished till about the seventh century. Dr. Prideaux says that
it was completed about A. D. 300. The Jews have little value for this
Jerusalem Talmud, on account of its obscurity. The Babylonish _gemara_
is, as the rabbins say, more modern. It was begun by a Jewish doctor,
named Asa, and continued by Marmar and Mar, his sons or disciples. The
Jews believe that the _gemara_ contains nothing but the word of God,
preserved in the tradition of the elders, and transmitted, without
alteration, from Moses to rabbi Judah, the holy, and the other compilers
of the Talmud; who did not reduce it to writing till they were afraid it
would be corrupted by the several transmigrations and persecutions to
which their nation was subjected.
the Pentateuch the law, without any addition. Next to this they have the
Talmud, which is divided into two parts: the first is only an
application of the law to particular cases, with the decision of the
ancient rabbins, and is called _mishnah_, or “second law:” the other
part, which is a more extensive application of the same law, is a
collection of determinations by rabbins, later than the _mishnah_. This
last is termed _gemara_, “perfection,” “finishing,” because they
consider it as a conclusive explanation of the law, to which no farther
additions can be made. There are two _gemaras_, or two Talmuds, that of
Jerusalem, and that of Babylon. The former was compiled, according to
the Jews, about the end of the second or third century, by a celebrated
rabbin, called Jochanan; but father Morinus maintains that the _gemara_
was not finished till about the seventh century. Dr. Prideaux says that
it was completed about A. D. 300. The Jews have little value for this
Jerusalem Talmud, on account of its obscurity. The Babylonish _gemara_
is, as the rabbins say, more modern. It was begun by a Jewish doctor,
named Asa, and continued by Marmar and Mar, his sons or disciples. The
Jews believe that the _gemara_ contains nothing but the word of God,
preserved in the tradition of the elders, and transmitted, without
alteration, from Moses to rabbi Judah, the holy, and the other compilers
of the Talmud; who did not reduce it to writing till they were afraid it
would be corrupted by the several transmigrations and persecutions to
which their nation was subjected.