Imhoff/Judaism in Five, 3. What is the Talmud?

The Talmud is a body of discussions of the text of the Mishnah together with other traditional teachings, biblical interpretations, and legal discussions produced by the rabbis of Sasanian Babylonia. Compiled over hundreds of years, the Talmud reads as an extensive intergenerational discussion and debate over every aspect of late antique Jewish life. Though in the medieval period, the Talmud was the subject of antisemitic discourse. It remains the foundational rabbinic text for Jewish law and practice today. New translations and new media are spurring a wider engagement with the Talmud across a broader swath of the Jewish world.