Talmud Final Vocabulary

Shuk

A public marketplace where anyone can go and do business.

Yibum (levirate marriage)

According to the law, the brother of a man who died without children has an obligation to marry the widow. However, if either of the parties refuses to go through with the marriage, both are required to go through a ceremony known as halizah, involving a symbolic act of renunciation of their right to perform this marriage.

Mavoi

An alley off of which branch several chatzerot.

Ona'at d'varim

Onaat Devarim is anything spoken that would pain, anger, hurt, frighten, bother or embarrass another person; verbal wronging

Chatzer

A chatzer is a courtyard, a private area occupied by one or a few homeowners. Relevance: One example of this was the sugya that discussed being able to build a marketplace in a chatzer and being able to build a school in a chatzer.

Sugya

A passage in the Gemara.

The oven of Achnai

In the story of the Oven of Akhnai, Rabbi Yehoshua affirmed the independence of man's interpretation from divine intervention since this is what God wills. In support he adduces the biblical statement that the Torah is 'not in heaven'. This is the story of the arguing rabbis, carob tree, moving river, inclined walls of the learning house, and God's own voice. Yet we also learn that the majority rules.

Gehenna

Jewish version of "hell." The place where one waits for forgiveness before they can go to heaven, if they are ever allowed to go.

Tamar and Judah

Story in Genesis that brings up ona'at devarim and ona'at mamon. Tamar risks herself for Judah and the story can be used as a relevance for other examples.

Talmud

The Mishnah and Gemara together as one text

Mishnah

The first attempt to write down the Oral Torah and a commentary on the Written Torah Five Books of Moses handed down by God to Moses. Relevance: Used as a source for arguments and discussions between Rabbis in the Talmud.

Order

The first subdivision of the Mishnah. There are six total orders in the Mishnah: Seder Zeraim (seeds); Seder Moed (festivals); Seder Nashim (women) Seder Nezikin (damages)Seder Kodashim (sacrifices)Seder Tohoroth (cleanness)

Ona'at mammon

Monetary wronging; (monetary) fraud. Deceiving others to for one's own monetary benefit (to gain money)

Offending converts

One should not offend a convert for if you offend one, they are more inclined to go back to their previous religion, therefore it is viewed as a major sin.

Chapter

Each tractate is made of numbered chapters.

Tractate

The subdivision of each orders. There are 63 total tractates in the Mishnah.

Kin'at Sofrim

Being jealous of someone's actions or achievements can lead us to improve our own. While we are used to hearing about jealousy among academics, the Talmud (Baba Batra 21b) has a different and maybe naive approach: "Kinat Sofrim Marbeh Chochmah" - when scholars compete, knowledge increases. Having competing scholars makes them want to do better and their work increases in productivity and understanding.

Gemara

Commentary and interpretation of the Mishnah.

Written Torah

Five books of Moses given down by God at Mount Sinai.

Oral Torah

The Mishnah that was passed down orally until it was finally written down.

Amoraim

The Rabbis who wrote the Gemara

Tannaim

The Rabbis who wrote the Mishnah

Baraita

The conversations and discussions the Tannaim (the rabbis who wrote the Mishnah) had that they did not choose to include in the Mishnah simply because they did not have enough reason to include them all. [However, this doesn't make the stuff in the Mishnah any more correct or important than what is in the Baraita because they were conversations that the same rabbis had at the same time, they just didn't all fit so they were forced to select only a few.]

Yored l'tokh umanut chaveiro

The jealousy of teachers. Very much alike to Kin'at Sofrim, but just with teachers. When teachers compete, they bring out the best in how they teach their students.

What happened in 70 C.E.

The second temple was destroyed. As a result, Rabbinic Judaism began as opposed to Biblical Judaism.

Teyku

When the rabbis had an arguement and neither side won, it was declared a tie (Teyku).