Talmud, The

An Encyclopaedia of Occultism (1920)

Talmud, The From the Hebrew lamad, to learn the name of the great code of Jewish civil and canonical law. It is divided into two portions-the Mishna and the Gemara; the former constituted the text and the latter was a commentary and supplement. But besides being the basis of a legal code, it is also a collection of Jewish poetry and legend. The Mishna is a development of the laws contained in the Pentateuch. It is divided into six sedarim or orders, each containing a number of tractates, which are again divided into peraqim or chapters. The sedarim are: (1) Zeraim, which deals with agriculture; (2) Moed, with festivals and sacrifices; (3) Nashim, with the law regarding women; (4) Nezaqin, with civil law; (5) Qodashim, with the sacrificial law; and (6) Tohoroth or Tah, with purifications. The Mishna was supposed to have been handed down by Ezra and to be in part the work of Joshua, David or Solomon, and originally communicated orally by the Deity in the time of Moses. There are two recensions-the Talmud of Jerusalem, and the Talmud of Babylon; which latter besides the sedarim mentioned contains seven additional treatises which are regarded as extra-canonical. The first is supposed to have been finally edited towards the close of the fourth century A.D., and the second by Rabbi Ashi, President of the Academy of Syro in Babylon, somewhere in the fourth century. Though revised from time to time before then, both versions have been greatly corrupted through the interpolation of gross traditions. The rabbinical decisions in the Mishna are entitled helacoth and the traditional narratives haggadah. The cosmogony of the Talmud assumes that the universe has been developed by means of a series of cataclysms: world after world was destroyed until the Creator made the present globe and saw that itwas good. In the wonderful treatise on the subject by Deutsch which first appeared in the Quarterly Review in 1867, and is reprinted in his Literary Remains, the following passage appears: was " The how of the creation was not mere matter of speculation. The co-operation of angels, whose existence was warranted by Scripture, and a whole hierarchy of whom had been built up under Persian influences, distinctly denied. In a discussion about the day of their creation, it is agreed on all hands that there were no angels at first, lest men might say, 'Michael spanned out the firmament on the south, and Gabriel to the north.' There is a distinct foreshadowing of the Gnostic Demiurgosthat antique link between the Divine Spirit and the world of matter to be found in the Talmud. What with Plato were the Ideas, with Philo the Logos, with the Kabalists the World of Aziluth,' what the Gnostics called more emphatically the wisdom (sophi), or power (dunamis), and Plotinus the nous, that the Talmudical authors call Metation. There is a good deal, in the post-captivity Talmud, about the Angels, borrowed from the Persian. The Archangels or Angelic princes are seven in number, and their Hebrew names and functions correspond almost exactly to those of their Persian prototypes. There are also hosts of ministering angels, the Persian Yazatas, whose functions, besides that of being messengers, were two-fold- Tarot to praise God and to be guardians of man. In their first capacity they are daily created by God's breath out of a stream of fire that rolls its waves under the supernal throne. In their second, two of them accompany every man, and for every new good deed man acquires a new guardian angel, who always watches over his steps. When a righteous man died, three hosts of angels descend from the celestial battlements to meet him. One says (in the words of Scripture), 'He shall go in peace'; the second takes up the strain and says, 'Who has walked in righteousness'; and the third concludes, 'Let him come in peace and rest upon his bed.' In like manner, when the wicked man passes away, three hosts of wicked angels are ready to escort him, but their address is not couched in any spirit of consolation or encouragement." It would be impossible in this place to give a resumé of the traditional matter contained in the Talmud. Suffice it to say that it is of great extent. It has been considered by some authorities that a great many of the traditional tales have a magical basis, and that magical secrets are contained in them; but this depends entirely upon the interpretation put upon them, and the subject is one which necessitates the closest possible study. Tam o' Shanter: (See Scotland .)