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Religious Legal Systems

A guide to research on religious legal systems through the Dalhousie Libraries

Introduction to Talmudic Law (Jewish)

"Jewish law is the legal system of the Jewish people as it has developed from Biblical times to the present." This definition by Phyllis Weisbrod in Basic books and periodicals on Jewish law: a guide for law librarians, 82 Law Libr. J. 519 (1990) summarizes a complex written, oral, and oral-as-written textual history of sources for Jewish law. Torah is the term used for the divine source of wisdom relating to all of creation, so to work towards a definition that relates to the narrower scope of its application as law, or halakhah, begins with the Torah in a more literal sense, namely, the first five books of what the Christian western tradition calls the Pentateuch or first five books of what came to be the Bible. While the status in Biblical and form-based criticism of the ancient compilers of this narrative is beyond the scope of this guide, an oral history of commentary on the Torah arose and became written down as the Mishnah in approximately the year 200. Talmud and Torah also contain non-legal teachings bound up with legend, myth and philosophy, referred to as aggadah."

Marylin Johnson Raisch "Talmudic Law - Introduction", Religious Legal Systems in Comparative Law – A Guide to Introductory Research (2022), online: GlobaLex <https://www.nyulawglobal.org/globalex/Religious_Legal_Systems1.html#jewish-law>.

Research Guides for Talmudic (Jewish Law)

Primary Sources

Introductions and Commentary

Journals on Talmudic Law (Jewish Law)

McGill Citation for Talmudic law

E-7.10.3 Talmudic Law
 
Indicate Babylonian or Jerusalem Talmud. Italicize the tractate. When using the Babylonian Talmud, refer to the traditional pagination (Vilna edition) and not to the page number given by the publisher or translator. When using a different edition (e.g. Warsaw), indicate the edition in parentheses following the pinpoint.
 
When referring to a particular edition or translation, indicate the publication information in parentheses following the pinpoint (see sections 6.2.2.4.1 and 6.2.7 to 6.2.9). When providing a translation, insert [translated by author] after the initial citation and pinpoint (see section 6.2.2.4.2).
Use Arabic numerals (e.g., 1, 2, 3) to indicate the leaf number and a or b to indicate the page. Pinpoint the Jerusalem Talmud to the Mishna (Mish) and the Halacha (Hal) and not to the page, as there are various editions with different pagination. Pinpoint to a page if the full publication information in parentheses can be provided, as set out in sections 6.2.7 to 6.2.9.
 
Babylonian Talmud, Bava Metzia, 11b
Jerusalem Talmud, Sanhedrin, Mish 1 Hal 5.