I understand that the Torah is the five books as given to Moses. Are those books ‘sealed’, in that they are complete and have not changed or do not change?

My understanding of the Talmud is that is is comprised of two works, the Gemara and the Mishnah. Is the Talmud also ‘sealed’, in that they are also complete and do not or have not changed since their authorship?

Your questions are very interesting ones. If I understand you correctly, you are asking whether the Torah is a “Sealed” book, and whether the Talmud too has not changed since its completion.

The Torah (5 books) dictated to Moses, necessarily is sealed, and clearly has not been changed. This is what we call “The written Law” – a very definite and clearly demarked book. Definitely sealed. (3317 years ago)

Clearly, if G-d gave this work to Man, he handed it with oral instructions of how to read it, and how to study it. This oral tradition was handed down from Moses to Joshua, from leader after leader, from sage after sage – always orally, until it was written down in short notes (almost topic headings), for fear of being forgotten. (100 C.E.)

These writings are called the mishnah – in relatively few words, many complex ideas are conveyed – the mishnah comprises the skeleton of what was handed down by word of mouth.
At a certain point, more needed to be written – from the mishnah comes the Gemara – a lengthy explanation and deep understanding of the Gemara. . . (400 C.E.). . . Small introductions were added for the next 100 years, by certain sages – we have record of who they are, and what they added – and those introductions found their way into the Talmud too. . . At a certain point, no more written words were added to this large corpus of writings…

I know that you didn’t ask for this information, but in order to understand the difference between the Torah and the Talmud, this history is important. You see, The “Written Law” is definitely sealed [5 books], and while the Oral Law (Talmud) is also sealed [20 volumes] – an important difference remains: The Talmud is something that we study daily, and our study yields novel understandings, which change the way we formulate its conclusions. The way in which to understand how to analyse and study the Talmud is handed down orally from teacher to student.

Ultimately, this means that the study of the written law is what is called ‘static’ (because, we simply try to appreciate what is written in the 5 books, take lessons from them, and mine them for their deep teachings.) the Oral tradition, in contradistinction, is what we would call ‘dynamic’ – we are active partners in coming to the ‘halachic’ or practical applications of the Talmud. This type of learning, makes the actual Talmud a ‘sealed book’ only in name, but not necessarily in application.

Please feel free to approach me again – these distinctions and definitions are very important, and are often misunderstood, or misrepresented.

Good luck in your study.

Rabbi Shmuel Kimche