What are the differences between the Jewish Bible, the Torah, and Talmud? And what are the origins of each?
When Moses received the Torah from G-d, there were two parts to it – the written law and the oral law. Without the oral explanation much of the written law is ambiguous and not understandable. For example, we are commanded to put on “teffilin”, or “totafos”. What are these? What color are they? What shape? What’s in them? The list goes on and on. The oral law is what makes the written bible understandable, and meaningful. Many years later, around the time of the destruction of the second Temple, the Sages felt that the oral law had to be put into writing. Due to all the persecutions against the Jews, they felt that if the oral law wasn’t written, it would be totally forgotton. This is the Talmud.
Generally, the Jewish Bible, and the Torah refer to the written law. (Although Torah can be used to mean the oral Torah – or the oral law). The Talmud is the oral law. They were all given by G-d to Moses, but the oral law was first committed to writing at the time of the destruction of the Second Temple – around the year 70 CE.
All the Best,
Moshe Travitsky
Bensalem, Pa.