NB. The original context of the question was the alleged tradition of King David having red hair. I'm not sure that this in fact is a Jewish tradition at all. Michi? Beyond that I think the discussion on "race" in Glorantha has seen its day.
Mr. Brooke wrote:
>4th century AD (Palestinian) and 5th century AD (Babylonian), apparently
>(based on a Google for "Talmud compiled when"). That's outside my area
>of expertise, though. For more depth, ask Jon Quaife.
Around the first century a number of written sources are evident in the Jewish religion of the time: thus in the New Testament there are references to "the Law", "the Prophets", "the Psalms" and (possibly, but this could be my over-optimistic imagination) "the Writings". All of these can be associated with bits of the Hebrew Bible today, or with the analagous parts of the Christian Old Testament. Law requires interpretation, and so there was also a body of "Oral Law". The role of Oral Law was (1) to train the recitation of the written Law and the Prophets, which were recorded without vowels, and, more importantly, (2) to pass down the wisdom of the sages regarding the *interpretation* of the written Law from one generation to the next; from the time of Moses to the time of Jesus and beyond.
(A couple of asides: (1) the word for "Law" is Hebrew and Aramaic "Torah". This is really better understood as "Teaching" or "Instruction". (2) Islam also has an oral tradition for understanding the Koran, this is called "Hadith", or "Sayings".)
Jewish religion during Jesus' lifetime and before was probably exactly like
this: "At the core of this religion was the ritual maintenance of the
universe, conducted by proper sacrifices" --as Fortunate Succession
perfectly puts it (page 70). In this context the spiritual trauma caused by
the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple, *the sole ritual centre of Jewish
Religion*, by Roman legions in 70 C.E. is hard to imagine. Have a bit of a
think about the term "ritual maintenance of the universe" and imagine how
frightening the loss of the Temple must have been. Not surprisingly one
reaction was an appeal to messianism, already a subversive force. Among the
many Jewish sectarian groups were the emerging Christian churches, but there
were other messianic movements too.
(Other asides: (1) There appears to have been another temple built in
Elephantine, in fact, but I know nothing about it---I think it may have been
abandoned well before the Jerusalem Temple was destroyed anyway. The
Elephantine temple is good fodder for an Indiana Jones moment. (2) There
have been no priests (and, some argue, no ritual) in Jewish religion since
the Temple's destruction in 70 C.E. )
Aside from the minority of Jewish people that became the early Christians, a significant group followed Rabbi Akiva. Akiva was unquestionably a Superhero. He was a superlative scholar and it has been suggested a good deal smarter than Moses. One source suggests he was with Moses when Moses had the Law revealed to him at Sinai (yes, a *time-travelling* heroquest. :>) ). In the mystical Merkavah ("chariot") tradition Akiva was uniquely one of a group of rabbis who succeeded in passing through the seven gates of heaven and in approaching the Throne of God. When he did so, Akiva blessed God, not the other way around. You get the picture. When it comes to journeying on the Other Side Akiva is in familiar territory. Akiva was also a bit of a messianist himself---he supported Simon Bar Kochva who claimed to be the messiah and staged a rebellion (that failed) contra the Romans round about 120 C.E.
The group of fathers that included Akiva were part of a movement that had decided to *write down* the Oral Law. This redaction began in Palestine with a text called the Mishnah which, among other interesting things, includes a prayer called "The Benediction against the Minim". *minim* means "sectarians" and many scholars cite this as the first evidence of a schism between early Judaism and early Christianity (probably true, but I daresay at this time you were spoilt for choice when it came to schismatic groups, so no reason to separate out the Christians particularly). Either way, "the Benediction against the Minim" says something about the motivation behind writing down the Oral Law, perhaps (1) Conservatism in the face of radical change, or (2) Fear that the tradition will be lost, (3) Both or (4) Something else. Quite a bit (I seem to remember) of the Mishnah provides details relating to Temple Rituals which would perhaps otherwise have been lost.
The Talmud, which includes the Mishnah, is thus the written Oral Law, and many people would agree that its written redaction represents the beginning of what we recognise today as Rabbinic Judaism. This written tradition is very beautiful because of its oral characteristics and (very often) the subtle humour that particularises some of the entries. The "oral" aspect is key because in Judaism Torah (the Law and other sacred written texts) *cannot* be understood without dialogue and discussion. Argument and debate is an *essential* part of the tradition, and this is reflected in the narrative style of the Talmud: thus an entry will read, "Rabbi such-and-such poses the question Q. Rabbi X said that the answer is X. Rabbi Y says that the answer is Y. But *the sages* say that the answer is Z." Obviously the opinion of the sages generally represents the prevailing view.
There's in some way a real irony to this form of composition (based around the reporting of discussion and opinion) in the Talmud, because as any Jewish theologian will wryly tell you, ALL of the Law (Written and Oral) was revealed to Moses at Sinai, even though the Oral Law is in fact the product of three-thousand years' speculation on the part of the sages who followed Moses! (And of course, for the heroquesters among you, you are perhaps gaining some incling of what Akiva was up to when he appeared beside Moses at Sinai?)
And so, to the question: when was the Talmud written? For those who know, its is a revealed text, a part of Torah, authored in heaven at the moment of creation and revealed to Moses on Sinai. Moses did not record it--instead it was made manifest in the speculations of the sages who proceeded after him and whose interpretations were passed from generation to generation as an oral tradition, which, after three thousand years was perfectly recorded in writing.
For the academics, it began with the Mishnah, which was "finally" redacted by Judah Ha-nasi circa 200 C.E., which then grew into two written texts called the Palestinian Talmud and the Babylonian Talmud compiled by different groups of sages in Palestine and modern day Iraq. Mishnah means "Teaching" and the works that followed in Palestine (circa 400 C.E.) and Iraq (circa 500 C.E.), following the Mishnah, are called "Gemara", "Completion" (but also "Teaching"). Additional minor changes were made in the c.6th and c.7th.
Best wishes,
Jon.
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End of Glorantha Digest
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