Torah and Talmud

Question 0

The first five books of the Jewish Bible are called the

Answer 0

Torah

Question 1

The centrepiece of the Jewish library is the

Answer 1

Hebrew bible or tanakh

Question 2

The ____ reigns supreme in terms of prestige and sanctity.

Answer 2

Torah

Question 3

Tanakh stands for

Answer 3

Torah - The five books of Moses
Nevi’im - the prophets
Ketuvim - The Scriptures or writings

Question 4

Almost all ____ components of Judaism are considered to have their source in the Torah.

Answer 4

legal

Question 5

The Torah is considered by traditional Jews to have been given in its entirety to ____ at Sinai.

Answer 5

Moses

Question 6

____ Judaism was the period after the destruction of the second temple during the first six centuries C.E.

Answer 6

Rabbinic

Question 7

The law was given to human beings and it is up to them to ____ that law

Answer 7

interpret

Question 8

The Mishna was completed in early ____ century C.E.

Answer 8

third

Question 9

The Mishna became the basis for two additional works set out to discuss the Mishna which are known as the ____.

Answer 9

Talmud

Question 10

After the destruction of the Temple, and the subsequent inability to sacrifice, the Pharisees turn to the study of the Torah and acts of ____ as a means of obeying the law.

Answer 10

lovingkindness

Question 11

There are two Talmud known as

Answer 11

The Babylonian Talmud and the Palestinian Talmud

Question 12

The ____ Talmud would eventually achieve a preferred status and become the basis for legislation.

Answer 12

Babylonian

Question 13

The writings of the Jewish rabbis were considered not much less than the Torah itself and were often called the ____

Answer 13

Oral Torah

Question 14

The ____ followed the text of the Torah as a sort of commentary or exegesis, but is not limited to just that.

Answer 14

Midrash

Question 15

____ is a collection of halakhah, which means law in general or a particular law. The most authoritative such collection was attributed to Judah the Prince, around 200 CE.

Answer 15

Mishnah

Question 16

Where as the Talmud would serve as a basis for ____ ___, it is anything but a law manual or legal code. The Talmud is the embodiment of 300 years of rabbinic learning.

Answer 16

Jewish law

Question 17

The ___ is a legal document arranged in topics. It’s six sections cover all aspects of Jewish religious and social behaviour.

Answer 17

Mishnah

Question 18

The six sections of the Mishna are

Answer 18

Agricultural law, festivals, marriage laws, civil law, temple law, and aspects of ritual purity.

Question 19

Israel is bound by the covenant to serve ____ ____, which are elaborated in the Torah.

Answer 19

Yahweh’s laws

Question 20

The Palestinian or Jerusalem Talmud was completed around ___ CE and the Babylonian Talmud was completed around ___ CE

Answer 20

400 / 500

Question 21

The conservative Sadducees rejected innovations that were not sanctioned by the written Torah, but the ____ believed that alongside the written Torah, God has given Moses oral instructions that have been passed down from generation to generation.

Answer 21

Pharisees

Question 22

In the Midrash, a Biblical commentary, an important distinction is made between ____, nonlegal material, and ____, legal material.

Answer 22

aggadah / halakhah

Question 23

The Babylonian Talmud is huge and complex and only accessible through ____, of which the most authoritative was written by Rushi (Rabbi Solomon Ben Isaac, 1040-1105)

Answer 23

commentaries

Question 24

All of this material (Tanakh, Midrash, and Talmud) is also sometimes referred to ____ as Torah. Indeed, the term Torah can refer to the whole of the Jewish law and lore.

Answer 24

collectively

Question 25

The Pharisees openness to oral tradition enabled them and their successors the rabbis to ____ to changed circumstances (notably the destruction of the temple and life in exile and Diaspora) in contrast to the Sadducees who were too closely linked to the Temple to survive its destruction.

Answer 25

adapt

Question 26

The Talmud is a record of ____, rather than fixed answers, and to study Talmud is to participate in debates that have been conducted for centuries.

Answer 26

debates

Question 27

For hundreds of years, the Talmud was used as the basis for formulating ____ legal texts.

Answer 27

systematic

Question 28

One such systematic approach, by ____ in the 12th century, was to remove the names of the participants in the Talmudic discussions, there about projecting attributed opinions as the universally recognised law.

Answer 28

Maimonides

Question 29

The most famous codification is the ____ ____ - the Spread Table, compiled by Rabbi Joseph Karo, 16th century CE.

Answer 29

Shulhan Arukh

Question 30

The word ____ means study or knowledge

Answer 30

Talmud

Question 31

A different type of primary legal literature is known as ____. For centuries, Jewish authorities were asked questions not only by the local community but by Jews who considered their opinions the definitive statement on any legal issues.

Answer 31

responsa