Additionally to the Torah, there are some
unwritten customs or laws and interpretations
of them that have been carried down in an oral
tradition over lots of generations. They are also
known as the oral Torah. In the oral tradition the
Torah was interpreted, its precepts were adapted
to the ever-changing social and political circum-
stances, and supplemented it with the new legis-
lation. In such a way, the oral tradition added a
dynamic dimension to the written scriptures so
instead of being a closed system it is a
perpetual process. The vitality of this tradition
can be demonstrated in the way the ancient laws
were adapted after the temple’s destruction and by
the role of the Talmud in the survival of Jews in
exile (Novak, 2017).
The Talmud is the written version of the
Jewish oral law. It was created on the 2nd century
and the word Talmud comes from the Hebrew
verb “to teach” that can also be expressed as the
verb “to learn”. In fact, the code of Jewish Hal-
akhah has derived from a text that has the Tal-
mud as its source. This code is made up of the
Mishnah, the original written version of the oral
law, and the Gemara, the record of the rabbinic
discussions following this writing down; it also
includes their differences of view. The Talmud can
also be called Shas, which is the Hebrew
abbreviation for the expression “six orders of
the Mishnah” (“BBC - Religions - Judaism: The
Talmud”, 2013).
Other texts that are important for the Jews
are:
Midrash: a large body of rabbinical material
that derives primarily from sermons.
Responsa: a vast collection of answers to
specific questions on Jewish law.
The Septuagint: an ancient Greek trans-
lation of the Hebrew Bible dating before
Christ that was used extensively by the New
Testament writers and the early church.
Zohar: the Book of the Splendor or Sefer
ha-Zohar, is the central text of Kabbalah,
which is the Judaism m