Talmud

by Brad Scott

I thought it might be interesting to take some of the more familiar terms used in Messianism and Judaism and discuss the roots of the actual words. Many of us are familiar with the Babylonian Talmud, made up of Mishnah and Gemara, but what is the meaning of the word Talmud? Most Jewish dictionaries define the word as having the dual meaning of both teaching and learning. This is because the word comes from the Hebrew root lamad (למד), which happens to be the 12th letter of the Hebrew Aleph-Bet. This word is used to describe a teacher and a learner, and is a picture of a sieve, always something going in and something coming out. The only occurrance of this form of lamad, i.e., talmud, in Scripture is in Divre-Hayamim Alef (1 Chronicles):

Divre-Hayamim Alef 25:8And they cast lots for their duties, the small as well as the great, the teacher as well as the scholar.

Shalom Alecheim! ◊