The
Talmud (;
Hebrew: "instruction, learning", from a
root "teach, study") is a central text of
Rabbinic Judaism. It is also traditionally referred to as , a
Hebrew abbreviation of , the "six orders", a reference to the six orders of the
Mishnah. The term "Talmud" normally refers to the collection of writings named specifically the
Babylonian Talmud (Talmud Bavli), although there is also an earlier collection known as the
Jerusalem Talmud, or
Palestinian Talmud (Talmud Yerushalmi). When referring to post-biblical periods, namely those of the creation of the Talmud, the Talmudic academies and the
Babylonian exilarchate, Jewish sources use the term "Babylonia" from a strictly
Jewish point of view, still using this name after it had become obsolete in
geopolitical terms.
