The Mishnah or Mishna is the first major written collection of the Jewish oral traditions known as the "Oral Torah". It is also the first major work of Rabbinic literature. The Mishnah was redacted by Judah the Prince at the beginning of the third century CE in a time when, according to the Talmud, the persecution of the Jews and the passage of time raised the possibility that the details of the oral traditions of the Pharisees from the Second Temple period would be forgotten. Most of the Mishnah is written in Mishnaic Hebrew, while some parts are Aramaic.
The Gemara is the component of the Talmud comprising rabbinical analysis of and commentary on the Mishnah. After the Mishnah was published by Judah the Prince, the work was studied exhaustively by generation after generation of rabbis in Babylonia and the Land of Israel. Their discussions were written down in a series of books that became the Gemara, which when combined with the Mishnah constituted the Talmud.
Seder Zeraim, is the first of the six orders, or major divisions, of the Mishnah, Tosefta and the Talmud, and apart from the first tractate, which concerns the rules for prayers and blessings, primarily deals with the laws of agricultural produce and tithes of the Torah which apply in the Land of Israel, in both their religious and social aspects.
The Jerusalem Talmud, also known as the Palestinian Talmud or Talmuda de-Eretz Yisrael, is a collection of Rabbinic notes on the second-century Jewish oral tradition known as the Mishnah. Naming this version of the Talmud after the Land of Israel rather than Jerusalem is considered more accurate by some because, while the work was certainly composed in "the West", i.e. in the Holy Land, it mainly originates from the Galilee rather than from Jerusalem in Judea, as no Jews lived in Jerusalem at this time. The Jerusalem Talmud was compiled in the Land of Israel, then divided between the Byzantine provinces of Palaestina Prima and Palaestina Secunda, and was brought to an end sometime around 400. The Jerusalem Talmud predates its counterpart, the Babylonian Talmud, by about 200 years, and is written in both Hebrew and Jewish Palestinian Aramaic.
Keilim or Kelim is the first tractate in the Order of Tohorot in the Mishnah. It contains thirty chapters, making it the longest tractate in the entire Mishnah. The Tosefta on Keilim consists of twenty-five chapters, divided into Bava Kama, Bava Metzia, and Bava Batra of Keilim. The tractate discusses the laws of ritual purity and impurity pertaining to all types of vessels.
ʾOhaloth is the second tractate of the Order of Tohorot in the Mishnah. It consists of eighteen chapters, which discuss the ritual impurity of corpses, and the peculiar quality they have to make all objects in the same tent-like structure impure as well. According to a Jewish legend, this is one of the most important tractates in the Talmud: King David is said to have asked of God that reading the Book of Psalms be considered the equivalent of studying the tractate of Oholot. Nevertheless, there is no Gemara for Oholot in either the Babylonian or Jerusalem Talmud. Some suggest that the name of this tractate should be pronounced Ahilot (Ah-he-lote) which means "coverings" instead of Oholot which means "tents." This is because the discussion does not only focus on the transfer of tumah through tents but through other coverings as well.
Demai (Hebrew: דְּמַאי, meaning "agricultural produce about which there is a doubt whether it has been properly tithed" is the third tractate of Seder Zeraim of the Mishnah and of the Talmud. It deals with the Jewish legal concept of demai, doubtfully tithed produce, and concerns the laws related to agricultural produce about which it is suspected that certain obligatory tithes have not been properly separated in accordance with requirements specified in the Torah. The tithes in question are ma'aser rishon, terumath ma'aser, and ma'aser sheni or ma'aser ani, depending on the year of the Sabbatical year cycle.
Yoma is the fifth tractate of Seder Moed of the Mishnah and of the Talmud. It is concerned mainly with the laws of the Jewish holiday Yom Kippur, on which Jews atone for their sins from the previous year. It consists of eight chapters and has a Gemara ("Completion") from both the Jerusalem Talmud and the Babylonian Talmud.
Mo'ed Katan or Mo'ed Qatan is the eleventh tractate of Seder Moed of the Mishnah and the Talmud. It is concerned with the laws of the days between the first and last days of Passover and Sukkot. These days are also known as "Chol HaMoed" days. Mo'ed Katan also discusses the laws of Aveilus (Bereavement). Consisting of only three chapters, it has a Gemara from both Babylonian Talmud and the Jerusalem Talmud.
Hullin or Chullin is the third tractate of the Mishnah in the Order of Kodashim and deals with the laws for the slaughtering of animals and birds for meat for ordinary as opposed to sacred use, and with the Jewish dietary laws in general.
Kil'ayim is the fourth tractate of Seder Zeraim of the Mishnah, dealing with several biblical prohibitions of mixed species, namely, planting certain mixtures of seeds, grafting different species of trees together, growing plants other than grapevines in vineyards, crossbreeding animals, working a team of different kinds of animals together, and mixing wool and linen in garments.
Bikkurim is the eleventh tractate of Seder Zeraim of the Mishnah and of the Talmud. All versions of the Mishnah contain the first three chapters, and some versions contain a fourth.
Tractate Miqwaʾoth is a section of the Mishna discussing the laws pertaining to the building and maintenance of a mikvah, a Jewish ritual bath. Like most of Seder Tohorot, Mikva'ot is present only in its mishnaic form and has no accompanying gemara in either the Babylonian or Jerusalem Talmud. It contains 10 chapters, with 83 paragraphs total.
Uktzim is the last Masekhet of the Order of Tohorot in the Mishnah. It is the last tractate in the Mishnah. It consists of three chapters. Uktzim describes the various forms of tumah having to do with the stalks of fruits and vegetables.
Tractate Middot is the tenth tractate of Seder Kodashim of the Mishnah and of the Talmud. This tractate describes the dimensions and the arrangement of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, and the Second Temple buildings and courtyards, various gates, the altar of sacrifice and its surroundings, and the places where the Priests and Levites kept watch in the Temple.
Tractate Menachot, is the second tractate of the Order of Kodashim. It has Gemara in the Babylonian Talmud and a Tosefta.
Bekhorot refers to the first-born human, or animal according to the Hebrew Bible in which God commanded Moses in the Book of Exodus to “consecrate to Me every first-born; man and beast, the first issue of every womb among the Israelites is Mine.” It is from this commandment that Judaism forms the foundation of its many traditions and rituals concerning the redemption of the first-born son and ritual slaughter.
Shekalim is the fourth tractate in the order of Moed in the Mishnah, this tractate talks about the tax that had to be paid in ancient times every year to make possible the maintenance and proper functioning of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem, there is no Gemara about the treatise in the Babylonian Talmud, but there is one in the Jerusalem Talmud, and the latter is often printed in the editions of the Babylonian Talmud. The order of Moed is the second order of the Mishnah, the first written record of the oral Torah of the jewish people. Of the 6 orders of the Mishnah, Moed is the third shortest order. The order of Moed consists of 12 tractates. The Mishnah (in english: 'study, repetition') is an exegetical body of compiled jewish laws, which gathers and consolidates the jewish oral tradition developed over centuries from the times of the Torah or written law, to its codification by the Rabbi Yehudah Hanasi, towards the end of the second century.
