Biblical canonA biblical canon is a set of texts (also called "books") which a particular Jewish or Christian religious community regards as part of the Bible. The English word canon comes from the Greek κανών kanōn, meaning "rule" or "measuring stick". The use of the word "canon" to refer to a set of religious scriptures was first used by David Ruhnken, in the 18th century. Various biblical canons have developed through debate and agreement on the part of the religious authorities of their respective faiths and denominations.
Rabbinic literatureRabbinic literature, in its broadest sense, is the entire spectrum of rabbinic writings throughout Jewish history. However, the term often refers specifically to literature from the Talmudic era, as opposed to medieval and modern rabbinic writing, and thus corresponds with the Hebrew term Sifrut Chazal (ספרות חז״ל "Literature [of our] sages", where Hazal normally refers only to the sages of the Talmudic era).
Midrash halakhaMidrash halakha (הֲלָכָה) was the ancient Judaic rabbinic method of Torah study that expounded upon the traditionally received 613 Mitzvot (commandments) by identifying their sources in the Hebrew Bible, and by interpreting these passages as proofs of the laws' authenticity. The term midrash halakha is also applied to the derivation of new laws, either by means of a correct interpretation of the obvious meaning of scriptural words themselves or by the application of certain hermeneutic rules.
JewsJews (יְהוּדִים, Yehudim, jehuˈdim) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group, nation or ethnos native to the Levant, originating from the ancient Israelites and Hebrews of historical Israel and Judah. Jewish ethnicity, nationhood, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the ethnic religion of the Jewish people, although its observance varies from strict to none. Jews take their origins from a Southern Levantine national and religious group that arose towards the end of the second millennium BCE.
Jewish ethicsJewish ethics is the ethics of the Jewish religion or the Jewish people. A type of normative ethics, Jewish ethics may involve issues in Jewish law as well as non-legal issues, and may involve the convergence of Judaism and the Western philosophical tradition of ethics. Ethics in the Bible Ethical traditions can be found throughout the Hebrew Bible and the rabbinic Oral Torah that both interpreted the Hebrew Bible and engaged in novel topics. Ethics is a key aspect of legal rabbinic literature, the literature of halakhah, found in the Mishnah, Talmud and other texts.
MitzvahIn its primary meaning, the Hebrew word (ˈmɪtsvə; מִצְוָה, mīṣvā mit͡sˈva, plural מִצְווֹת mīṣvōt mit͡sˈvot; "commandment") refers to a commandment commanded by God to be performed as a religious duty. Jewish law () in large part consists of discussion of these commandments. According to religious tradition, there are 613 such commandments. In its secondary meaning, the word mitzvah refers to a deed performed in order to fulfill such a commandment. As such, the term mitzvah has also come to express an individual act of human kindness in keeping with the law.
Moses in rabbinic literatureDiscussions in rabbinic literature of the biblical character Moses, who led the Israelites out of Egypt and through their wanderings in the wilderness, contain various expansions, elaborations and inferences beyond what is presented in the text of the Bible itself. Of all Biblical personages Moses has been chosen most frequently as the subject of later legends; and his life has been recounted in full midrashic detail in the poetic Aggadah.
Abraham ben DavidAbraham ben David (1125 – 27 November 1198), also known by the abbreviation RABaD (for Rabbeinu Abraham ben David) Ravad or RABaD III, was a Provençal rabbi, an important commentator on the Talmud, Sefer Halachot of Rabbi Yitzhak Alfasi (known by the abbreviation RIF) and Mishne Torah of Maimonides, and is regarded as a father of Kabbalah and one of the key links in the chain of Jewish mystics. RABaD's maternal grandfather, Rabbi Yitzhak b.
TargumA targum (תרגום 'interpretation, translation, version') was an originally spoken translation of the Hebrew Bible (also called the Tanakh) that a professional translator (מְתוּרגְמָן mǝturgǝmān) would give in the common language of the listeners when that was not Hebrew. This had become necessary near the end of the first century BC, as the common language was Aramaic and Hebrew was used for little more than schooling and worship. The translator frequently expanded his translation with paraphrases, explanations and examples, so it became a kind of sermon.
Talmudic academies in BabyloniaThe Talmudic academies in Babylonia, also known as the Geonic academies, were the center for Jewish scholarship and the development of Halakha from roughly 589 to 1038 CE (Hebrew dates: 4349 AM to 4798 AM) in what is called "Babylonia" in Jewish sources, at the time otherwise known as Asōristān (under the Sasanian Empire) or Iraq (under the Muslim caliphate until the 11th century).
