Talmud

The Talmud (, meaning instruction, learning is a central text of mainstream Judaism, considered second to the Torah. The Talmud is the codification of the Oral Law. Today the Oral Law is a written law, codified in the Mishna and the Gemara  forming the Talmud. The Oral Law of Judaism is divided into "six orders" and the Talmud is also traditionally referred to as, a Hebrew abbreviation of shisha sedarim, the "six orders". The whole Talmud consists of 63 tractates, and it is written in Tannaitic Hebrew and Aramaic.

Writing the Oral Law
The Mishna was drafted around the third century by Rabbi Judah the Prince, (, meaning Judah the Prince). It was forbidden to record these teachings but Rabbi Judah transgressed this precept in order to safeguard the Oral Torah of strain for future generations as the people of Israel was becoming dispersed throughout the world.

Two Talmuds
There are in fact two Talmuds: the Jerusalem Talmud, and the Babylonian Talmud. Both have in common the same Mishna and differ by Gemara.