Abstract

The rabbis have taught: "Those who study only Scripture are scholars of degree but not of high degree. Those who study also the Mishnah are scholars of high degree. Those who study [the] Talmud also are scholars of the highest degree." What is this writing which is held in the highest regard by the rabbis and has stimulated the minds and hearts of the Jewish people throughout the ages? Essentially, the Talmud is a compilation of laws and traditions which have evolved from the Torah. Because the laws of the Torah were enunciatory in nature and required a great deal of interpretation by the rabbis, a large body of oral interpretive teachings developed. The first attempt to organize and compile these teachings was begun by Hillel in the first century before Christ. This effort culminated four hundred years later with the Mishnah, a compilation similar to a restatement of the law.

The comprehensive commentary on the Mishnah that forms the second and far larger portion of the Talmud is called the Gemara. The Gemara, which word came to denote 'teaching,' explains the terms and subject-matter of the Mishnah; [and] seeks to elucidate difficulties and harmonise discrepant statements...

One of the most surprising things about the Talmud is that, although it antedated by two thousand years the legal codes of the great twentieth century civilizations, many of the concepts contained therein are strikingly similar to modem law. Some disgruntled jurisprudents would undoubtedly find in this proof that our modem law is hopelessly archaic; others would marvel at the brilliance of the Talmudic theorists, who, they would say, fashioned a system so broad in scope and fundamentally valid in principle that it applies as well to the world today as it did to the pre-Christian era.

This comment advocates neither of the above positions but is intended merely to apprise the reader of some of the similarities between Talmudic and American law and to provide a basis for comparative analysis of the two legal systems. Due to the broad scope of the Talmud, this analysis is limited to treatment of selected segments of three areas of tort law: (1) strict liability, (2) negligence, and (3) the measure of damages for personal injury.

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