What is the Jerusalem Talmud?
The Jerusalem Talmud is also known as the Talmud Yerushalmi, Palestinian Talmud, or the Talmud of the Land of Israel.
Both Talmuds are textual records of generations of rabbinic debate about law, philosophy, and biblical interpretation, compiled over hundreds of years and structured as commentary on the Mishnah with stories, wisdom, and practical advice interwoven.
But the Jerusalem Talmud and the Babylonian Talmud differ in a few important ways:
- Language - the Jerusalem Talmud uses a different dialect of Aramaic.
- Structure and Style- the Jerusalem Talmud uses more terse language than the Babylonian Talmud and the structure of its passages is often more difficult to determine.
- Talmudic Sages - the Jerusalem Talmud mostly includes teaching of sages from the Land of Israel and only rarely presents teachings of Babylonian sages.
Sefaria's English translation of the Yerushalmi, as well as the vocalization of the original, was completed in 2015 by Heinrich Guggenheimer, a renowned mathematician who also published works on Judaism. He spent the last 20 years of his life working on translating and vocalizing the Jerusalem Talmud. With his blessing, Sefaria approached his publisher de Gruyter GmbH who enthusiastically agreed to partner on this open access version of Dr. Guggenheimer’s historic work. Dr. Guggenheimer passed away on March 4, 2021 at the age of 97. Sefaria is grateful to de Gruyter GmbH for making this translation available.
What is special about the Jerusalem Talmud on Sefaria?
The new Jerusalem Talmud on Sefaria includes:
- A complete English translation: Guggenheimer's translation opens the world of the Yerushalmi to a broader audience.
- Fully vocalized text: The addition of vowels assists all learners in reading the Yerushalmi’s distinctive Aramaic dialect.
- Three structures of the text: The Yerushalmi has historically been organized in several ways. Sefaria’s Yerushalmi has retained three formats which are reflected in the table of contents. Search for a text by chapter, according to the Venice version or the Vilna version.
- Extensive interlinking to the Tanakh, Babylonian Talmud, midrashim, and halakhic works: These connections help with understanding the text, and allows tracing the impact of the Yerushalmi in later sources.
- Topic tagging: Surface great texts from the Yerushalmi as you research the topics that interest you. Topics pages will increasingly include top results from the Yerushalmi, in the original Aramaic and in translation.
- Hebrew commentaries: The standard commentaries printed in the Vilna edition are all available and linked on Sefaria, including Korban HaEdah, Penei Moshe, Mareh HaPanim, and others.
- Images: The first printed edition of the Yerushalmi was published by Daniel Bomberg in Venice in 1524. It was based on a manuscript written in Leiden in 1289. You can see images of both of these editions in Sefaria’s resource panel.
Start learning!
- Since there are actually two Talmuds, the Bavli and Yerushalmi, “the Talmud says” is only part of the story. In fact, the Talmud Bavli and Yerushalmi feature many of the same narratives, but with unique twists. “The Talmud says”: Shared Stories in the Bavli and Yerushalmi highlights several of these parallel stories and invites you to notice and reflect on the differences between them.
- Commentators on the Yerushalmi - An introduction to the commentaries, and commentators, that you will find on Sefaria’s Jerusalem Talmud.