How is the Mishnah related to the Talmud or Gemara?
The Mishnah was composed somewhere around 220 C.E. As soon as it was finished and publicized, the Sages began compiling commentary on the Mishnah. The Talmud, a Hebrew word, (in Aramaic, Gemara) is a compilation of their commentary on the Mishnah, along with many other traditions and discussions, loosely or not related at all to the Mishnah. There are actually two Talmuds, one composed in the Land of Israel and called either the Jerusalem Talmud or the Palestinian Talmud, and the other composed in Babylonia and called the Babylonian Talmud. The Palestinian Talmud was completed somewhere around the year 375 CE and the Babylonian Talmud was completed probably about 200 years later, although both of these dates are extremely tentative. The Babylonian Talmud has throughout history been more extensively studied and is consi dered more authoritative in Jewish law. It was this Talmud that formed the basis for all future codes of Jewish law, throughout the Jewish wandering in Europe and the Mi
