Emily Dickinson Lexicon

TAL'MUD, n. [Ch. from למד lamad, to teach.]

The body of the Hebrew laws, traditions and explanations; or the book that contains them. The Talmud contains the laws, and a compilation of expositions of duties imposed on the people, either in Scripture, by tradition, or by authority of their doctors, or by custom. It consists of two parts, the Mischna, and the Gemara; the former being the written law, and the latter a collection of traditions and comments of Jewish doctors. Encyc.