Jerusalem Talmud

The Jerusalem Talmud, talmud meaning "instruction", "learning", (Hebrew: תַּלְמוּד יְרוּשָׁלְמִי, Talmud Yerushalmi, often Yerushalmi for short), is a collection of Rabbinic notes on the 2nd-century Mishnah (Jewish oral tradition) which was compiled in the Land of Israel during the 4th-5th centuries, then divided between the Byzantine provinces of Palaestina Prima and Palaestina Secunda. The voluminous text is also known as the Palestinian Talmud or Talmud de-Eretz Yisrael (Talmud of the Land of Israel). These latter names are considered more accurate by some because, while the work was certainly composed in "the West" (i.e. the Holy Land), it originates from the Galilee area rather than from Jerusalem.

The Jerusalem Talmud predates its counterpart, the Babylonian Talmud (also known as the Talmud Bavli), by about 200 years and is written in both Hebrew and Jewish Palestinian Aramaic. It includes the core component, the Mishna, finalized by Rabbi Judah the Prince (c. 200 CE) along with the written discussions of generations of rabbis in the Land of Israel (primarily in the academies of Tiberias and Caesarea) which was compiled c. 350-400 CE into a series of books that became the Gemara (גמרא – from gamar: Hebrew " complete"; Aramaic " study"). The Gemara, when combined with the Mishnah, constitutes the Talmud.

There are two recensions of the Gemara, one compiled by the scholars of the Land of Israel and the other by those of Babylonia (primarily in the academies of Sura and Pumbedita, completed c. 500 CE). The Babylonian Talmud is often seen as more authoritative and is studied much more than the Jerusalem Talmud. In general, the terms "Gemara" or "Talmud," without further qualification, refer to the Babylonian recension.