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The Talmud, by Joseph Barclay, [1878], at sacred-texts.com
The following selection of treatises, translated from the Mishna, with explanations from the Gemara and other sources, is designed to supply the reader with a general and impartial view of this important branch of Hebrew literature. These treatises are chosen because they illustrate Bible teaching; and it is attempted to present them in a literal and readable form. Those are omitted which are either too tedious or too gross for general circulation. It will be observed that these treatises contain the particular mode of thought against which the deepest woes of the New Testament are denounced; while, at the same time, they afford much information concerning the inner life of the Jews at the period of our Saviour's sojourn upon earth. Hence the reason is apparent why the Talmud is either undervalued or overvalued, according to the reader's standpoint. Speaking generally, however, it has proved injurious to those who have submitted to its authority, and bowed to the dictum that "the Bible is like water—the Mishna is like wine—and the Gemara is like spiced wine."
To the treatises from the Talmud there is added a translation of the treatise on "The Tabernacle," from the Bereitha.
Where there are various readings in the original text, that rendering is given which seems most probable. A residence of several years in the East, of which ten were passed in the Holy Land, enabled me to gather the opinions of some of the most learned Rabbis with regard to disputed points in the interpretation of the Talmud. The substance of these opinions is embodied in this volume.
J. B.
Stapleford Rectory, Herts,
November 1877.