Seeking Out the Best Books: A Latter-day Saint Introduction to Jewish Sacred Literature

Why This Matters for Bible Study

When studying the Old Testament, Latter-day Saints often encounter references to texts like “the Talmud” or “rabbinic tradition” without knowing what these sources are, when they were written, or why scholars and religious communities consider them significant. This primer offers an introduction to Jewish sacred literature beyond the Hebrew Bible—texts that can enrich our understanding of the scriptures we share.

The parallels to our own tradition may surprise you. Judaism, like Latter-day Saint Christianity, operates with what might be called an “open canon”—not in the sense of adding new books to the Bible, but in recognizing that scripture requires ongoing interpretation, that revelation continues, and that seeking wisdom from inspired sources is itself a religious duty.

The Written Torah and the Oral Torah

To understand Jewish sacred literature, we must first understand a foundational concept: the tradition of two Torahs given at Sinai.

According to rabbinic tradition, when Moses ascended Mount Sinai, he received not only the Written Torah (the five books of Moses, or Pentateuch) but also an Oral Torah—explanations, interpretations, and applications that were passed down verbally from generation to generation. This oral tradition was considered equally authoritative, equally ancient, and equally necessary for understanding God’s will.

For centuries, this oral tradition remained unwritten. Teachers transmitted it to students, who became teachers themselves. But after the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE and the dispersal of Jewish communities, rabbinic leaders grew concerned that the oral tradition might be lost. They made the momentous decision to write it down.

The result was an extraordinary body of literature that continues to shape Jewish life and thought today.

The Mishnah: The First Written Compilation

What it is: The Mishnah (from the Hebrew root meaning “to repeat” or “to study”) is the first major written compilation of Jewish oral traditions. It organizes centuries of legal discussions, ritual practices, and ethical teachings into six major orders covering everything from agricultural laws to family life to temple service.

When it was written: The Mishnah was compiled around 200 CE by Rabbi Judah the Prince (Yehudah HaNasi) in the land of Israel. However, it contains traditions and teachings from rabbis spanning several centuries before its compilation.

Why it matters: The Mishnah preserves how Jewish communities understood and applied biblical law during the Second Temple period and shortly after its destruction. When we read about practices in the Gospels—Pharisees debating points of law, questions about Sabbath observance, purity rituals—the Mishnah provides crucial context for understanding what was at stake in those discussions.

For Latter-day Saints: Think of the Mishnah somewhat like our handbooks or official curriculum—authoritative guidance on how to live the principles found in scripture, compiled by those with authority to interpret and apply divine law.

The Talmud: The Great Sea of Learning

What it is: The Talmud (from the Hebrew root meaning “to learn” or “to teach”) is a vast compilation that includes the Mishnah plus centuries of rabbinic discussion, debate, and commentary on the Mishnah called the Gemara. If the Mishnah states a law, the Gemara asks: Where does this come from in scripture? What are the exceptions? How do we apply it in unusual cases? What did Rabbi X say about it, and how did Rabbi Y respond?

Two Talmuds exist:

• The Jerusalem Talmud (Talmud Yerushalmi), compiled around 400 CE in the land of Israel
• The Babylonian Talmud (Talmud Bavli), compiled around 500-600 CE in the Jewish academies of Babylon (modern Iraq)

The Babylonian Talmud is larger, more comprehensive, and became the authoritative version for most Jewish communities worldwide.

Scale: The Babylonian Talmud comprises approximately 2.5 million words across 63 tractates. A traditional daily study program (Daf Yomi, “a page a day”) takes seven and a half years to complete one cycle.

Why it matters: The Talmud is the central text of rabbinic Judaism. It preserves not just legal rulings but the reasoning behind them—the debates, the minority opinions, the stories and parables used to illustrate points. It captures how generations of scholars wrestled with scripture, disagreed respectfully, and sought to understand God’s will for changing circumstances.

When you see a citation like “Talmud Bavli Megillah 15b,” it refers to the Babylonian Talmud, tractate Megillah (which discusses the Book of Esther and Purim), page 15, side b (each page has two sides, a and b).

For Latter-day Saints: Imagine if we had transcripts of discussions among General Authorities across several centuries—not just final decisions, but the questions raised, the scriptures cited, the different perspectives considered, and the reasoning that led to conclusions. That begins to approximate what the Talmud preserves.

Midrash: Creative Biblical Interpretation

What it is: Midrash (from the Hebrew root meaning “to seek” or “to inquire”) refers to a method of biblical interpretation and to the collections of such interpretations. Midrash fills gaps in biblical narratives, resolves apparent contradictions, draws out ethical lessons, and finds layers of meaning through wordplay, numerical values of letters, and creative reading techniques.

Two main types:

• Midrash Halakha: Legal interpretation that derives laws and practices from biblical texts
• Midrash Aggadah: Narrative interpretation that tells stories, explores characters’ motivations, and draws moral lessons

When it was written: Midrashic collections span many centuries. Some traditions preserved in midrash may be very ancient; the collections themselves were compiled between roughly 200 CE and 1200 CE, with the most important collections dating from 400-900 CE.

Why it matters: Midrash shows us how ancient readers engaged with scripture—what questions they asked, what puzzled them, what inspired them. When the Bible leaves something unstated, midrash often supplies an answer that became traditional. For example, the midrash tells us that Abraham smashed his father’s idols before leaving for Canaan—a story not found in Genesis but widely known from midrashic tradition.

For Latter-day Saints: Midrash functions somewhat like our own tradition of prophetic commentary and inspired interpretation. When President Nelson or Elder Holland offer insights into a scriptural passage—exploring what a character might have felt, connecting verses across different books, drawing applications for modern life—they engage in something analogous to midrashic interpretation. We might also compare it to what we do in Gospel Doctrine classes when we discuss what a text might mean and how it applies to us.

Why Jewish Tradition Preserved Multiple Voices

One aspect of rabbinic literature that may surprise Latter-day Saints is how it preserves disagreement. The Talmud frequently records debates where different rabbis reach different conclusions—and it preserves both opinions, often without declaring a final winner.

The famous saying goes: “These and these are the words of the living God” (elu v’elu divrei Elohim chayim). When the schools of Hillel and Shammai disagreed, both perspectives were considered valid expressions of divine truth, even though practice would follow one opinion.

This isn’t relativism or indifference to truth. Rather, it reflects a conviction that God’s word is inexhaustible—that multiple valid meanings can emerge from the same text, that wisdom comes through dialogue and debate, and that preserving the conversation matters as much as recording the conclusion.

For Latter-day Saints accustomed to correlation and unified curriculum, this can feel foreign. Yet we have our own version: general conference talks that approach the same topic from different angles, the diversity of perspectives in Church history, the principle that the Spirit can teach different individuals different things from the same passage of scripture.

An Open Canon, An Ongoing Conversation

Judaism does not claim that the Talmud or Midrash are scripture in the same sense as the Torah. The distinction between Written Torah and Oral Torah remains meaningful. Yet Jewish tradition holds that interpretation itself is sacred—that the conversation between the text and its readers, guided by those with learning and authority, produces genuine religious knowledge.

This resonates with Latter-day Saint beliefs in important ways:

Continuing revelation: We believe God continues to speak. Jewish tradition holds that legitimate interpretation unfolds new dimensions of what God spoke at Sinai. Both traditions resist the idea that the canon is “closed” in the sense of nothing more to learn or receive.

“Seek out of the best books”: Doctrine and Covenants 88:118 instructs us to “seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom; seek learning, even by study and also by faith.” While this doesn’t make the Talmud scripture for us, it invites us to learn from sources of wisdom beyond our own canon. Understanding how Jewish tradition has read the scriptures we share can illuminate texts in ways we might otherwise miss.

The value of commentary: We prize the words of prophets and apostles commenting on scripture—from Joseph Smith’s inspired translation to conference talks that unfold new dimensions of familiar passages. Jewish tradition simply preserves more centuries of such commentary in written form.

Living tradition: Both communities understand that scripture must be lived, applied, and understood within a community of faith guided by authorized interpreters. The text alone is not enough; it requires a living tradition to transmit and apply it.

Practical Guidance for LDS Readers

When you encounter citations from Jewish texts in your study, here are some guidelines:

Approach with respect: These are sacred texts for Jewish communities. Engage them as you would want others to engage our distinctive scriptures—with genuine interest, not merely as curiosities or proof-texts.

Understand the genre: Midrash often tells stories that are meant to teach truth without being literal history. Talmudic debates preserve multiple opinions without always resolving them. Don’t read these texts with the same expectations you bring to historical narrative or prophetic declaration.

Note the dating: A tradition recorded in the Talmud (500 CE) may preserve ancient material, but it may also reflect later developments. Not everything in rabbinic literature can be assumed to represent first-century practice or belief.

Recognize the diversity: “Jewish tradition” is not monolithic. Different communities, different eras, and different rabbis held different views. A single midrash does not speak for all of Judaism any more than a single conference talk speaks for all of Latter-day Saint thought across time.

Let it enrich, not replace: Jewish interpretation can illuminate our Bible study, but it doesn’t replace our own prophetic tradition or personal revelation. Use it as one voice among many in your study, not as the final authority.

A Shared Heritage, Distinct Paths

Christians and Jews share the Hebrew Bible—what we call the Old Testament and Jews call the Tanakh. We have read these texts in different contexts, asked different questions, and developed different traditions of interpretation. Learning how Jewish communities have treasured, studied, and applied these scriptures can deepen our own appreciation.

When we read that Esther quoted Psalm 22 as she approached the king, we access a tradition preserved in the Talmud for over 1,500 years. When we learn that certain psalms are traditionally recited on specific festivals, we glimpse how scripture functions within a living community of worship. When we encounter a midrashic story about Abraham or Moses, we participate in a conversation that spans millennia.

We need not agree with every rabbinic interpretation. We need not adopt Jewish practice. But we can learn from fellow seekers who have pondered the same sacred texts, often with insight and devotion that challenges and enriches our own reading.

As the Lord instructed: seek out the best books. Seek learning by study and by faith. The conversation between text and reader, ancient and modern, Jew and Christian, continues—and we are all the richer for it.

Quick Reference: Key Jewish Texts

Glossary

Gemara: The rabbinic commentary and discussion on the Mishnah; combined with Mishnah, it forms the Talmud.

Halakha: Jewish religious law; legal portions of rabbinic literature.

Aggadah: Non-legal rabbinic literature—stories, parables, ethical teachings, theological reflections.

Tractate: A subdivision of the Mishnah/Talmud focusing on a particular topic (e.g., Berakhot on blessings, Shabbat on Sabbath laws, Megillah on Esther/Purim).

Tannaim: Rabbinic sages from the period of the Mishnah (~10-220 CE).

Amoraim: Rabbinic sages from the period of the Gemara (~220-500 CE).

Daf Yomi: “A page a day”—a study program completing the entire Babylonian Talmud in approximately 7.5 years.

Sources

• Steinsaltz, Adin. The Essential Talmud. Basic Books.
• Holtz, Barry W., ed. Back to the Sources: Reading the Classic Jewish Texts. Simon & Schuster.
• Strack, H.L. and Gunter Stemberger. Introduction to the Talmud and Midrash. Fortress Press.