In the first decades of the 5th century, Rav Ashi (d. 427) and Ravina I (d. 421) led a group of the Amoraim (Talmudic sages) in the massive undertaking of compiling the Babylonian Talmud -- collecting and editing the discussions, debates and rulings of hundreds of scholars and sages which had taken place in the more than 200 years since the compilation of the Mishnah by Rabbi Judah HaNassi in 189. The last of these editors and compilers was Ravina II, who passed away on the 13th of Kislev of the year 4235 from creation (475 CE); after Ravina II, no further additions were make to the Talmud, with the exception of the minimal editing undertaken by the Rabbanan Savura'i (476-560). This date thus marks the point at which the Talmud was "closed" and became the basis for all further exegesis of Torah law.
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What Is the Talmud?
The ancients looked up at the heavens and gazed at the stars in their constellations. They honored them as stewards of divine energy and life, as the embodiment of all forces of nature and the origin of human passions.
They were wise, but they were fools—they abandoned the Master for the servant. For in truth there is only One and all else is but a tool in His hand.
Modern man looks up to the headlines of the finance page and sees there all the forces that will make or break his career, his retirement plans, his success as a human being.
He too is a fool, for in truth there is only One and all else is but a tool in His hand.