Midrash Tanchuma Beresheet on the Order of Creation

"Rabbi Yitzchak said: When a mortal builds a palace, be begins building from the bottom and then builds the upper part. But, the Holy One, Blessed Is He, first built the upper part and then He built the lower part, as it is stated, 'In the beginning of God's creating the heaven', and then afterward, 'and the earth'."

-- Midrash Tanchuma, Beresheet §4

Midrash Rabbah Vayiqra on the Eight Character Traits of Moses

"Any Torah scholar who lacks knowledge (Da'at), an animal carcass is better than he. Know that this is so. Go forth and learn from Moses, the father of wisdom, the father of the prophets, who took Israel out of Egypt, and through whom numerous miracles were performed in Egypt, and awe-inspiring deeds at the Sea of Reeds, who ascended to the heavens above and brought down the Torah from heaven, and who was the one who concerned himself with the work of constructing the Tabernacle. Yet, he did not enter the innermost chamber of the Tabernacle until God called him, as it is stated, 'He called to Moses and God spoke to him' (Leviticus 1:1)."

-- Midrash Rabbah, Leviticus 1.15


FATHER OF WISDOM : Chesed
FATHER OF PROPHETS : Hod
OUT OF EGYPT : Malkhut
NUMEROUS MIRACLES : Gevurah
AWE-INSPIRING DEEDS: Netzach
ASCENDED TO THE HEAVENS : Yesod
TORAH FROM HEAVEN : Tif'eret
TABERNACLE : Keter, Chokhmah, Binah

Introduction to Mishnah and Talmud

The Talmud is the Mishnah and the Gemara. Gemara means Completion. The Gemara is the completion of the Mishnah. The Mishnah is written with an extreme brevity of language; its statements are highly-terse and compact, requiring it to be unpacked and expanded in order to fully understand.

The Sages of the Mishnah began their tradition long before the writing the the Talmud as we know it today (these sages are referred to as "Tanna'im"), which consists of the redaction of the Mishnah and the much lengthier Gemara, which comprises the overwhelming bulk of the text of the Talmud.

The Gemara is the accumulated documentation of a period of intense Torah scholarship that lasted for well over 300 years. The scholars whose debates and inquiries are recorded in the Gemara are known as the "Amora'im".

There are in fact two Talmuds: Talmud Yerushalmi and Talmud Bavli. The Talmud Yerushalmi was begun slightly earlier than the Bavli. The Yerushalmi was written in Eretz Yisrael while the Bavli was written in Babylonia.

Talmud Yerushalmi contains a Gemara for every Tractate until the end of the Fourth Order of the Mishnah. The Sages of Yisrael were unable to complete the redaction of the Gemara for all Six Orders of the Mishnah. Talmud Bavli contains a Gemara for almost every Tractate for the Second through the Fifth Order of the Mishnah.

So for neither the Yerushalmi or the Bavli were the Sages able to finish the Gemara. The major missing component of both Talmuds is therefore the Sixth Order of the Mishnah, the Order of Purities.

The result of this analysis proves that the Sixth Order of the Mishnah remains the most elusive and difficult to understand of all the Orders of the Mishnah.

Talmud Yerushalmi on Keeping a Torah Scroll in the House

"If one sells a Torah scroll he inherited from his father, he will never see a sign of blessing. But whoever keeps a Torah scroll in his house, about him scripture states, 'Wealth and riches are in his house, and his righteousness endures forever' (Psalms 112:3)."

-- Talmud Yerushalmi, Bikkurim 26b


"A continuous fire shall burn upon the altar; it shall not go out." 

-- Leviticus 6:6