What are the two main components of the Talmud called?

The two main components of the Talmud are the Mishnah and the Gemara. The Mishnah is an early written compilation of Jewish oral law, while the Gemara records later rabbinic discussion and analysis of the Mishnah.

The Mishnah was redacted around the beginning of the third century CE, traditionally associated with Judah ha-Nasi. Later scholars examined its laws, cases, wording, and implications. Their discussions, together with the Mishnah, form the Gemara and Talmudic structure.

There are two major Talmuds: the Babylonian Talmud and the Jerusalem Talmud, also called the Palestinian Talmud. Each contains the Mishnah alongside its own Gemara, though they differ in length, organization, and historical setting.

The Talmud is not simply a single narrative or a straightforward law code. It preserves debates, objections, interpretations, stories, and legal reasoning. A common mix-up is calling the entire Hebrew Bible “the Talmud”; the Hebrew Bible and the Talmud are different bodies of Jewish literature.