History Literature / TheTalmud

* RonTheDeathEater: In Literature/TheBible, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esau Esau]] was a rival to his brother Jacob, but nowhere near an outright villain (and remember, Jacob tricked ''him'' out of ''his'' birthright). He even forgives Jacob when they meet again as adults.[[note]]Jacob did give him a lot of livestock though.[[/note]] However, since he was considered to be the ancestor of the Edomites, enemies of the Israelites,[[note]]The Edomites didn't exist as a nation by the first century, but they were considered by the rabbis to be the ancestors of all the nations and people that have persecuted Jews throughout history, including [[Literature/BookOfEsther Haman]] and Rome[[/note]] he was given a HistoricalVillainUpgrade. According to the Talmud, he was a [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking rapist, murderer, and he denied God]]. He also [[KickTheDog tried to prevent Jacob being buried]] with Abraham and Isaac in the Cave of the Patriarchs, claiming that as firstborn he had the right to be buried there.

* WhenYouSnatchThePebble: this book has often been used as a collection of pebbles to be snatched as in ''Literature/TheChosen''. That is after all how [[TeenGenius young scholars]] are trained.

* JesusWasWayCool: Averted and inverted...maybe. It's very controversial whether any passages refers to Jesus ''at all'', as the term Yeshu, while very similar to Jesus' Hebrew name Yeshua, was a very common given name during the first century BCE. There are also a great number of major discrepancies between the life of Jesus and the life of Yeshu as described in the Talmud, ranging from being killed differently on different days in different cities, and only having a disciple with the same name in common. Since there is historical context given for many of the stories which include the Talmudic Yeshu, some of which make Yeshu himself and his step-father out to have been alive during events that occurred in 104 BCE and 135 CE respectively, it seems pretty darn unlikely for the Yeshu mention to have been Jesus. In modern times the argument is mainly used by anti-semites to imply that the Talmud is inherently anti-Christian. Regardless of who Yeshu is, none of the Talmud editions have much good to say about him, and some specifically say (in Gittin 57) that he's being [[FireAndBrimstoneHell punished in Hell]] for [[ValuesDissonance being an apostate]].

* TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt: God desires this in Tractate Sanhedrin. Averted when He catches sight of Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah - the three righteous men from the Literature/BookOfDaniel.

* TheGoldenRule: In one story, Hillel the Elder, is challenged by a Gentile to teach him the whole of the Torah while he stood on one foot. Hillel replies with this: "What is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow. This is the whole Torah; the rest is the explanation - go and learn."

** Defied. Some Talmudic arguments get into laws relating to cases which could never actually happen, in order to deduce the exact criteria and details of a particular ruling. However, as TechnologyMarchesOn, some of these rulings may actually become relevant later - the Talmud contains laws concerning situations which could be compared to in vitro fertilization and even artificial intelligence.

* OneSteveLimit: Averted. Because the Talmud includes rabbis from several generations, there are several rabbis who share names (like the various Rabbi Yose's and Rabbi Yehuda's) while others (like Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Elazar) differ only by one letter. Often they are described as "Rabbi X son of Y"; sometimes they are given adjectives, like "Rabbi Yochanan the Shoemaker" (though that one might actually translate as “Yochanan of Alexandria"— like we said, complicated).

* WorldsMostBeautifulWoman: Four of them - [[SilverFox Sarah]], Rahab, Abigail, and Esther (or possibly Vashti). Distinct from the world's ''sexiest'' women (Rahab, Jael, Abigail, and Michal). One sage cited claimed that any man who'd met Rahab [[JizzedInMyPants would ejaculate if they said her name twice]].

* DiedOnTheirBirthday: The Talmud teaches that Moses was both born and died on the 7th of Adar. The three patriarchs and King David are also believed to have passed away on their birthdays. ''Rosh Hashana'' 11a claims that the reason for this is that God sits and “completes the years of the righteous from day to day and from month to month,” based on a [[Literature/TheBible Biblical]] verse, “The number of your days I will fulfill” (Exodus 23:26). In other words, dying on one's own birthday is considered a sign that a righteous soul had completed their God-given Earthly mission.

The Talmud was a frequent target of anti-semitic pogroms in the European Middle Ages, due to its denial of Jesus' divinity and a possible claim that he was an illegitimate son of a Roman soldier. Sort of. The figure assumed to be Jesus is mentioned as being alive at the turn of the first century BC, and his step-father is mentioned as being among those martyred by the Romans in 135 CE, making the connection particularly hard to swallow. It's actually unclear if the Talmud ever mentions Jesus or just several people that were named Jesus (or "Yeshu") but regardless, this was the assumption that many used to persecute Jewish populations.

* DiedOnTheirBirthday: The Talmud teaches that Moses was both born and died on the 7th of Adar. The three patriarchs and King David are also believed to have passed away on their birthdays. ''Rosh Hashana'' 11a claims that the reason for this is that God sits and “completes the years of the righteous from day to day and from month to month,” based on a [[Literature/TheBible Biblical]] verse, “The number of your days I will fulfill” (Exodus 23:26).

* MakingLoveInAllTheWrongPlaces: Before destroying the Temple, the future Emperor Titus goes into the inner sanctum with a prostitute and [[UpToEleven has sex with her on top of a spread-out Torah scroll]].

* JesusWasWayCool: Averted and inverted...maybe. It's very controversial whether any passages refers to Jesus ''at all'', as the term Yeshu, while very similar to Jesus' Hebrew name Yeshua, was a very common given name during the first century BCE. There are also a great number of major discrepancies between the life of Jesus and the life of Yeshu as described in the Talmud, ranging from being killed differently on different days in different cities, and only having a disciple with the same name in common. Since there is historical context given for many of the stories which include the Talmudic Yeshu, some of which make Yeshu himself and his step-father out to have been alive during events that occurred in 104 BC and 135 CE respectively, it seems pretty darn unlikely for the Yeshu mention to have been Jesus. In modern times the argument is mainly used by anti-semites to imply that the Talmud is inherently anti-Christian. Regardless of who Yeshu is, none of the Talmud editions have much good to say about him, and some specifically say (in Gittin 57) that he's being [[FireAndBrimstoneHell punished in Hell]] for [[ValuesDissonance being an apostate]].

* JewsLoveToArgue: The Talmud is the TropeMaker. A page of the Talmud is like a layer cake of Jewish arguments, with the original Torah verse at the center, the original criticisms written around it, and centuries of further criticisms going around ''that'' in a crazed spiral.

* CreateYourOwnVillain: The patriarchs turned away a prospective convert named Timna. She settled for marrying into Esau's family, and her son was the progenitor of the Amalekites.

* BullyingADragon: The second half of the Oven of Akhnai. The other rabbis decide against Rabbi Eliezer on the matter of the titular oven, after they've seen him perform multiple miracles and prove that God Himself is on his side. Okay, but then they further decide to have him formally shunned for his dissenting opinion. His student volunteers to break him to it gently in hopes that he won't end up ''destroying the world'' in his grief. As it is, he ''only'' trashes a third of the world's crops. He later ends up killing their leader, his own brother-in-law, with a particularly fervent bout of prayer (the man had previously been spared from a storm at sea while all the crop-destruction was going on by telling God he acted for the greater good, not for his own benefit, but then Eliezer "pressed charges" with the anguish of his prayer and that was it for him).

* LoopholeAbuse: Defied. Some Talmudic arguments get into laws relating to cases which could never actually happen, in order to deduce the exact criteria and details of a particular ruling. However, as TechnologyMarchesOn, some of these rulings may actually become relevant later - the Talmud contains laws concerning situations which could be compared to in vitro fertilization and even artificial intelligence.

* BullyingADragon: The second half of the Oven of Akhnai. The other rabbis decide against Rabbi Eliezer on the matter of the titular oven, after they've seen him perform multiple miracles and prove that God Himself is on his side. Okay, but then they further decide to have him formally shunned for his dissenting opinion. His student volunteers to break him to it gently in hopes that he won't end up ''destroying the world'' in his grief. As it is, he ''only'' trashes a third of the world's crops. He later ends up killing their leader (his own brother-in-law) in a particularly fervent bout of prayer.

* Moed (Appointed Times), relating to various holidays like Sabbath, Rosh Hashana, Purim, Passover, etc. Chanukah is almost completely unmentioned in the Talmud, getting only a few pages' worth of material in Tractate Megillah, which deals with Purim.