Masekhet

Template:Short description Template:Italic title A (Template:Langx, Sephardic: Template:IPAc-en, Ashkenazic: Template:IPAc-en; plural ) is an organizational element of Talmudic literature that systematically examines a subject. In English it is often referred to as simply a tractate, though this can refer to treatises outside the Talmud as well.

A tractate/ consists of chapters (; singular: Template:Wikt-lang or ).

Etymology

The word – in its pausal form, (Template:Wikt-lang) – appears in the Hebrew Bible denoting web or texture (). The plain Hebrew meaning of the word is the warp and weft used in weaving. By extension, the word has been used to refer to a work of in-depth examination of a topic comprising discussions, research and conclusions. It refers in particular to the sections of the Mishnah, Tosefta, Beraita, and Gemara of the Babylonian and Yerushalaim Talmuds.

Usage

The "major" tractates, those of the Mishnah itself, are organized into six groups, called sedarim, while the minor tractates, which were not canonized in the Mishnah, stand alone.

The Mishnah comprises sixty-three tractates, each of which is divided into chapters and paragraphs. The same applies to the Tosefta. Each tractate is named after its principal subject, e.g., Masekhet Berakhoth, Masekhet Shabbath, or Masekhet Sanhedrin. The Aramaic word masekhta () is used interchangeably with the Hebrew word .

The following are the tractates of the Mishnah, in the six divisions known as (Orders):

The Babylonian Talmud has —rabbinical analysis of and commentary on the —on thirty-seven ; the Jerusalem Talmud has on thirty-nine .

The fifteen Minor Masekhtot are usually printed at the end of Seder Nezikin in the Talmud. They contain diverse subjects such as Aggadah including folklore, historical anecdotes, moral exhortations, practical advice in various spheres, laws and customs pertaining to death and mourning, engagement, marriage and co-habitation, deportment, manners and behavior, maxims urging self-examination and modesty, the ways of peace between people, regulations for writing Torah scrolls, Mezuzah, and Tefillin and for making Tzitzit, as well as conversion to Judaism.

Rabbinic literature that expounds upon such Talmudic literature may organize itself similarly (e.g. the Halachot by Alfasi), but many do not (e.g. Mishneh Torah by Maimonides). Non-Mishnaic literature, such as Midrash, even when from the Mishnaic-era, is not organized into tractates.