The "Ten Commandments" (as chrstians wrongly call them) are part of the Holy Torah, which was written before the universe was created. "Talmud" (which means "learning") is actually a form of logic and study of the Oral Torah that was given along with the Written Torah on Mt. Sinai. There was a whole routine of study by the entire Jewish nation which is summarized in one of Rambam's works (I'm not sure which one, though it's probably Mishneh Torah). This oral instruction was passed on from generation to generation and was actually forbidden to be written down until the days of the evil Emperor Hadrian (rot his bones!). He unleashed such a persecution on the Jews that the Oral Torah was actually in danger of being totally lost (G-d forbid!). In such a case it was permitted to write it down to conserve it for posterity.
The set of volumes called the "Talmud" consist of two parts: the Mishnah and the Gamarah. The Mishnah was finalized by Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi' in the third chrstian century. The Gamarah was finalized in the fourth century. It is not a mere list of laws but contains arguments and discussions on almost every issue because what it is trying to teach is not merely laws but the method of Halakhic reasonig demanded by the Oral Torah as conveyed to Moses.
I know Catholics and Orthodox hypocritically hate the Talmud (after all, they all exalt their own unwritten traditions and post-Biblical writings), but it's a shame to see American Fundamentalist Protestants falling for this Nazi nonsense.
And by the way--please save your time and don't start re-fighting the Reformation here. That's a Catholic/Protestant thing and has absolutely no meaning in the context of Torah.
My mistake. It was the fifth chrstian century, as another poster pointed out. I regret the error.
“trying to teach is not merely laws but the method of Halakhic reasoning”
That makes your position no better than those of the Catholics,Orthodox, and especially the protestants.
You speak of a “method” of interpretation demanded by the Oral Torah but that still sounds like the “traditions and rituals of men”. Messiah, as I admittedly understand him to be(and accept the fact that you don’t; just admitting my own prebias.), had criticized the religious leaders of his day for following such traditions and methods of interpretation, INSTEAD of the direct commands of the Torah itself.
So are you not simply declaring a pox on the Christians while not admitting to the pustulating lesions you yourself are scraping in vain but finding no relief for the same itch?