Both the Babylonian and Palestinian Talmuds are not commentaries on the Tanakh, if the Tanakh is the Christian old testament. A Talmud is the Mishnah plus commentary on the Mishnah called the Gemera. The Mishnah is not commentary on the old testament. The Mishnah "usually presents its conclusions without explicitly linking them to any scriptural passage." Some might claim or believe the Gemera has the words of God given to Moses in the form of oral tradition that were not written down initially but passed on by oral tradition only to be finally written down much later than the books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy but this is false. The Gemora actually contains debates by Rabbis. Does it really make sense that God would tell Moses at mount Sinai to pass down by oral tradition debates rabbis would have in the future about what God said or about what God meant by what he said in the past when talking to Moses on mount Sinai? Would God say I want you to tell the people that Rabbi so and so in the future will have said such and such was forbidden by me today but this other Rabbi will have said it was not forbidden by me today and I want you to tell everyone the words of what their debate will be in the future but I am not going to tell you the answer as to if such and such are forbidden or not because it actually does not matter if you know if it was forbidden today only that these two Rabbis in the future will debate if it was forbidden by me today in the past? There is also reason to doubt the Mishnah has a historical record of the words of the same God that supposedly has his words recorded in the books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. If you read the books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy it has phrases when translated to English similar to, "God said" that appear many times, especially before giving laws that many Christian readers today would claim were laws given by God for those people to obey during that time period and at that location. Now they might debate about whether or not those laws were meant to be obeyed at other time periods or locations but they will agree that if it was a historically accurate text and not a work of fiction that you can know God gave those rules because it said, "God said." Now some might say it is not a historically accurate text but it is a text about a fictional event which has a metaphorical meaning that is true but that would still be a type of fiction just like if George Orwell or Eric Blair's book Nineteen Eighty Four had metaphorical meanings that were true the history in it would still be fictitious and it would not be historically accurate. When reading each section of rules in a translation of the Mishnah please check if phrases with meanings similar to, "God said" occur somewhere near that section of rules to indicate the author of that section of text is actually claiming they were rules that, "God said." You can also count how many times phrases with meanings similar to, "God said" occur in a translation of the Mishnah then divide by the number of words in that translation of the Mishnah and compare that with Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy by counting how many times phrases with that meaning appear in the translation you are reading of those four books then dividing that by the number of words in that translation of those four books. It is more important however to know which sections are being claimed to contain words that God said by the author or authors of the book or books then to know how many times phrases like "God said" occur. A witness giving a written accoint claiming a individual called God said something can be considered evidence that gives reason to believe the individual called God might have said something but does not prove God said it because you do not know if the witness is telling the truth. However a witness giving a written account and not mentioning that God said something could be considered an absense of evidence that God said that thing. Does the Mishnah have evidence that God said the rules in it or does it contain a absense of such evidence? You can find out by reading it.
Copyright Carl Janssen 2022
"The Gemara (also transliterated Gemarah, or in Ashkenazi pronunciation Gemore; from Aramaic גמרא, from the Hebrew verb gamar, to finish or complete) is the component of the Talmud comprising rabbinical analysis of and commentary on the Mishnah. At first, Gemara was only spoken of in oral terms and was forbidden to be written down, however after the Mishnah was published by Judah the Prince (c. 200 CE), the work was studied exhaustively by generation after generation of rabbis in Babylonia and the Land of Israel.[1] Their discussions were written down in a series of books that became the Gemara, which when combined with the Mishnah constituted the Talmud."
http://web.archive.org/web/20220406194022/https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gemara
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While most discussions in the Mishnah concern the correct way to carry out laws recorded in the Torah, it usually presents its conclusions without explicitly linking them to any scriptural passage, though scriptural quotations do occur. For this reason it is arranged in order of topics rather than in the form of a Biblical commentary. (In a very few cases, there is no scriptural source at all and the law is described as Halakha leMoshe miSinai, "law to Moses from Sinai".)
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http://web.archive.org/web/20220409130219/https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mishnah
"There are two versions of the Gemara. The Jerusalem Talmud (Talmud Yerushalmi) or Palestinian Talmud was compiled by Jewish scholars of the Land of Israel, primarily of the academies of Tiberias and Caesarea, and was published between about 350–400 CE. The Talmud Bavli (Babylonian Talmud) was published about 500 CE by scholars of Babylonia, primarily of the academies of Sura, Pumbedita, and Nehardea. By convention, a reference to the "Gemara" or "Talmud," without further qualification, refers to the Babylonian version. The main compilers were Ravina and Rav Ashi."
http://web.archive.org/web/20220406194022/https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gemara
"The major repositories of the Oral Torah are the Mishnah, compiled between 200–220 CE by Rabbi Yehudah haNasi, and the Gemara, a series of running commentaries and debates concerning the Mishnah"
http://web.archive.org/web/20220324130839/https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oral_Torah
