Rabbinic literature, in its broadest sense, can mean the entire spectrum of
rabbinic writings throughout
Jewish history. However, the term often refers specifically to literature from the
Talmudic era, as opposed to
medieval and modern rabbinic writing, and thus corresponds with the
Hebrew term
Sifrut Hazal (ספרות חז"ל; "Literature [of our] sages [of] blessed memory," where
Hazal normally refers
only to the sages of the Talmudic era). This more specific sense of "Rabbinic literature"—referring to the
Talmudim,
Midrash (
Hebrew: מדרש);, and related writings, but hardly ever to later texts—is how the term is generally intended when used in contemporary academic writing. On the other hand, the terms
meforshim and
parshanim (commentaries/commentators) almost always refer to later, post-Talmudic writers of Rabbinic glosses on
Biblical and Talmudic texts.