In addition to the 63 standard tractates of the Babylonian Talmud, there are a number of smaller tractates which were composed in geonic times. In the editions of the Talmud they are appended to the fourth order, Nezikin. They consist of material which is only found in part in the existing tractates, and seven brief treatises which collate all the material scattered throughout the Talmud on the specific topics with which they deal. The minor tractates are Gerim; consisting of four chapters: (1) The preliminary procedure for receiving proselytes is detailed; (2) Regulations are set forth regarding the circumcision, ritual bath, and sacrifice, of converts; (3) The ger toshav is defined by Meir as one who has merely renounced idolatry, although according to Judah he is one who will only eat the meat of ritually slaughtered animals; (4) Jews are exhorted to maintain a friendly attitude toward proselytes. Kutim, which regulates the relationship between Samaritans, Jews, and gentiles, in two chapters: (1) Sales to and intermarriage with Samaritans are prohibited since they desecrate holy objects, but it is permitted to lend them money; (2) Buying meat, wine, cheese, and bread from the Samaritans is discussed. Avadim containing three chapters: (1) The validity of the regulations concerning Hebrew slaves is limited to the period when the Jubilee is observed, and the purchase and manumission of bondmen is detailed; (2) The relationship between the master and his slave, the slave's family's obligation to redeem him, and his status after redemption are discussed; (3) The details of the ceremony prescribed for a slave who does not wish to go free, and the acquiring of freedom by a slave when he is sold to a non-Jew or outside of Palestine are given.

Sefer Torah with five chapters: (1) details of the writing material that may be utilized are given; (2) the blank spaces that must be left between sections of the scroll are explained; (3) laws for the reading and respect of the Torah are given; (4) the names of God and the interdiction against erasing them are explained; (5) the method for writing God's names is laid down. These five chapters are almost identical with the first five chapters of Soferim. Tefillin contains only one chapter, and it gives the rules for writing the biblical passages on the parchment of the tefillin, the manner and time of wearing them, and those persons who are obligated to wear them.

Zizit consists of only one chapter which details the regulations of the fringes (Num. 15:38–40; Deut. 22:12). It discusses such topics as the persons who are obligated to obey this law, the garments which are exempt, the number of threads in each fringe, and the manner of dyeing the blue thread that is part of the fringes. Mezuzah: Mezuzah has two chapters: (1) details are given of the parchment to be used and the types of doorposts that require a mezuzah; (2) the exact spot for the mezuzah, its case, and differences in regulations for houses within and outside of Palestine are discussed. In the Romm edition of the Talmud, only Gerim has a detailed commentary, entitled Nahalat Ya'akov, by R. Jacob Neuberg of Offenbach. His commentary on the first five chapters of Soferim also serves as a commentary to Sefer Torah. More recent commentaries to these tractates were published by Samuel I. Hillman of London and R. Hayyim Kanievsky of Bene-Berak (1963–65).

Raphael Kirchheim was a German scholar; born in Frankfort-on-the-Main 1804; died there Sept. 6, 1889. For some time he was shohetin the Orthodox congregation of Samson Raphael Hirsch in Frankfort, in which city he spent his whole life. He assented to the protest of the seventy-seven Orthodox rabbis against the decrees of the Rabbinical Conference at Brunswick (1844), and attacked in an open letter ("Offener Brief," 1845), signed "K-m," A. Adler, rabbi of Worms. When Abraham Geiger became rabbi at Frankfort, Kirchheim developed into a radical partizan of Reform. He had then to give up his position as shohet, but being a partner in a banking firm he had ample means. Kirchheim was of a pugnacious disposition and took a very active part in the general attack on the Amsterdam administration of the Halukkah in 1843-44, which was especially directed against Hirsch Lehren of Amsterdam, president of the board of administration. Kirchheim severely criticized R. Hirsch's "Der Pentateuch" in a pamphlet entitled "Die Neue Exegetenschule: Eine Kritische Dornenlese" (Breslau, 1867). Kirchheim published: S. L. Rapoport's "Tokahat Megullah, Sendschreiben an die Rabbinerversammlung zu Frankfurt-am-Main" (Hebr. and German, the translation being by Kirchheim himself), Frankfort-on-the-Main, 1845; R. Azulai's "Shem ha-Gedolim" and "Va'ad la-Hakamim" with the annotations of A. Fuld and E. Carmoly, ib. 1847; Eliezer Ashkenazi's Ta'am Zekenim," ib. 1854; B. Goldberg's edition of Jonah ibn Janah's "Sefer ha-Rikmah," with additional notes of his, ib. 1856; "Perush 'al Dibre ha-Yamim, Commentar zur Chronik aus dem X Jahrhundert," ib. 1874; Abraham Geiger's "Nachgelassene Schriften," v. 1, Berlin, 1877. He wrote also additional notes to: A. Ginzburg's "Perush ReDaK 'al ha-Torah," Presburg, 1842; S. Werblumer's edition of Joseph ibn Caspi's "'Ammude Kesef," ib. 1848; and Filipowski's "Sefer Teshubot Dunash ben Labrah." Besides he published many articles in German magazines. Kirchheim left a valuable collection of Hebraica and Judaica, which at present belongs to the religious school of the M. Horovitz Synagogue at Frankfort.