What Is the Talmud?
The State of the Question
Published on 12. May 2026
Book
Hardback
904 pages
978-0-674-30556-4 (ISBN)
Description
The Babylonian Talmud, or Bavli, stands as one of the central pillars of Jewish intellectual, cultural, and religious life. But what, precisely, is this monumental and heterogenous compilation? How was it formed, redacted, and transmitted? Who composed it and for what purpose? How was it shaped by its broader cultures and historical period? How was it received and re-conceived by subsequent generations, and what has the Talmud become in our day?
What Is the Talmud? collects essays that provide a comprehensive exploration of the Talmud's origins, compilation, and redaction; its diverse genres and discursive practices; its historical and cultural setting; its preservation and study across generations; and its enduring influence on Jewish life and culture today.
What Is the Talmud? collects essays that provide a comprehensive exploration of the Talmud's origins, compilation, and redaction; its diverse genres and discursive practices; its historical and cultural setting; its preservation and study across generations; and its enduring influence on Jewish life and culture today.
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Cambridge, Mass
United States
Illustrations
27 photos
Dimensions
Height: 238 mm
Width: 164 mm
Thickness: 60 mm
Weight
1566 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-674-30556-4 (9780674305564)
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Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Christine Hayes is Sterling Professor Emerita of Jewish Studies at Yale University, and a Senior Research Fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute of North America. She is the author of Gentile Impurities and Jewish Identities and What's Divine about Divine Law? Early Perspectives. Jay M. Harris is Harvard College Professor and Harry Austryn Wolfson Professor of Jewish Studies at Harvard University. He is the author of How Do We Know This: Midrash and the Fragmentation of Modern Judaism.