Synopsis
The Babylonian Talmud (Bavli) is a symphony of hundreds of voices, including legal rulings, folklore, biblical interpretations, and rabbinic legends. Each of these voices was originally issued in a distinct generation but was only captured and frozen in time by the Talmud s editors, who lived during the fifth through seventh centuries C.E. Reconstructing the Talmud introduces the modern Talmud student to the techniques developed over the last century for uncovering how this literature developed. Opening with an extended introduction outlining the methods employed by scholars to engage in such analysis, Reconstructing the Talmud proceeds with nine examples concretely demonstrating how such methods are applied to actual passages from the Bavli. Sorting out the layers of the Bavli, understanding each layer within its cultural and historical context, and comparing it with earlier sources, reveals a dynamic world of change, debate, halakhic diversity and development far richer and more nuanced than that which is evident in the static and fixed text of the printed edition. Reconstructing the Talmud introduces the reader to the world of academic Talmudic research and opens new venues of exploration and understanding of one of the world's great literary treasures.
Review
The work of academic Talmud scholars has for too long been cloistered within the inner circle of the initiated. Reconstruction the Talmud invites the English reader to save this intriguing discipline, within the context of important halakhic and aggadic themes upon which new light has been shed. The school engendered by the groundbreaking work of the colossi Jacob Nahum Epstein and Saul Lieberman has been a beehive of activity for a generation. Joshua Kulp and Jason Rogoff provide a beautiful distillation of the scholarly tools and their application to text and subjects central to our interests. A must for the intellectually curious Talmud student, this well-written and engaging work has the capacity for providing a quantum leap towards opening the most fascinating development in Talmud scholarship to a deserving audience. --Shamma Friedman, 2014 Israel Prize Recipient in the Field of Talmud
Kulp's and Rogoff's Reconstructing the Talmud presents a superb introduction to the academic, critical study of the Babylonian Talmud. It beautifully bridges the Israeli and American academic worlds. Different from most existing introductions this book does not merely discuss the various theories of the making of the Talmud. Rather, as a critical commentary it models the ways in which awareness of such theories aid the study of the Talmud for beginning students. The thoughtful didactic presentation of the commentaries to the wide range of Talmudic passages selected for this book is simply inspired: clearly the fruit of many years of teaching. Kulp and Rogoff have rendered what will turn out an indispensable service to the anglophone readership seeking serious engagement with the Talmud. --Charlotte Fonrobert, Stanford University
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