Where early generations of Babylonian Amoraim employed a system of strict liability in deciding civil cases, sages of the third generation began to employ subjective considerations, but in an inconsistent manner. It was not until[…]
The fourth century was a period of great innovation in the history of Talmudic jurisprudence and legal conceptualization. Much of this may be attributed to the great fourth generation sage Rava, arguably the most creative[…]
The Talmud is not a book to be read, but a book to do things with – not a book to think about but a book to think with; and beginning to read the Talmud[…]
The Event Shockingly Has Nothing to Do with the Talmud Bavli. I kind of knew to expect this—forgive me if what follows sounds hopelessly naïve—but I was struck by how the event had no educational[…]
Philologists can sometimes forget that texts are not themselves autonomous subjects that move here and there, or chameleons that change color to fit the scenery. What numerous intertalmudic parallels throughout the Bavli and Yerushalmi—including collections[…]
The turn to the Talmud as a book of Western wisdom in Japan, Korea, and China is reminiscent of a similar interest in and fetishizing of Eastern wisdom in the West. On a visit to[…]
It should be remembered that recycling is not a modern Western concept, but is deeply rooted in human behaviour and economic practice and is the likely explanation for the relative scarcity of metal finds at[…]
As in earlier periods, the staple crops were wheat, barley and dates. A daily grain market is referred to at Nehardea (Avodah Zarah 38b) and the twin towns of Hini and Shili, somewhere near Sura,[…]
By far, the most important source for mapping Jewish settlement and, in a sense, urban reality as a whole in Sasanian Babylonia is the Babylonian Talmud. The dearth of any substantial late antique Jewish archaeology[…]
Being the principal alcoholic beverage of Mesopotamia, it is discussed at length in the Babylonian Talmud and, naturally, the vocabulary is Mesopotamian. Its preparation is short, less than a week: They may put in [ingredients][…]