Babylonian Talmud – Excerpted

“the Talmud only makes sense to the reader who has already read it; a first reading of the Talmud only happens during its second reading”

5 April 2020 Drew KaplanBabylonian Talmud

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 Siyum HaShas “Shockingly Has Nothing to Do with the Talmud Bavli”

2 January 2020 Drew KaplanBabylonian 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”

8 January 20197 January 2019 Drew KaplanBabylonian Talmud

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 Korean Talmud and its outsized popularity can thus also be understood as a form of Occidentalism”

8 January 20197 January 2019 Drew KaplanBabylonian Talmud

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[…]

“recycling…is the likely explanation for the relative scarcity of metal finds at major urban centres at opposite ends of the Sasanian empire…”

31 October 201831 October 2018 Drew KaplanBabylonian Talmud

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[…]

Cultivated Crops during the Time of the Babylonian Talmud

31 October 2018 Drew KaplanBabylonian Talmud

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,[…]

“…the most important source for mapping Jewish settlement and…urban reality as a whole in Sasanian Babylonia is the Babylonian Talmud”

27 September 201827 September 2018 Drew KaplanBabylonian Talmud

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, beer is discussed at length in the Babylonian Talmud and, naturally, the vocabulary is Mesopotamian”

12 June 20176 September 2017 Drew KaplanBabylonian Talmud

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][…]

“The practice of waiting seven blood-free days following the end of a regular menstrual period is variously described in the Talmud as heḥemiru al atzman, minhaga, and halakhah pesukah, indicating that a variety of attitudes existed as to the severity of the requirement”

6 June 20176 September 2017 Drew KaplanAmoraim

Zimmerman is correct in saying that a seven-day wait after any bleeding has become standard practice, almost never dispensed with. However, she gives the incorrect impression that the seven-day wait after a menstrual period of[…]

“…the term halakhah pesukah need not be considered the opposite of minhaga. It may simply mean a rule that cannot be questioned or supported on the basis of conventional talmudic dialectics”

25 May 20172 January 2020 Drew KaplanAmoraim

Perhaps it can be argued that the ḥumra of the daughters of Israel is termed a halakhah pesukah not because it is “a ruling that all agree to,” as explained by Zimmerman (this is an[…]

Excerpted

Excerpts of Interest

Category: Babylonian Talmud

“the Talmud only makes sense to the reader who has already read it; a first reading of the Talmud only happens during its second reading”

The Siyum HaShas “Shockingly Has Nothing to Do with the Talmud Bavli”

“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”

“The Korean Talmud and its outsized popularity can thus also be understood as a form of Occidentalism”

“recycling…is the likely explanation for the relative scarcity of metal finds at major urban centres at opposite ends of the Sasanian empire…”

Cultivated Crops during the Time of the Babylonian Talmud

“…the most important source for mapping Jewish settlement and…urban reality as a whole in Sasanian Babylonia is the Babylonian Talmud”

“Being the principal alcoholic beverage of Mesopotamia, beer is discussed at length in the Babylonian Talmud and, naturally, the vocabulary is Mesopotamian”

“The practice of waiting seven blood-free days following the end of a regular menstrual period is variously described in the Talmud as heḥemiru al atzman, minhaga, and halakhah pesukah, indicating that a variety of attitudes existed as to the severity of the requirement”

“…the term halakhah pesukah need not be considered the opposite of minhaga. It may simply mean a rule that cannot be questioned or supported on the basis of conventional talmudic dialectics”