“Rabbi Zera merely describes a stringent practice which Babylonian Jewish women had taken upon themselves”
This term, first used by medieval commentators (see Zimmerman, p. 27, note 6), is,...
Category Archives: Talmud
“The transformation of Hanukkah, as attested in the Babylonian Talmud, serves as an example of a religious dynamic stimulated by the arrival of new ‘religious knowledge'”
Religious tradition is adept at adaptation. The Babylonian Talmud, in particular, through analogy, and...
“…the focus of the holiday celebration has shifted from the synagogue to the domestic candle”
The Babylonian tradition involved only one light. The tradition of gradually increasing or decreasing...
“Judging from the volume and innovative quality of source material in the Babylonian Talmud in contrast with the rest of the rabbinic corpora, the Babylonian contribution would appear to have been quite decisive in shaping the holiday observances in the direction of emphasizing the kindling of light(s)”
Judging from the volume and innovative quality of source material in the Babylonian Talmud...
“It is the Babylonian Talmud that collects the traditions on Hanukkah and creates a lengthy, detailed and coherent discourse on the holiday…”
The rabbinic sources on Hanukkah, which are not numerous, are unevenly dispersed among the...
“It is exceedingly difficult to differentiate on formal or stylistic grounds among the layers of the Mishnah…”
It is exceedingly difficult to differentiate on formal or stylistic grounds among the layers...
“In discussing the use of אני in TL, it is necessary to distinguish between אני אומר used in contradiction, and שאני אומר used to introduce a reason for an opinion”
In discussing the use of אני in TL, it is necessary to distinguish between...
Differences of a famous midrash about Name, Language, and Clothing
Leviticus Rabbah 32:5 (M. Margoliot ed., Jerusalem 1958, vol. 4, p. 747) lists four...
“Sometimes in Tannaitic Literature, the relationship to a particular day appears (when the elements are not connected by relationship to a single man, nor by a common subject) as the essential connective element of a relatively large chapter”
…Sometimes in TL, the relationship to a particular day appears (when the elements are...
“For the Talmudic rabbis, Gedaliah was a prototype for how to deal with the most extreme political complexities”
Gedaliah, son of Ahikam, was the Jewish governor of biblical Judah. He was set...