... texts. This chapter thus seeks to reconstruct a Judaic ‘passion’ narrative in which Jesus dies, and Pilate is innocent, from the ‘Judaean’ testimonies of a pagan philosopher (Celsus), from the pages of an illustrious rabbinic collection (Babylonian Talmud), and from a tradition of parodic...

... by the military expression of Roman power. The emphasis on spiritual power and the categorization of military power or the use of force as something foreign to Israel is a recurring theme in the Babylonian Talmud. Hebrew Bible Seder ‘Olam 5 Greek and Roman Literary Sources Numismatic Sources Deuterocanonical...

...This chapter studies Rashi's commentary on the Talmud. Rashi's most important literary creation, the work that gained him his greatest fame through the ages, is his commentary on the Babylonian Talmud, one of the finest Hebrew works ever written. Other sages preceded him in writing commentaries...

... on a dichotomy between the “received” knowledge of Scripture and oral tradition, on the one hand, and the innovative, creative aspects of study on the other. Building on the work of Daniel Boyarin, Jeffrey Rubenstein, and others who showed that the Babylonian Talmud places a high value on dialectic and analysis...

... the Babylonian Talmud marks as its opponents—the tanna'im—had a role in the shaping of Hekhalot traditions. Finally, the chapter suggests, based on the fact that the Hekhalot texts enter Jewish history as texts transmitted by Babylonian reciters, as well as on other connections between...

...This book has argued that it is precisely when the Babylonian Talmud's creators seem most conservative—when they preserve traditions rather than reject or revise them—that we find their most profound break with tradition. It has examined recitation as a practice against which the Talmud's creators...

... of them are found either in the Babylonian Talmud or in the Hekhalot literature, most notably in 3 Enoch. The Metatron of the Bavli and the Hekhalot literature is a deliberate response on the part of the Babylonian Jews to the challenges posed by Christianity. angels Enoch Hekhalot Metatron Son of Man...

... Mishnah exegesis hermeneutics forced interpretation Talmudic law emendation philological interpretation Babylonian Talmud Palestinian Talmud The Mishnah ¹ is the central work of Jewish law (halakhah) stemming from the so-called Tannaitic period ² (see...

..., and with the traditional Orthodox view that women are not obligated in Torah study generally, nor is it seemly for them to study Talmud. It analyses the volumes of the Babylonian Talmud, which are shelved on the rear right side of the beis medresh, right behind the table where the author is most...

...This chapter links a Sephardi tradition about the written Talmud to an influential theory in medieval Arabic literary theory and practice. It reviews the text of the Babylonian Talmud that played significantly different roles in the Jewish communities of Ashkenaz and Sepharad, which is the most...

... the Babylonian Talmud achieve the dominance in the religious life of Ashkenaz. The chapter challenges this underlying premise, namely, that the nascent Ashkenazic community was located in some transalpine corner of Europe with only a tenuous connection to the East and dependent on a single cultural source whose...

... consensus that the roots of Ashkenaz lie deep in Palestinian soil. It challenges the widespread notion that it was immemorial custom that primarily governed Early Ashkenaz. It similarly rejects the theory that it was only towards the middle of the eleventh century that the Babylonian Talmud came...

... of the Sabbath Sacrifice, human beings feel themselves to be in the presence of the praising angels. In the Hekhalot literature, the yored merkavah participates in the heavenly liturgy. The Babylonian Talmud, like Gregory, describes earthly and heavenly worship in separate spheres...

...This chapter examines the literary features in the Babylonian Talmud. The Gemara's use of earlier rabbinic voices appears partly carefully orchestrated and partly merely accumulative. The lemmatic division which defines the Gemara as a commentary of sorts on the Mishnah is described...

...The Babylonian Talmud introduces an entirely new standard for testing a woman’s virginity—a groom’s subjective experience of his bride as an “open door” rather than “locked.” This standard places even greater power in the hands of men, thus diminishing the safety of new brides. At the same time...

..., an insatiable desire for luxury that is also expressed in lust and licentiousness—to critique elite Roman decadence and moral degradation. These stories also reveal a striking departure from the conventional beauty politics of rabbinic culture. Elsewhere, the Babylonian Talmud frequently portrays women’s beauty...

...Chapter 4 assesses the use of Psalms 1 and 2 in rabbinic and medieval Judaism: in the Babylonian Talmud, where the two psalms are read as one; in the Aramaic Targum, where each psalm serves to define Jewish identity in the context of Gentile hostility; in Midrash Tehillim...

... by the Babylonian Talmud to show that the criminal is permanently buried in a location separate from the family burial site. It argues that the Mishnah’s laws prescribing separate burial, prohibiting the relatives from mourning, and requiring the relatives to reconcile with the court are all means of asserting...

...This book situates the Babylonian Talmud, or Bavli, in its cultural context by reading several rich rabbinic stories against the background of Greek, Syriac, Arabic, Persian, and Mesopotamian literature of late antiquity and the early Middle Ages, much of it Christian in origin. The book argues...

... that where the two are in conflict the Babylonian Talmud is generally followed. If, however, one is to do justice to the idea of the halakhah as a developing system, it is essential to note that the Talmud itself has to be seen as the end product of a very lengthy process. The notion of development is built...