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The Talmud

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Talmud, the written version of Jewish oral law and one of the most important texts of Judaism.

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the history and contents of the Talmud, one of the most important texts of Judaism. The Talmud was probably written down over a period of several hundred years, beginning in the 2nd century. It contains the authoritative text of the traditional Jewish oral law, and also an account of early Rabbinic discussion of, and commentary on, these laws. In later centuries scholars wrote important commentaries on these texts, which remain central to most strands of modern Judaism.

With:

Philip Alexander
Emeritus Professor of Jewish Studies at the University of Manchester

Rabbi Norman Solomon
Former Lecturer at the Oxford Centre for Jewish and Hebrew Studies

Laliv Clenman
Lecturer in Rabbinic Literature at Leo Baeck College and a Visiting Lecturer at the Department of Theology and Religious Studies, King's College London

Producer: Thomas Morris.

Available now

48 minutes

Last on

Thu 29 May 2014 21:30

LINKS AND FURTHER READING

READING LIST:

Rachel Adler, Engendering Judaism (Jewish Publication Society, 1998)

Shaye Cohen, Beginnings of Jewishness: Boundaries, Varieties, Uncertainties (University of California Press, 2001)

Eliezer Diamond, Holy Men and Hunger Artists: Fasting and Asceticism in Rabbinic Culture (Oxford University Press, 2003)

I. Epstein (ed.), The Babylonian Talmud (translated into English with notes, glossary, and indices, Soncino Press, first edition 1935-1948, second edition 1978)

Charlotte E. Fonrobert and Martin S. Jaffee (eds.), The Cambridge Companion to the Talmud and Rabbinic Literature (Cambridge University Press, 2007)

Martin Goodman and Philip Alexander (eds.), Rabbinic Texts and the History of Late-Roman Palestine (Oxford University Press/British Academy, 2011)

Louis Jacobs, Rabbinic Thought in the Talmud (Vallentine Mitchell, 2005)

Ishay Rosen-Zvi, Demonic Desires: 鈥淵etzer Hara鈥 and the Problem of Evil in Late Antiquity (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2011)

Michael L. Satlow, Jewish Marriage in Antiquity (Princeton University Press, 2001)

Paul Socken (ed.), Why Study Talmud in the Twenty-First Century? The Relevance of the Ancient Jewish Text to Our World (Rowman & Littlefield, 2009)

Norman Solomon, The Talmud: A Selection (Penguin, 2009)

Norman Solomon, A Very Short Introduction to Judaism (Oxford University Press, first edition 1996, revised edition 2014)

Adin Steinsaltz, The Essential Talmud (Basic Books, 2006)

Adin Steinsaltz, The Talmud: A Reference Guide (Maggid, 2013)

H. L. Strack and G. Stemberger, Introduction to the Talmud and Midrash (T&T Clark, 1996)

Credits

Role Contributor
Presenter Melvyn Bragg
Interviewed Guest Philip Alexander
Interviewed Guest Norman Solomon
Interviewed Guest Laliv Clenman
Producer Thomas Morris

Broadcasts

  • Thu 29 May 2014 09:00
  • Thu 29 May 2014 21:30

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