Talmudic Stories

by Rubenstein, Jeffrey L.

• ISBN13: 9780801877544
• ISBN10: 0801877547
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-09-24
• Publisher: Johns Hopkins Univ Pr

Summary

How should we understand the stories of the Babylonian Talmud? Where do they come from? Why are they in the Talmud? How do they relate to Talmudic law? In Talmudic Stories, Jeffrey Rubenstein deepens our appreciation for the complexity of these texts by drawing attention to the literary aspects and cultural contexts that are essential to understanding their narrative art, meanings, and importance. Focusing on six famous stories of the Babylonian Talmud and discussing many others in relation to these, Rubenstein's analysis illuminates the ways in which the rabbis used narratives to grapple with fundamental tensions of their culture. The book also features an appendix including the original Hebrew/Aramaic texts for the reader's reference.

Author Biography

Jeffrey L. Rubenstein is an associate professor in the Skirball Department of Hebrew and Judaic Studies at New York University. He is the author of The History of Sukkot in the Second Temple and Rabbinic Periods; Rabbinic Stories; and the forthcoming The Culture of the Babylonian Talmud, which will also be published by Johns Hopkins.

Table of Contents

Preface	ix
Acknowledgments	xi
Abbreviations and Conventions	xiii
Tractates	xv
Introduction	1	(33)
Torah, Shame, and ``The Oven of Akhnai'' (Bava Metsia 59a--59b)	34	(105)
Elisha ben Abuya
Torah and the Sinful Sage (Hagiga 15a--15b)	64	(41)
Torah and the Mundane Life
The Education of R. Shimon bar Yohai (Shabbat 33b--34a)	105	(34)
Rabbinic Authority and the Destruction of Jerusalem (Gittin 55b--56b)	139	(37)
Torah, Lincage, and the Academic Hierarchy (Horayot 13b--14a)	176	(36)
Torah, Gentiles, and Eschatology (Avoda Zara 2a--3b)	212	(31)
Conclusion	243	(40)
Appendix: Hebrew/Aramaic Texts	283	(14)
Notes	297	(110)
Selected Bibliography	407	(10)
General Index	417	(10)
Source Index	427