What Is the Talmud?: The State of the Question (Jewish Law and Culture) - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0674305566 ISBN 13: 9780674305564

Publisher: Harvard University Press, 2026

Synopsis

The Babylonian Talmud, or Bavli, stands as one of the central pillars of Jewish intellectual, cultural, and religious life. But what, precisely, is this monumental and heterogenous compilation? How was it formed, redacted, and transmitted? Who composed it and for what purpose? How was it shaped by its broader cultures and historical period? How was it received and re-conceived by subsequent generations, and what has the Talmud become in our day?

What Is the Talmud? collects essays that provide a comprehensive exploration of the Talmud’s origins, compilation, and redaction; its diverse genres and discursive practices; its historical and cultural setting; its preservation and study across generations; and its enduring influence on Jewish life and culture today.

About this title

About the Authors

Christine Hayes is Sterling Professor Emerita of Jewish Studies at Yale University, and a Senior Research Fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute of North America. She is the author of Gentile Impurities and Jewish Identities and What’s Divine about Divine Law? Early Perspectives.

Jay M. Harris is Harvard College Professor and Harry Austryn Wolfson Professor of Jewish Studies at Harvard University. He is the author of How Do We Know This: Midrash and the Fragmentation of Modern Judaism.

Edition details

• Publisher: Harvard University Press
• Publication date: 2026
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0674305566
• ISBN 13: 9780674305564
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 896
• Editor: Hayes Christine, Harris Jay M