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Jeffrey L. Rubenstein offers a translation from the Hebrew of The
Formation of the Babylonian Talmud by David Weiss Halivni.
Halivni's work is widely regarded as the most comprehensive
scholarly examination of the processes of composition and editing
of the Babylonian Talmud. Halivni presents the summation of a
lifetime of scholarship and the conclusions of his multivolume
Talmudic commentary, Sources and Traditions (Meqorot umesorot).
Arguing against the traditional view that the Talmud was composed
c. 450 CE by the last of the named sages in the Talmud, the
Amoraim, Halivni proposes that its formation took place over a much
longer period of time, not reaching its final form until about 750
CE. The Talmud consists of many literary strata or layers, with
later layers constantly commenting upon and reinterpreting earlier
layers. The later layers differ qualitatively from the earlier
layers, and were composed by anonymous sages whom Halivni calls
Stammaim. These sages were the true author-editors of the Talmud,
who reconstructed the reasons underpinning earlier rulings, created
the dialectical argumentation characteristic of the Talmud, and
formulated the literary units that make up the Talmudic text.
Halivni also discusses the history and development of rabbinic
tradition from the Mishnah through the post-Talmud legal codes, the
types of dialectical analysis found in the different rabbinic
works, and the roles of reciters, transmitters, compilers, and
editors in the composition of the Talmud. This volume contains an
introduction and annotations by Jeffrey Rubenstein.
David Weiss Halivni emerges his original approach to critical study
of the Talmudic text not only in its modern printed form but as it
was in its original form, the Oral Torah from the mouths of
countless sages.
How is it possible, after the Shoah, to declare one's faith in the
God of Israel? Breaking the Tablets is David Weiss Halivni's
eloquent and insightful response to this question. Halivni,
Auschwitz survivor and one of the greatest Talmudic scholars of the
past century, declares that at this time of God's near absence,
Jews can still observe the words of the Torah and pray for God to
come near again. Jews must continue to study the classic texts of
rabbinic Judaism but now with greater humility, recognizing that
even the greatest religious leaders and thinkers interpret these
texts only as mere people, prone to human error. Breaking the
Tablets is important reading for anyone who feels burdened by the
question of how it is possible to believe in God and practice their
religion.
How is it possible, after the Shoah, to declare one's faith in the
God of Israel? Breaking the Tablets is David Weiss Halivni's
eloquent and insightful response to this question. Halivni,
Auschwitz survivor and one of the greatest Talmudic scholars of the
past century, declares that at this time of God's near absence,
Jews can still observe the words of the Torah and pray for God to
come near again. Jews must continue to study the classic texts of
rabbinic Judaism but now with greater humility, recognizing that
even the greatest religious leaders and thinkers interpret these
texts only as mere people, prone to human error. Breaking the
Tablets is important reading for anyone who feels burdened by the
question of how it is possible to believe in God and practice their
religion.
David Weiss Halivni emerges his original approach to critical study
of the Talmudic text not only in its modern printed form but as it
was in its original form, the Oral Torah from the mouths of
countless sages.
In this paperback reprint (which includes a new Afterword, responding to critics), noted Rabbinic scholar David Weiss Halivni offers a new explanation for the willingness of the early Sages to attribute to scripture meanings nowhere suggested in the text itself. He posits a sharp discontinuity between what the sages considered a valid meaning and our own modern understanding of textual meaning. He argues that the original meaning of the very work "peshat" was actually "context" rather than "literal" meaning, thus explaining the Rabbis' expressions of respect for peshat in the face of their evident unconcern for literal meaning in the text.
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