Fall Quarter, 2019
Thursdays, 12:45 p.m – 2:45 p.m.
D. The Talmud’s Greatest Hits
Barry Scott Wimpfheimer, Associate Professor, Religious Studies and Law
The Babylonian Talmud is a Jewish scripture composed collectively by rabbis who lived between the destruction of the second Jerusalem Temple in 70 AD and the rise of Islam in the near east in the mid-8th century. Because the Talmud—which ranges across all topics related to Jewish life—is a large body of literature that has engendered much commentary, it is difficult to get a handle on how it works and what it is about. This course will focus on some of the most famous and interesting passages to provide a flavor of what the Talmud meant both when it was originally composed and in the millennium since.
A reader for this course will be available for sale at the first class.