Fall, 1994
Professor Tzvee Zahavy
This course teaches the student how to undertake the critical study of selected Talmudic texts. The course focuses on texts in the Mishnah, Tosefta and the Babylonian and Palestinian Talmuds. The course introduces the student to the tools necessary for the study of these texts and guides the student in the explanation and analysis of selected pericopae.
After an introduction to the subject, each student will be assigned specific texts from the selections and prepare an explanation of the selection to be presented first in class and later in writing to the instructor.
The course may be conducted in three parts: lecture for all students enrolled, tutorials at the appropriate level, and Bet Medrash for collective and collegial study and preparation. Grading: ABCDF or S/N. S=C or better. No incompletes.
Main Texts--
J. Neusner, The Mishnah: Introduction and Reader
Selected texts: Mishnah, Tosefta, and Babylonian Talmud [photocopy]
Supplementary Readings: suggested:
J. Neusner, Invitation to the Talmud
_____, Introduction to Rabbinic Literature
_____, Judaism: the Evidence of Mishnah
_____, Judaism: The Evidence of the Yerushalmi
_____, Judaism: The Classical Statement
_____, The Mishnah: an Introduction
T. Zahavy, The Traditions of Eleazar Ben Azariah
_____, The Mishnaic Law of Blessings and Prayers
_____, The Talmud of the Land of Israel: Berakhot
_____, The Talmud of Babylonia: Hullin. XXX.A, B and C