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Although the Babylonian Talmud, or Bavli, has been a text central and vital to the Jewish canon since the Middle Ages, the context in which it was produced has been poorly understood. Delving deep into Sasanian material culture and literary remains, Shai Secunda pieces together the dynamic world of late antique Iran, providing an unprecedented and accessible overview of the world that shaped the Bavli.
Secunda unites the fields of Talmudic scholarship with Old Iranian studies to enable a fresh look at the heterogeneous religious and ethnic communities of pre-Islamic Iran. He analyzes the intercultural dynamics between the Jews and their Persian Zoroastrian neighbors, exploring the complex processes and modes of discourse through which these groups came into contact and considering the ways in which rabbis and Zoroastrian priests perceived one another. Placing the Bavli and examples of Middle Persian literature side by side, the Zoroastrian traces in the former and the discursive and Talmudic qualities of the latter become evident. The Iranian Talmud introduces a substantial and essential shift in the field, setting the stage for further Irano-Talmudic research.
"Rich in fascinating texts, awareness of cutting-edge research and cultural allusions, this book is well-written and crucially important. Taking on the most important and elusive book in the rabbinic canon with an array of historical, literary and philological tools, The Iranian Talmud represents today's Jewish studies at its best."
"Shai Secunda not only persuades his readers of the need for contextual study of the Bavli but also facilitates such study by educating them about the religious and ethnic communities of the Sasanian empire, the forms of literary and nonliterary evidence available, and appropriate methodological and theoretical approaches to the comparative study of Talmudic and Middle Persian literature. The Iranian Talmud will be the first sustained attempt both to demystify the project of Irano-Talmudic research and to provide a basic orientation to it."
Note on Abbreviations, Citations, and Terminology
Introduction
Chapter 1. The Sea of Talmud and Its Shore: The Talmud and Other Sasanian Remains
Chapter 2. In the Temple and Synagogue: Locating Jewish-Zoroastrian Encounters in Sasanian Mesopotamia
Chapter 3. Constructing "Them": Rabbinic and Zoroastrian Discourses of the "Other"
Chapter 4. Closer Than "They" May Appear: Alternative Descriptions of Sasanians and Zoroastrian Priests in the Bavli
Chapter 5. In Iran: Reading the Talmud in Its Iranian Context
In Lieu of a Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
Index