Chapter 8 - What Is the Bavli?

Summary

In this chapter, we examine the Talmud in its final form, the document that came to shape in the century or so before the Muslim conquest. This is a document with unique and surprising qualities, which we can understand only if we interpret it in its original, late antique setting. In this chapter, we study representative Talmudic texts, carefully laying out the qualities of the Talmud that make it Talmudic. We ask how this composition of the Babylonian rabbis compares to that of the Yerushalmi, allowing the comparison to help us appreciate the uniqueness of the latter. Then focusing on the Bavli, we ask several key questions: to what audience was it addressed? What purpose did it serve for the masters who conceived it and their students? Why is it so devoted to argumentation? Based upon the picture that emerges, we weigh various claims for what the Talmud really is: is it a commentary on the Torah, or on the Mishnah, or something else entirely? Is it a legal code? What is its theology? Its vision of society? And how did the authors of this elite document hope to make a difference in the shape of Judaism for coming generations?