The Babylonian Talmud: A Translation and Commentary (22 vols.)
Overview
The Talmud of Babylonia (a.k.a., the Bavli, or Babylonian Talmud), is a sustained commentary on the written and oral law of Israel. Compiled between 500–600 C.E., it offers a magnificent record of how Jewish scholars preserved a humane and enduring civilization. Representing the primary document of rabbinic Judaism, it throws considerable light on the New Testament as well.
This monumental English translation was completed a decade ago—but was extraordinarily expensive and difficult to find. Featuring translations by Jacob Neusner, Tzvee Zahavy, Alan Avery-Peck, B. Barry Levy, Peter Haas, and Martin S. Jaffee, and commentary and new introductions by Jacob Neusner, all thirty-seven Talmudic tractates are available in this single searchable resource. With Logos Bible Software, the instantaneous searches by word or phrase provide exceptional research capabilities, and opens swift avenues for exploration and discovery.
Interested in more? Be sure to check out the Babylonian and Jerusalem Talmud Collection (50 vols.).
Top Highlights
“Of the two Talmuds, the Talmud of the Land of Israel of ca. 400 c.e. and the Talmud of Babylonia of 600 c.e., the latter is by far the more important, and when people speak of the Talmud, they mean only the Talmud of Babylonia.” (Volume 1, Page xxviii)
“The Talmud defines the model of what it means to be a human being, made in God’s likeness, after God’s model. That model embodies all that is rational and refined.” (Volume 1, Page xxxiii)
“The Mishnah assembles masses of conflicting opinion, and the Gemara (Bavli) is laden with disputes. Contention and debate serve a principal purpose in expounding the Torah.” (Volume 1, Page xxx)
“Second, through the life of prayer and fulfillment of commandments, Israel wraps itself before God in a cloak made up of the fabric of actions that sanctify-thread by thread. From Israel’s perspective, all Israel and individual Israelites conduct life under the perpetual rule of that just and merciful God who made the world, and that his rule is personal, immediate, and penetrating. In the morning the Israelite accepts God’s dominion in an act of personal submission, and then explicitly undertakes to carry out God’s commandments, in all their concrete specificity.” (Volume 1, Page xxxvi)
“The Mishnah is read by the Talmud as a composite of discrete and essentially autonomous rules, a set of atoms, not an integrated molecule, so to speak. In so doing, the Bavli obliterates the most striking formal traits of the Mishnah. The Mishnah as a whole and its complete statement of an earlier viewpoint no longer exists in the Talmud.” (Volume 1, Page xxix)
- Title: The Babylonian Talmud: A Translation and Commentary (22 vols.)
- Publisher: Hendrickson Publishers
- Editor: Jacob Neusner
- Volumes: 22
- Resources: 1
- Pages: 16,530
- Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Subjects: Talmud › Commentaries; Talmud › English
- Resource ID: LLS:BABYTALMUD
Jacob Neusner (1932–2016) was a preeminent scholar of ancient Judaism and one of the most published authors ever, with more than 900 original volumes to his name. He was educated at Harvard University, the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, the University of Oxford, and Yale University. He was research professor of theology and senior fellow of the Institute of Advanced Theology at Bard College. Neusner’s work has been highly influential, if sometimes controversial. He pioneered applying “form criticism” to Rabbinic texts, and aimed at a humanistic and academic reading of ancient Jewish literature.
Neusner’s works include the Jacob Neusner Jewish Studies Bundle (99 vols.).
Reviews
3 ratings
David B. Woods
12/15/2022
I'm new to using the Talmud so am just trying to find my way around. I am surprised not to see the folio numbers and sides inserted into the text of the English translation, just as the page numbers can be shown via the Visual Filters menu. Since Talmudic citations are normally given down to the folio side, it's difficult to find what I'm looking for in the translation. Am I missing something? Are the folios-and-sides something that a later edition might contain?
Rev Frederick E Davison
6/2/2022
Oscar Salinas Herdocia
8/13/2020
Elvindowski
11/6/2017
