Analytical Templates of the Yerushalmi

In Analytical Templates of the Yerushalmi, Jacob Neusner systematically defines and classifies the four analytical initiatives of the Bavli in its encounter with the Mishnah. Neusner questions whether the Yerushalmi yields a comparable repertoire of fixed patterns of analysis. In covering four tractates, Neusner first presents a tractate of the Yerushalmi and inductively defines its program for analysis of the law seen in context. For each of the three additional tractates, Neusner creates a log of the forms and types of the exegetical templates brought to the Mishnah. Here the tractates are outlines, showing at a glance the program of each in the Yerushalmi. Each of the four divisions of the Mishnah covered by the Yerushalmi is represented by tractate. By compiling the data in this manner, Neusner makes possible an inductive account of the whole and concludes with remarks of the two Talmuds’ analytical templates.

Author Biography

Jacob Neusner is Distinguished Service Professor of the History and Theology of Judaism and Senior Fellow with the Institute of Advanced Theology at Bard College. He is a member of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, and a Life Member of Clare Hall, Cambridge University. He holds nine honorary degrees and fourteen academic medals and other awards and has published more than a thousand books.