How the Bavli is Constructed

In this Neusner book, he seeks to discern the Talmud’s forests from its trees. By “trees” is meant episodic and free-standing statements, facts out of any larger context. By “forests” is meant whole paragraphs and still larger constructions of thought made out of sentences that in context and in sequence cohere. Accordingly, the issue here is how the Talmud transforms isolated facts into cogent and coherent constructions: the forests formed by the Talmud’s trees. What is at stake is simply stated: What ignores the program of the Bavli in its composition and in the formation of its composites belongs in other, different documents from the Bavli and we can reconstruct through an act of imagination in response to the characteristics of the secondary composites of the Bavli the traits of those other, different documents.

Author Biography

Jacob Neusner is a leading figure in the American academic study of religion. He revolutionized the study of Judaism and brought it into the field of religion, built intellectual bridges between Judaism and other religions, thereby laying the groundwork for durable understanding and respect among religions, and has advanced the careers of younger scholars and teachers through his teaching and publication programs. Neusner’s influence on the study of Judaism and religion is broad, powerful, distinctive, and enduring.