Talmudic Stories: From History to Literature

with Jeffrey Rubenstein, (NYU)

How should Talmudic stories about the sages be studied? From the middle ages until recent times, interpreters adopted an historical approach that understood “sage-stories” as relating “what actually happened,” namely the lives and deeds of the sages.  Much of the histories of the rabbis and of the Jewish people in the periods of the Mishnah and Talmud were written on the basis of these stories. More recently scholars have shifted to a literary approach that rejects the historicity of the stories and understands them as didactic literature, teaching morals and lessons to the audience. This talk will explore why scholars abandoned the biographical-historical approach and shifted to an understanding of rabbinic stories as didactic fictions.  It will also delineate the revolutionary impact of this “paradigm shift” in our knowledge of the history of the Talmudic period. 

Dr. Jeffrey L. Rubenstein is the Skirball Professor of Talmud and Rabbinic Literature at New York University. He was born in Johannesburg, South Africa and grew up in Chicago, Illinois. He received his B.A. in Religion from Oberlin College, his M.A. in Talmud from the Jewish Theological Seminary, where he also received rabbinic ordination, and his Ph.D. from the Department of Religion of Columbia University.  He has taught at Columbia University, the University of Pennsylvania and the Jewish Theological Seminary in addition to New York University.  His books include, The History of Sukkot in the Second Temple and Rabbinic Periods (1995); Talmudic Stories: Narrative Art, Composition and Culture (1999), Rabbinic Stories (Classics of Western Spirituality Series, 2002), The Culture of the Babylonian Talmud (2003), Stories of the Babylonian Talmud (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2010), and The Land of Truth: Talmud Tales, Timeless Teachings (Jewish Publication Society, 2018). Dr. Rubenstein has written numerous articles on the festival of Sukkot, Talmudic stories, the development of Jewish law, and topics in Jewish liturgy and ethics. 

REGISTER HERE