![]() After the dissolution of the monastery in 1803, the manuscript was transferred together with other valuable books to the Munich Court Library, which became the Bavarian State Library, where it is now preserved. ![]() Some time later it was sold to the Augustinian priory of Polling (Upper Bavaria). According to an entry in a manuscript of a Bible now preserved at the State and University Library of Hamburg, this Talmud was in the possession of the Jewish merchant family Ulma in Pfersee near Augsburg in the year 1772. Numerous entries of the names of owners make it possible to trace the history of the manuscript, which was written in France in 1342. In addition, the manuscript contains some texts that do not relate directly to the Talmud. It is the only surviving manuscript in the world that contains, with the exception of two missing leaves, the complete text of the Babylonian Talmud including some extra-canonical tracts: Derekh Eretz zuta, Pirkei Azzai, Kallā, Sôferîm, and Gērîm. The third installment of Rubenstein’s trilogy of works on the subject, Stories of the Babylonian Talmud is essential reading for all students of the Talmud and rabbinic Judaism.Of the nearly 500 Hebrew manuscripts held by the Bavarian State Library, the one presented here is without doubt the most valuable. Others elucidate the worldview of the Stammaim, including their perspectives on astrology, theodicy, and revelation. Several of the stories Rubenstein studies here describe the dynamics of life in the academy: master-disciple relationships, collegiality and rivalry, and the struggle for leadership positions. Rubenstein also uses these stories as a window into understanding more broadly the culture of the late Babylonian rabbinic academy, a hierarchically organized and competitive institution where sages studied the Torah. ![]() ![]() ![]() Rubenstein's analysis uncovers the literary methods used to compose the Talmud and sheds light on the cultural and theological perspectives of the Stammaim-the anonymous editor-redactors of the Babylonian Talmud. This unique approach provides insight not only into the meaning and content of the current forms of the stories but also into how redactors reworked those earlier versions to address contemporary moral and religious issues. Rubenstein combines a close textual and literary examination of each story with a careful comparison to earlier versions from other rabbinic compilations. Rubenstein continues his grand exploration of the ancient rabbinic tradition of the Talmudic sages, offering deep and complex analysis of eight stories from the Babylonian Talmud to reconstruct the cultural and religious world of the Babylonian rabbinic academy. ![]()
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