The Iranian Talmud

The Iranian Talmud
Author: Shai Secunda / Yitz Landes
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
Total Pages: 273
Release: 2013-10-09
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0812209044

Although the Babylonian Talmud, or Bavli, has been a text central and vital to the Jewish canon since the Middle Ages, the context in which it was produced has been poorly understood. Delving deep into Sasanian material culture and literary remains, Shai Secunda pieces together the dynamic world of late antique Iran, providing an unprecedented and accessible overview of the world that shaped the Bavli. Secunda unites the fields of Talmudic scholarship with Old Iranian studies to enable a fresh look at the heterogeneous religious and ethnic communities of pre-Islamic Iran. He analyzes the intercultural dynamics between the Jews and their Persian Zoroastrian neighbors, exploring the complex processes and modes of discourse through which these groups came into contact and considering the ways in which rabbis and Zoroastrian priests perceived one another. Placing the Bavli and examples of Middle Persian literature side by side, the Zoroastrian traces in the former and the discursive and Talmudic qualities of the latter become evident. The Iranian Talmud introduces a substantial and essential shift in the field, setting the stage for further Irano-Talmudic research.

Rabbis, Sorcerers, Kings, and Priests

Rabbis, Sorcerers, Kings, and Priests
Author: Jason Sion Mokhtarian
Publisher: Univ of California Press
Total Pages: 290
Release: 2015-09-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0520286200

"Rabbis, Sorcerers, Kings, and Priests brings into mutual fruition the fields of Talmudic Studies and Ancient Iranology, two historically distinct disciplines. Mokhtarian offers a revisionist history of the rabbis of late antique Persia who produced the Babylonian Talmud, perhaps the most important corpus in the Jewish sacred canon. While most research on the Talmud assumes that the rabbis were an insular group isolated from the cultural horizon outside of the rabbinic academies, this book contextualizes the rabbis and Talmud within a broader socio-cultural orbit by drawing from a wide range of sources from Sasanian Iran, including Middle Persian Zoroastrian literature, archaeological evidence, and the Jewish Aramaic magical bowls"--Provided by publisher.

Iran, Israel, and the Jews

Iran, Israel, and the Jews
Author: Aaron Koller
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
Total Pages: 439
Release: 2019-03-28
Genre: History
ISBN: 1532661703

Iran, Israel, and the Jews have a relationship that is in the news all the time. But it cannot be understood just in modern terms. Its roots are 2,500 years old. This volume surveys that history through case studies and broad overviews—from the first intensive contacts under Cyrus the Great, through Persian influence on Judaism evident in the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Babylonian Talmud, into the Middle Ages and the flourishing of Judeo-Persian literature and culture, and finally into modern times, when the political, social, and cultural ties are multifaceted and profound. Written by experts in both Iranian and Jewish studies, these essays convey the richness and complexity of a long and tumultuous relationship between two ancient and great civilizations, which continues to shape the world today.

The Talmud in Its Iranian Context

The Talmud in Its Iranian Context
Author: Carol Bakhos
Publisher: Mohr Siebrek Ek
Total Pages: 270
Release: 2010
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9783161501876

Scholars of rabbinics and Iranists are increasingly turning to the orbit of Iranian civilization in order to explore the extent to which the Babylonian Talmud was exposed to the theological and liturgical discourse of the Zoroastrian religion, as well as Sasanian legal practices. Here possibly for the first time, scholars within these fields are brought together in concert to examine the interaction between Jewish and Iranian cultures in terms of legal exegesis, literature, and religious thought. The implications of this groundbreaking effort are vastly significant for Jewish and Iranian Studies. With contributions by: Yaakov Elman, David Goodblatt, Geoffrey Herman, Richard Kalmin, Maria Macuch, Jason Sion Mokhtarian, Shai Secunda, Shaul Shaked, Prods Oktor SkjAervo, Yuhan Sohrab-Dinshaw Vevaina

The Iranian Talmud

The Iranian Talmud
Author: Shai Secunda
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
Total Pages: 273
Release: 2014
Genre: History
ISBN: 0812245709

The Iranian Talmud reexamines the Babylonian Talmud—one of Judaism's most central texts—in the light of Persian literature and culture, providing an unprecedented and accessible overview to the vibrant world of pre-Islamic Iran that shaped the Bavli.

Sexuality in the Babylonian Talmud

Sexuality in the Babylonian Talmud
Author: Yishai Kiel
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 313
Release: 2016-10-13
Genre: History
ISBN: 1107155517

This book explores sex and sexuality in the Babylonian Talmud within the context of competing cultural discourses, for students of comparative religion.

Shoshannat Yaakov

Shoshannat Yaakov
Author: Shai Secunda
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 567
Release: 2012-09-03
Genre: History
ISBN: 9004235450

Shoshannat Yaakov includes studies by leading scholars on Ancient Jewish and Iranian Studies and essays that combine both fields in the new discipline of Irano-Talmudica.

Sasanian Jewry and Its Culture

Sasanian Jewry and Its Culture
Author: Daniel M. Friedenberg
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
Total Pages: 94
Release: 2009
Genre: Antiques & Collectibles
ISBN: 0252033671

An impressive collection of Jewish signet rings and seals from the Sasanian Empire

Moses and Garšāsp, Ārdašīr and Herod

Moses and Garšāsp, Ārdašīr and Herod
Author: Azadeh Ehsani Chombeli
Publisher:
Total Pages:
Release: 2020
Genre: Iran
ISBN: 9781568594033

"This book offers a comparative study between a number of Talmudic and Middle Persian narratives. The present work seeks first and foremost to examine Talmudic narratives in their Iranian context, and secondly to examine the Talmudic background of Iranian narratives where applicable. The first and second chapters will offer an analysis of the alteration of historical and biblical figures in the Bavli (the Babylonian Talmud) based on the influence of Iranian mythical and historical figures, while the third chapter will provide an account of how Iranists can learn from Talmudic studies. Here we suggest that a Talmudic narrative may have encouraged Zoroastrian priests to compose an extensive work of religious literature, namely the Ardā Wīrāz-nāmag, an idea which will be further explored in the appendix. The relationship between Iranian and Jewish materials in the Talmudic era is merely a piece of a larger puzzle, a piece that a number of scholars-such as Elman, Secunda, Mokhtarian, Her-man, Kiel, Kalmin, to name a few-have recently begun to focus on. By focusing on Talmudic narratives that have not yet been sufficiently examined for Iranian themes and ideas, this book represents a contribution towards piecing this puzzle together"--

The Bundahi%sn

The Bundahi%sn
Author:
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 224
Release: 2020-08-11
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 019087905X

The Bundahisn, meaning primal or foundational creation, is the central Zoroastrian account of creation, cosmology, and eschatology. Compiled sometime in the ninth century CE, it is one of the most important surviving testaments to Zoroastrian literature in the Middle Persian language and to pre-Islamic Iranian culture. Despite having been composed some two millennia after the Prophet Zoroaster's revelation, it is nonetheless a concise compendium of ancient Zoroastrian knowledge that draws on and reshapes earlier layers of the tradition. Well known in the field of Iranian Studies as an essential primary source for scholars of ancient Iran's history, religions, literatures, and languages, the Bundahisn is also a great work of literature in and of itself, ranking alongside the creation myths of other ancient traditions. The book's thirty-six diverse chapters, which touch on astronomy, eschatology, zoology, medicine, and more, are composed in a variety of styles, registers, and genres, from spare lists and concise commentaries to philosophical discourses and poetic eschatological visions. This new translation, the first in English in nearly a century, highlights the aesthetic quality, literary style, and complexity and raises the profile of pre-Islamic Zoroastrian literature.