The Literature of the sages / / editor, Shmuel Safrai ; executive editor, Peter J. Tomson. Part 1, Oral Tora, Halakha, Mishna, Tosefta, Talmud, external tractates.

• Superior document: Compendia rerum Iudaicarum ad Novum Testamentum. Section 2, Literature of the Jewish people in the period of the Second Temple and the Talmud ; 3a
• TeilnehmendeR: Safrai, Shemuel, 1919-2003.
• Place / Publishing House: Assen : : Van Gorcum ;, Philadelphia : : Fortress Press,, 1987.
• Year of Publication: 1987
• Language: English
• Series: Compendia Rerum Iudaicarum ad Novum Testamentum 2/3/1.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (490 pages).
• Notes: Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

The literary creation of the ancient Jewish teachers or Sages--also called rabbinic literature--consists of the teachings of thousands of Sages, many of them anonymous. For a long period, their teachings existed orally, which implied a great deal of flexibility in arrangement and form. Only gradually, as parts of the amorphous oral tradition became fixed, was the literature written down, a process that began in the third century CE and continued into the Middle Ages. Thus the documents of the rabbinic literature are the result of a remarkably long and complex process of creation and editing. This volume gives a careful and succinct analysis both of the content and specific nature of the various documents, and of their textual and literary forms, paying special attention to the continuing discovery and publication of new textual material. The contributors are all engaged in academic teaching and research in Israel. Incorporating ground-breaking developments in research, their essays give a comprehensive presentation published here for the first time.

Table of Contents

Preliminary material / Shmuel Safrai -- The Historical Background / Isaiah M. Gafni -- Oral Tora / Shmuel Safrai -- Halakha / Shmuel Safrai -- The Mishna - A Study Book of Halakha / Abraham Goldberg -- The Tractate A vot / M.B. Lerner -- The Tosefta - Companion to the Mishna / Abraham Goldberg -- The Palestinian Talmud / Abraham Goldberg -- The Babylonian Talmud / Abraham Goldberg -- The External Tractates / M.B. Lerner -- Abbreviations / Shmuel Safrai -- Accumulative Bibliography / Shmuel Safrai -- Index of Personal Names / Shmuel Safrai.