Author Description

Product Description This book explores how the rabbis of the Talmud thought about and dealt with pluralism in Jewish law. The rabbis remembered the terrible consequences of Second Temple sectarianism and strove for unity and even uniformity of practice; they also had thousands of legal disputes and were not always willing to compromise. This volume analyzes dozens of Talmudic passages dealing with the balance between peace within the community on the one hand and the need for each rabbi to follow his vision of truth on the other. The Talmud Yerushalmi and the Talmud Bavli present two significantly different models for dealing with such legal pluralism based on their respective cultural and political contexts within the Roman and Sasanian Empires. About the Author Richard Hidary received a PhD from New York University and is associate professor of Judaic Studies at Yeshiva University where he teaches courses in Bible, Second Temple Jewish history, Dead Sea Scrolls, Talmud, Midrash, and Jewish ethics. His book, Dispute for the Sake of Heaven: Legal Pluralism in the Talmud, has been published by Brown University, and his articles appear in Encyclopedia Judaica, Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception, AJS Review, Dead Sea Discoveries, Dine Israel, Jewish Studies an Internet Journal, Okimta, and Conversations. Rabbi Hidary also runs the websites teachtorah.org, pizmonim.org, and rabbinics.org.