Talmud

The Tosafists continued the conversation with their glosses on the text of the Talmud.

Is anything written by a Jew a Jewish text, and who decides?

In working out the ideas behind the statements of the rabbis, the Talmud serves not as a law code but as a work of Jewish legal theory.

Before there was Shakespeare, there were some angry rabbis.

A video for Parashat Re'eh.

Liberation comes only to the courageous.

These two texts both shaped Rabbinic Judaism. But which came first?

Jewish tradition, informed by the precedent of the Talmud, prefers to promote discussion rather than correctness.

The Oral Torah reflects an attempt to create an eternal Judaism, unaffected by the setbacks that had afflicted the Jewish people in the preceding two centuries.

Monotheism and the sanctification of the trivial

According to Jewish tradition, two Torahs were received on Mount Sinai -- one written, and one passed down orally for generations.

A selection of laws and stories about brit milah.