YU Museum Presents A Journey Through the Talmud's History

Hundreds of Yeshiva University students flock to the Beit Midrash every morning to studiously dissect the pages of the Talmud and photocopied lists of sources. And the accessibility and study of the Talmud has certainly changed dramatically since the fifth century, when it was first redacted and took formative role in mainstream Judaism. On April 12, the Yeshiva University Museum opened a comprehensive new exhibit entitled, "Printing the Talmud: From Bomberg to Schottenstein." The exhibition, which will be open until August 2005, traces the Talmud's journey through Jewish history, and features some extraordinary original manuscripts, an authentic Talmudic Period Mosaic with Talmudic writing, and live footage of Talmud study throughout the world. The exhibition highlights the development of Talmud study through the ages as new technologies like the printing press and computer made it more available to the masses.

The YU Museum's Talmud exhibition was preceded by a symposium on April 11. The symposium entitled "The Vital Talmud: The World That Made it and the World It Made," was introduced by Dean Norman Adler and moderated by Rabbi Jonathan Rosenblatt of the Riverdale Jewish Center. Speakers included Steven Fine, Jewish Foundation Professor of Judaic Studies at the University of Cincinnati, Rabbi Yaakov Elman, Associate Professor of Jewish Studies at Yeshiva University, and Jennie Rosenfeld, a doctoral student who completed the Graduate Program in Advanced Talmudic Studies for Women at Stern College for Women.

Rabbi Elman, whose lecture was titled "The Cosmopolitan Babylonian Talmud," was enthusiastic about the evening's program. His discussion encompassed research he has done over the last few years addressing the religious background of the Jews in the time of the Babylonian Talmud. He demonstrated that the Jews of the Talmud "were not a hermetically sealed culture, but rather they were an acculturated community" who spoke Persian, were familiar with Zoroastrianism, and had personal ties to the Persian government. They were engaged with the outside world and were therefore like the Modern Orthodox Jews of their time, or the "Upper West Side Mechozeh," as Rabbi Elman jokingly called them. Rabbi Elman's aimed to explain reason why the Talmud Bavli was more successful than its Yerushalmi counterpart.

Steven Fine's discussion, "The Talmud before the Talmud: Archaeological Evidence for the "Oral Torah" from the Greco-Roman Period," focused on archaeological discoveries such as the Rehov inscription that provide "evidence for the life of Torah in the ancient world." Jennie Rosenfeld provided a personal narrative about Talmud study entitled "Swimming in the Yam haTalmud: One Woman's Journey."

The YU Museum (as it is affectionately known) exhibition, put together by project curators Gabriel M. Goldstein and Sharon Liberman Mintz, features rare Talmudic manuscripts such as a Spanish 13th century copy of the oft-censored tractate Avodah Zarah, and a complete set of the 16th century Bomberg Talmud.

The layout of the Bomberg Talmud has been the basis for the Talmud layout until today. Rabbi Elman was very surprised that the YU Museum was able to acquire such a rare set. "I didn't think a complete set even existed anymore," said Rabbi Elman.

One of the other important exhibits that Rabbi Elman encourages vistors to see is the Rehov inscription, a 29-line inscription found on a 6th century mosaic floor in the Beit Shean Valley in Israel. The mosaic is the property of the Israeli Antiquities Authority and has been on display at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. Its exhibition at the YU Museum marks the first time the three-ton artifact will be displayed outside of Israel.

The Rehov inscription is the earliest surviving rabbinic text, and was written at about the same time as the Talmud was compiled. The inscription details Talmudic agricultural laws and very closely parallels the text of our Jerusalem Talmud. The fact that our Oral Torah is identical to the Oral Torah over 1400 years ago shows that our transmission was pretty accurate.

"This is a particularly important message," said Rabbi Elman.