How the Halakhah Unfolds

In separate multi-volumed works, form-analytical English translations of the Mishnah, Tosefta, Yerushalmi, and Bavli have been set forth. Outlines of the Yerushalmi and the Bavli have been brought about, and those outlines of the two Talmuds have been compared. In addition, for each subject the main points of the Halakhah of the topical expositions or tractates of the Mishnah-Tosefta-Yerushalmi-Bavli have been set forth. The theological message of the respective tractates has been spelled out. Here, we follow a single tractate through the principal documents of formative Judaism as these have already presented them. How the academic commentaries, outlines and comparisons, and theological summaries yield a systematic account of the Halakhah in its documentary unfolding is thus fully exposed.

Author Biography

Jacob Neusner is a prolific scholar and leading figure in the American academic study of Judaism in particular and religion in general. He is Research Professor of Theology and Senior Fellow of the Institute of Advanced Theology at Bard College. He is also a Member of the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, New Jersey and Life Member of Clare Hall at Cambridge University, England.