Appendix the Formation of the Talmud According to Halevy

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Appendix The Formation of the Talmud according to Halevy Amoraic Era ca. Abbaye and Rava and the compilation of the proto- Pumbedita Talmud Inclusion of the traditions of the Palestinian sages Pumbedita / Death of Rava and the end of the compilation of the Sura and proto-Talmud Pumbedita ca. / Final redaction and editing of the Talmud by Rav Matta Mehasia Ashi’s court /? Rav Ashi’s death and the post-Rav-Ashi editing Matta Mehasia and Sura / Death of Ravina bar Huna and the closing of the Sura Talmud Saboraic Era / Rav Yose and the first generation of Saboraim Pumbedita (Rabbanan Demefarshei) Committing of the Talmud to writing ca. / Reopening of Sura, with Rav Eina named its head Sura ca. Death of Rav Yose and end of the Rabbanan Demefarshei Pumbedita Later Saboraim and minor editing of/cosmetic work on the Talmud Rav Eina Sura Rav Simona Pumbedita 1 Brody says that Matta Mehasia was the geonic name for Sura, but Halevy claimed to prove from the Talmud that Sura and Matta Mehasia were two adjacent cities. See Brody, The Geonim of Babylonia, 36; and Halevy, Dorot harishonim, 2:593–600. Open Access. © 2021 Ari Bergmann, published by De Gruyte. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110709834-007 196 Appendix The Formation of the Talmud according to Halevy ca. Rav Eina’s death and the closing of Sura due to new persecutions Death of Rav Revai of Rov and temporary closure of Pumbedita Creation of a new beit hava’ad Piruz Shabur Composition of Masekhtot qetanot Nehardea Geonic Era Appointment of first Gaon and end of saboraic era Pumbedita Reopening of the academy in Sura Sura Sura firmly established and title Gaon firmly used Sura 2 In the surroundings of Nehardea (Lewin, ed., Iggeret Rav Sherira Gaon, 99)..

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Halevy, Halivni and The Oral Formation of the Babylonian Talmud Ari Bergmann Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 2014 © 2014 Ari Bergmann All rights reserved ABSTRACT Halevy, Halivni and The Oral Formation of the Babylonian Talmud Ari Bergmann This dissertation is dedicated to a detailed analysis and comparison of the theories on the process of the formation of the Babylonian Talmud by Yitzhak Isaac Halevy and David Weiss Halivni. These two scholars exhibited a similar mastery of the talmudic corpus and were able to combine the roles of historian and literary critic to provide a full construct of the formation of the Bavli with supporting internal evidence to support their claims. However, their historical construct and findings are diametrically opposed. Yitzhak Isaac Halevy presented a comprehensive theory of the process of the formation of the Talmud in his magnum opus Dorot Harishonim. The scope of his work was unprecedented and his construct on the formation of the Talmud encompassed the entire process of the formation of the Bavli, from the Amoraim in the 4th century to the end of the saboraic era (which he argued closed in the end of the 6th century). Halevy was the ultimate guardian of tradition and argued that the process of the formation of the Bavli took place entirely within the amoraic academy by a highly structured and coordinated process and was sealed by an international rabbinical assembly. While Halevy was primarily a historian, David Weiss Halivni is primarily a talmudist and commentator on the Talmud itself.
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