Below you will find the original video recording of this episode, the core Talmud sources from the conversation (click their citation hyperlinks to find the texts in their fuller context), and a section of Further Learning (links to books, articles, and additional resources mentioned by our hosts). And remember, the most fulfilling way to deepen your learning is to find a chevruta (a study partner) to share it with!

This week Dan & Benay learn with special guest scholar Daniel Boyarin! Boyarin is the Hermann P. and Sophia Taubman Emeritus Professor of Talmudic Culture in the Departments of Near Eastern Studies and Rhetoric at the University of California at Berkeley. He is the author of many articles and books on the Talmud, including “A Traveling Homeland: The Babylonian Talmud as Diaspora” (2015), “Border Lines: The Partition of Judaeo-Christianity” (2004), “Carnal Israel: Reading Sex in Talmudic Culture” (1993), “Socrates and the Fat Rabbis” (2009), “Unheroic Conduct: The Rise of Heterosexuality and the Invention of the Jewish Man” (1997), and, most recently “The No-State Solution: A Jewish Manifesto” (2023), themes of which Boyarin experiments with in this interview from the Summer of 2020.

• What does it mean to approach to Talmud as a portable homeland for a Diaspora nation?
• How does it feel to be charmed by Talmud?
• Is Talmud a project of intentional incoherence?
• What lessons do we learn from the voice of the anonymous editor(s) of Talmud?
• How do we find a usable past?

Interview with Professor Daniel Boyarin of the University of California at Berkeley, author of A Traveling Homeland: The Babylonian Talmud as Diaspora

[1] Draw Yomi - Jacqueline Nichols

[2] Inshallah "If God wills it!"

[3] The idea from Heinrich Heine of Torah as a Portable Homeland comes from his work “Confessions” (1854, read on archive dot org, pg 310)

[4] Shammah Friedman, “I looked at it, and I saw things.” Quoted in an Interview on The Talmud Blog

[5] Émile Durkheim concept of Collective Effervescence (wikipedia entry)

[6] “The Well Wrought Urn” of New Critic philosophy (wikipedia entry)

[7] Rabbi Yossi HaGelili on eating Chicken & Dairy (Chullin 116a)

[8] "Gadol miRabban shmo" ("Greater than the title “Rabban” is a person's own name") discussed in this Wikipedia article about the Tannaim, perhaps to defend the greatness of teachers like Hillel and Moses not having titles. (“Leaves the door open for all of the untitled named women in Talmud to be greater than the Rabbans too!” - Olivia Devorah Tucker, footnote editor)

[9] “Controversy for the Sake of Heaven” is from Pirkei Avot 5:17

[10] The Council of Nicaea and Nicene Creed from The Living Church Episcopal Epistalaries - and Wikipedia Article of the Nicene Creed

[11] Tanur Shel Achnai - The Oven of Achnai is discussed in The Oral Talmud: Episode 3 - Misquoting God

[12] Elisha ben Abuyah through the eyes of artist Richard McBee (his website)

[13] Epicorus is a term for a person with contrary religious views, comes from Pirkei Avot 2:14. (See also: the band Epichorus)

Visit The Oral Talmud's web site at www.OralTalmud.com

Learn more Talmud with Benay Lappe at SVARA by checking out www.svara.org

Check out Dan Libenson's Judaism Unbound podcast and find other interesting learning opportunities at www.JudaismUnbound.com and www.jewishLIVE.org