Academic Programs

The studies at the Department of Talmud aim at providing students with profound knowledge and comprehension of the Talmudic literature and culture, as well as an intimate acquaintance with the main sources and their critical study. The advance studies at the department’s graduate program are also geared at training junior scholars of the various branches of Talmudic literature. All courses are based on meticulous and thorough reading and examining of the texts, which brings about an understanding of the texts and their contents that is profound as well as original and innovative. The abundant nature of the Rabbinic literature, together with the implementation of up-to-date methods of research make these studies uniquely interesting and fruitful.

The studies at the department are geared toward providing students with critical knowledge and thought in the following areas: the history of the compositions, their creation, redaction and transmission; the history of the Talmudic Halakha; the spiritual and cultural world of the Sages and its links to earlier Jewish conceptions (in the Bible, in apocryphal and Hellenistic literature, and in the Halakhic and exegetical literature from the Dead Sea Scrolls and contemporary culture; and the main threads of medieval Geonic and Rabbinic literature.

 

Undergraduate Studies

The studies in the department of Talmud cover three fields:

  • Tannaitic Literature (Mishnah, Tosefta and Midrash Halakha)
  • Amoraic Literature (Babylonian Talmud, Talmud Yerusalmi, Midrash Aggadah)
  • Medieval Rabbinic Literature (Geonim and Rishonim)

The undergraduate program is made up of core studies within the department and complementary studies of courses from other departments within the Institute of Jewish Studies.

 

Graduate Studies

 

The studies in the department of Talmud cover three fields:

  • Tannaitic Literature (Mishnah, Tosefta and Midrash Halakha)
  • Amoraic Literature (Babylonian Talmud, Talmud Yerusalmi, Midrash Aggadah)
  • Medieval Rabbinic Literature (Geonim and Rishonim)

Students must take courses in all three fields, and choose one field as their focus area.

For the Master’s degree each student may choose either the research track (that includes writing a thesis and achieving academic foreign language proficiency) or the non-research track.

 

Candidates that have a BA in fields other than Talmud, or a B.ED., with a final score of 80 or higher in their undergraduate studies, will be required to complete a program of preparation studies before being accepted to the Master’s program at the Department of Talmud.