Lecture Series: Ari Bergman

Ari Bergmann is an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Jewish Studies at Yeshiva University. His areas of specialization are the history of the formation of the Talmud and literary analysis of Talmudic literature. His interests include the dynamics of the oral transmission of rabbinical tradition during its early stages and its eventual transition to a written literary setting. Ari Bergmann holds an MA and Ph.D. in Comparative Religion from Columbia University, where he studied with Professors Yosef Hayim Yerushalmi and David Weiss Halivni. Before coming to Yeshiva University, he taught at Columbia University and at the University of Pennsylvania. He is currently working on a book, The Talmud between Scholarship and Politics: Y. I. Halevy and the Formation of the Orthodox Talmud, to be published in 2020. He is the founder and Managing Principal of Penso Advisors, LLC, a derivatives/systemic risk advisory and money management boutique.

The Collective Editing of the Talmud

The Babylonian Talmud, known simply as the Bavli, is the collaborative effort of generations of sages. It is also the foundational legal and ethical document of rabbinic Judaism. Rather than being authored by any individual authors, it instead represents the collective work of the Jewish scholarly community in Babylonia over five centuries. From its inception, in the beginning of the third century, until the end of the eighth century it was transmitted orally, and it continuously evolved and developed collectively throughout the period. This presentation will analyze the unique process of its formation and early transmission and how it came to represent the first oral wiki editing process.

This lecture is organised by the UAntwerp’s Institute for Jewish Studies.