The Four Captives

And here is the answer to last week’s question – when was the Talmud written down? Rabbi Triebitz shows fairly convincingly from the Raavad when the paradigm shift occurred from an oral culture to a written culture. The answer is as surprising as it is logical – this is perhaps the most radical thing that Rabbi Triebitz has yet said in these shiurim.

If this shiur is accepted we can rewrite the history books, and understand more clearly the distinction between Gaonim and Rishonim.

[flv:/talmud/talmud_18.flv 415 210]

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History and Development of the Talmud 18
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History and Development of the Talmud 18
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When was the Talmud written down?

This shiur continues on from the previous one, showing that for the Rishonim (most of) the gemara is binding, and anyone who argues is a heretic (or worse).

Then Rabbi Triebitz points out the ‘black hole’ in both his theory and Jewish history – why do we have no record of when the Talmud was written down? Surely that was (almost) as momentous an event as Har Sinai, yet the Talmud seems to just emerge in history fully formed. What was the heter to write it down at all?

[flv:/talmud/talmud_17.flv 415 210]

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History and Development of the Talmud 17
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History and Development of the Talmud 17
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