Summary
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the history and contents of the Talmud, one of the most important texts of Judaism. The Talmud was probably written down over a period of several hundred years, beginning in the 2nd century. It contains the authoritative text of the traditional Jewish oral law, and also an account of early Rabbinic discussion of, and commentary on, these laws. In later centuries scholars wrote important commentaries on these texts, which remain central to most strands of modern Judaism.
With:
Philip Alexander Emeritus Professor of Jewish Studies at the University of Manchester
Rabbi Norman Solomon Former Lecturer at the Oxford Centre for Jewish and Hebrew Studies
Laliv Clenman Lecturer in Rabbinic Literature at Leo Baeck College and a Visiting Lecturer at the Department of Theology and Religious Studies, King's College London
Producer: Thomas Morris.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Just before this BBC podcast gets underway, here's something you may not know. |
| 0:04.7 | My name's Linda Davies and I Commission Podcasts for BBC Sounds. |
| 0:08.5 | As you'd expect, at the BBC we make podcasts of the very highest quality featuring the most knowledgeable experts and genuinely engaging voices. |
| 0:18.0 | What you may not know is that the BBC makes podcasts about all kinds of things like pop stars, |
| 0:24.6 | poltergeist, cricket, and conspiracy theories and that's just a few examples. |
| 0:29.7 | If you'd like to discover something a little bit unexpected, find your next podcast over at BBC Sounds. |
| 0:36.0 | Thank you for downloading this episode of In Our Time. |
| 0:38.7 | For more details about in our time and for our terms of use please go to BBC.co. UK slash radio for. I hope you enjoy |
| 0:45.9 | the program. Hello the town wood is one of the most important texts of Judaism. It's an |
| 0:52.2 | exhaustive account of ancient Jewish teaching |
| 0:54.5 | relating to the law together with discussions of thousands of early scholars |
| 0:58.3 | about how it should be interpreted. It was first written down over a period of |
| 1:02.2 | several centuries beginning around |
| 1:04.0 | 1900 years ago. The Talmud is a vast and fascinating work which in its English |
| 1:09.1 | translation runs to 73 volumes. It deals with a wide variety of subject matter including |
| 1:14.2 | religious festivals, dietary laws, marriage and divorce and even agriculture. |
| 1:18.0 | It presents its scholarship not as a sequence of edicts but as an ongoing |
| 1:22.3 | discussion, sometimes offering a range of opinion |
| 1:25.1 | on a single question. |
| 1:26.6 | With me to discuss the Talmudal, Philip Alexander, a Maritus professor of Jewish |
| 1:31.4 | studies at the University of Manchester, |
| 1:33.8 | Rabbi Norman Solomon, former lecturer at the Oxford Centre for Jewish in Hebrew Studies, |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.