An in-depth introduction to the ancient work of Jewish law and theology.

One of the world’s supreme works of religious literature, the Talmud has been unjustly neglected by a civilization that is rightly proud of its Judeo-Christian heritage. In The Talmud of Jerusalem, Dagobert D. Runes offers a fascinating and scholarly overview of its evolution and the rabbis who taught and contributed to it.

The Talmud came into being in the centuries after Jerusalem fell to the Roman Empire, when the people of Palestine were scattered to the four corners of the earth. To preserve their faith amid the strange customs of Pagan lands, the wandering Israelites turned to their teachers for a fresh interpretation of the Torah, the ancient book of Moses. The Oral Laws formulated by the sages were eventually codified in the Talmud.