Julian Ungar-Sargon

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Daf Ditty

A wide-ranging commentary on the daily page of Talmud.

Carl Schleicher, ‘Eine Streitfrage aus dem Talmud,’ 19th century

Moed Katan 4: The Editing of the Talmud Bavli

jyungar January 16, 2022

For the source text click/tap here: Moed Katan 4

To download, click/tap here: PDF

Our Daf tells of Ravina and Rabba Tosefa’a who were walking together on Hol HaMoed and saw someone who was watering his vegetable garden.

Rabba Tosefa’a called on Ravina to place the person under a ban for performing a forbidden activity on Hol HaMoed.

Rabba Tosefa’a was one of the last of the amora’im, and he participated in the editing of the Talmud. Although we find a number of his rulings (9x) in the Gemara, he was one of the last of the amora’im, few of his teachings remain.

From the above story, he was a student of Ravina; after the passing of Mar bar Rav Ashi, he headed the academy in Sura for six years.

We compare and contrast 2 of the greatest historians of the redaction of the Bavli who lived 100 years apart, Rav Isaac Halevi (a student of Volozhin) whose Dorot Rishonim was a classic (although the Chazon Ish told his grandson not to republish the sefer!)

and Prof Dovid Weiss Halivni who discovered the stammaists as a separate final layer of redaction.

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Julian Ungar-Sargon

This is Julian Ungar-Sargon's personal website. It contains poems, essays, and podcasts for the spiritual seeker and interdisciplinary aficionado.​