Yaakov Elman


Yaakov Elman was an American professor of Talmud at Yeshiva University's Bernard Revel Graduate School of Jewish Studies where he held the Herbert S. and Naomi Denenberg Chair in Talmudic Studies. He was the founder of the field now known as Irano-Talmudica, which seeks to understand the Babylonian Talmud in its Middle-Persian context.

Education

Elman received his MA in Assyriology from Columbia University and his PhD in Talmud from New York University.

Publications

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Edited:
His research interests centered around Talmud and rabbinic literature of nearly all periods and genres, including rabbinic theology, unfolding systems of rabbinic legal exegesis, and the cultural context of classical rabbinic texts. He researched the relation of the Babylonian Jewish community of Talmudic times to the surrounding Middle Persian culture and religions.