The scholarship of Y.I. Halevy, a pioneer of the nascent movement of Orthodox Wissenschaft in 19th-century Eastern Europe, is critical to our understanding of the formation and editing of the Babylonian Talmud, but his unique approach has never been analyzed in a monograph.Halevy used his unique combination of great talmudic erudition and political acumen to compose the most influential Orthodox historiography of his time and to establish Agudath Israel, the leading international Orthodox political organization, which still thrives.Despite the shortcomings of his research and his frequent apologetics, Halevy’s findings and methods, as revealed in his primary work, Dorot Harishonim, represent a significant contribution to scholarship on the history, formation, and editing of the Talmud. In particular, his theory of the development of the Talmud’s unique structure and his insights about its editing are supported by some evidence and provide crucial insights even to today’s readers.This book adds new perspectives to the scholarship on the Talmud’s formation, adding 19th-century scholars’ contributions to the topic, and it is a valuable resource for students of rabbinic literature, Jewish history, religion, and politics.weiterlesen