Migrating tales: the Talmud's narratives and their historical context (original) (raw)

The paper analyzes Richard Kalmin's book on Talmudic legends, focusing on the cultural exchanges between rabbinic and non-rabbinic communities in the Roman East. Kalmin examines eight narratives from the Babylonian Talmud alongside non-Jewish sources, arguing for a complex interplay of influence and cultural sharing that reworked and transformed these traditions. The study highlights the methodological importance of analyzing rabbinic texts in conjunction with their historical and cultural contexts, while also raising questions about the implications of these interactions for understanding community identities.