Jeremiah in Talmud and Midrash (Studies in Judaism)

This sourcebook collects and classifies how Israelite Scripture was received and recast in the language community that produced the dual Torah of Judaism. It is well known that verses of prophecy figure as proof-texts in Rabbinic exegesis of scriptural narratives, but to what end, and with what larger concept in mind? With extensive translation and documentation, author Jacob Neusner uses the case of Jeremiah in the Rabbinic canon of the formative age to examine the Rabbinic document's response to the prophetic ones in terms of how they select, explain, and utilize the language of Scripture. The book also explores how one particular kind of ancient Israelite Scripture, the prophetic books, found a place in the new language community formed by the Rabbinic sages and documented in their canon from the Mishnah (ca. 200 C.E.), through the Talmud of Babylonia, a.k.a. the Bavli (ca. 600 C. E.).