News

Tuesday 4 October 2022

Presentation of Babylonian Talmud New Edition in Russian

 
New edition presentation of the Babylonian Talmud in Russian took place at the Center for Talmud Studies of the Institute of Oriental Studies (the Russian Academy of Sciences) on the 28th of September 2022.

L.R. Gorodetsky, the Head of the Center for the Talmud Study, candidate of philological sciences, presented a new, 14th volume of a complete scientific translation of Babylonian Talmud.

L.R. Gorodetsky said that the scientific program of the Center for the Study of the Talmud was created in 2021 in the Department of History and Culture of the Ancient East of the Institute of Oriental Studies (the Russian Academy of Sciences). Moreover, the program key is the study of civilizational interaction and mutual influence: Russian and Jewish civilizations, Russian and Persian civilizations, etc.

A.K. Alikberov, Director of the Institute of Oriental Studies (the Russian Academy of Sciences), Doctor of Historical Sciences, noted that the activities of the Center were successful. The center is one of the most active departments in the Institute, a lot of seminars are conducted there. Then, Mr. Alikberov added that the scientific translation of the Babylonian Talmud into Russian is a real phenomenon in Russian science and, in general, in Russian culture. In addition, it is the return to the Russian Jews and their centuries-old tradition from which they have been cut off for a long time.

E. Smagina, the Head of the Department of History and Culture of the Ancient East, Institute of Oriental Studies, Candidate of Philological Sciences, said "Talmud is the most important text for the Jewish culture. It is unique, in particular, in that it was thanks to the study of the Talmud that the Jews, who for almost 2000 years had not had their own state, economy, or legal system, and spoke different languages, were able to preserve themselves as a single nation." 

L.M. Ravandi-Fadai, the Head of the Eastern Cultural Center (the Institute of Oriental Studies), candidate of historical sciences, recalled that the Jews history is connected with the Persian history from biblical times, and on the territory of modern Iran there is the largest Jewish community in Muslim countries and there are Jewish shrines.

The work on creation of a complete scientific translation of Talmud into Russian at the Talmud Study Center under L.R. Gorodetsky's direction will be continued.