Over just a few centuries, the Sasanian-Iranian scholars had set the style and agenda of rabbinic jurisprudence forevermore. All Jews today are actually students of the academies of Sura and Pumbedita though they sit far from the Euphrates. Swaying gently over arguments formulated long ago, they raise their voices in a song of study that is forever fresh.

The Talmud’s systematic commentary is very thorough and uncompromising, and is the central document for Judaic theology and law to the present day. Its constant debate and argumentation helped define Jewish theological and intellectual codes of social action, family and cultural values, and the day-to-day moral and ethical perimeters.

A constant flow of travelers between Israel and Babylon ensured that scholars in both countries were influenced by one another. But the Babylonian Talmud is far more intricate and advanced than its counterpart, the Jerusalem Talmud. In addition to its dialectic, the Babylonian Talmud contains a rich collection of folk traditions, and stories.

Given the Talmud's ubiquitous breadth of influence on the Jewish life around the world throughout the centuries, this communal achievement by the scholars of Iranian Babylonia, makes it the single most influential community of Judaism before or since.

Major Torah communities flourished for a millennium along the Euphrates in the cities of Sura, Nehardea, Pumbeditha and Mehoza. These famous academies launched the renown “Talmud Bavli” still studied today in its original Aramaic. The Talmud embodies Jewish oral law, forming the foundation of successive generations’ of profound commentaries. To this day, sets of Babylonian Talmudic tractates are prominently displayed in synagogue libraries and are centerpieces that adorn Jewish homes.

Let’s be fair; there is also an easier and more straightforward “Talmud Yerushalmi” version that developed about the same time in Jerusalem. But the more complex and comprehensive Babylonian Talmud prevailed, and is accepted as the final authority.

In contrast to the Jerusalem Talmud, the Babylonian Talmud scrutinizes each detail of the law and subjects it to extensive analysis. It thrives on debate, questions and answers, arguments and counter arguments, relentlessly challenging every detail until it achieves clarity and resolution.

The Babylonian Talmud epitomizes a rigorous intellectual process that opens the discussion with serious questions. The student is initially confronted by a barrage of problems and arguments, in the end working out a way to discover the answers.

The Babylonian Talmudic style teaches us how to respond to bewilderment and confusion: Rather than go into denial and pretend that all is well understood, Talmud Bavli teaches us to rise to the challenge.

Caption: Illuminated title page of a 500-year-old Babylonian Talmud printed in Amsterdam