Traditionally, the Talmud was read as law, that is, as the authoritative source for Jewish practice and obligations. To this end, it was studied at the level of its most minute details, with readers often ignoring the composite whole and attending only to final decisions. Methods of reading have shifted as more readers and students have turned to the Talmud for evidence of rabbinic history, religion, rhetoric, or anthropology; still, few have employed a genuinely literary approach. In Reading the Rabbis, Kraemer attempts to fill this gap. He uses the tools developed in the study of other literatures, particularly rhetorical and reader-response criticisms, to unearth previously unnoticed levels of meaning. His book offers a new understanding of the complexity of Rabbinic Judaism, and a new model of rabbinic piety.
Kraemer builds upon various recent studies to illustrate what it means to read the Talmud as literature. Though scholars have earlier claimed to engage in this exercise, none have completely explored the consequences of rerading the Talmud through a literary lens. Kraemer fills this gap and in the process manages to uncover levels of meaning previously unnoticed by readers of the Talmud.
