Barry Scott Wimpfheimer | |
|---|---|
| Awards | National Jewish Book Award (2018) |
| Academic background | |
| Education | |
| Academic work | |
| Discipline | Rabbinic literature |
| Institutions | |
Barry Scott Wimpfheimer is an American scholar of the Talmud and Rabbinic literature. He is an associate professor at Northwestern University and chair of its department of religious studies. [1]
Wimpfheimer grew up in an Orthodox household in Riverdale,New York and began studying the Talmud in 5th grade. [2] [3] He earned his B.A. from Columbia University and M.A. from Yeshiva University in Talmudic studies. He received his rabbinic ordination in 2000. [4] He then earned a Ph.D. from Columbia in religion,studying under David Weiss Halivni. [4] His work has focused on the Babylonian Talmud as a work of law and literature. [3] [5]
Wimpfheimer's book on the history and evolution of the Talmud,The Talmud:A Biography (2018) won a National Jewish Book Award in 2018. [6] He argued that the Talmud can be read in three different ways:the essential Talmud,which sees the Talmud as a work of religious literature produced at a certain historical period;the enhanced Talmud,which sees the text as the central canonical work of Judaism after the Destruction of the temple;and the emblematic Talmud,which sees the scripture as the primary symbol of Jews,Judaism and Jewishness. [3] [2]
Wimpfheimer also teaches an online introductory Talmud course via Coursera. [7] He is the co-editor of Prooftexts:A Journal of Jewish Literary History . [8]