This paper presents aspects of post-talmudic rabbiniceducation in the Baghdād area during early Islamicand ʿAbbāsid times (ca. 7th–11thcenturies). In the introductory reflections itcharacterizes the relevant institutions inPumbedita, Sūra, and Baghdād, the yeshivot, as Jewish contextsof learning. Then it focuses on Talmud teaching, themain di- dactic activity of the yeshivot, by reviewing some primarysources which highlight features of the course ofstudy, the pedagogy, and students’ financialsupport. Lastly, it offers a revised transcription,the first En- glish translation and a briefdiscussion of lines 1–16 of the Cairo Genizafragment JTS: ENA 2639.46rthat is considered a unique source ofinformation on the curriculum of the yeshivot.

14.1 Introduction: The yeshivot as Contexts of Learning

Jewish Babylonia (Bavelin Hebrew) was the oldest settlement areain the Diaspora and, by the time of the Islamicconquests, the new center of gravity in the Jewishworld. The term Bavelrefers both to a city near the site ofancient Babylon on the east bank of the Euphrates(ca. ninetykilometers south of Baghdād), and to its environs.During the geonic period (ca. 7th–11thcenturies) Babylonian Jewry was spread over theentire domain of the eastern ʿAbbāsid caliphate,mostly in Pumbedita and Nehardea in the Euphratesarea, in Sūra in the south, and alongside the Maḥozaand Radhan canals in the east.

Pumbedita and Sūra at first housed the Babyloniangeonic yeshivot(literally “sessions”, commonly translatedas “academies”). Later, by the early 10thcentury the Geonim had relocated to the ʿAbbāsidcapital, al- though Sūra and Pumbedita were retainedas names for the yeshivot. These yeshivot were two of the fourinstitutions that competed for spiri- tual,intellectual, and legal leadership of a network ofDiaspora communities. The yeshivot, named geonic after their headsand representatives, the Geonim, where highlyinstitutionalized bodies, in contrast to Babylonianrabbinic milieus of classical talmudic times.