RESOURCESThe main primary source of information about the Jews of Sasanian
Iraq from the third to the fifth century is the Babylonian Talmud. The
standard edition is by L. Goldschmidt (Leipzig, Berlin, and The Hague,
1906-1935) in nine volumes, but the editorial choices may favor par-
ticular interpretations and, according to Goodblatt, manuscript var-
iants can be important. There are two English translations: M. Rod-
kinson, The Babylonian Talmud (Boston, 1918), and I. Epstein,
Babylonian Talmud (London, 1935-48). Both were used for this study,
but Rodkinson's translation was usually cited for convenience. It is
impossible to use the Talmud as an historical source without some
idea of the approximate dates of the lives of the authorities who are
cited therein, which can be gained from K. Kahan's edition with a
German translation of the Seder Tannaim we-Amoraim (Frankfurt a.
M., 1935) which was probably composed in A.D. 885, and S. Schech-
ter's edition of the Abot de R. Nathan (Vienna, 1887), with English
translations by J. Golden, The Fathers According to Rabbi Nathan
(New Haven, 1955), and by A. Saldarini with the same title (Leiden,
1975).
The body of Talmudic scholarship is immense and easily carries one
off in directions unrelated to the purpose of this study. One should
at least consult works such as H. Strack's Introduction to the Talmud
and Midrash (Philadelphia, 1945), andJ. Neusner, ed., The Formation
of the Babylonian Talmud (Leiden, 1970), which provide a general
orientation. W. Bacher's Die exegetische Terminologie der judischen
Traditionsliteratur (Leipzig, 1899-1905), and Die Agada der baby!.
Amoriier (Frankfurt a. M., 1913) are still worth consulting. J. Goldin's
"Of Change and Adaptation in Judaism," History of Religions 4 (1965):
269-94, deals with Judaism in Classical Antiquity in general terms
but discusses the role of the Oral Torah on pages 288 to 294. More
recently, see W. Towner's "Form-Criticism of Rabbinic Literature,"
lIS 24 (1973): 101-18, and D. Goodblatt's "Local Traditions in the
Babylonian Talmud," HUCA 48 (1977): 61-79. The period in the
sixth and seventh centuries between the end of the Talmud and the
beginning of gaonic responses, which is poor in primary sources for
Jews in Iraq, is covered by J. Ephrathi's Hebrew study on The Sevoraic
Period and Its Literature in Babylonia and in Eretz Israel (500-689)
(Petach-Tikva, 1973).
The most important source for the early Islamic period is the body
of gaonic responses which begin in the late seventh century. Early
editions and studies are available by Harkavy, Responsen der Geonim