Shamma Friedman, Israel Prize Recipient

As most of our readers already know, last Sunday Prof. Shamma Friedman was told  that he will receive the seventh Israel Prize in Talmud this May.  This is a fitting tribute to a scholar who has had an enormous influence on the study of Talmud both within and beyond academia.

At Tablet Magazine, Shai published an article describing the moment Friedman received the phone call from the Education Ministry and why he is being awarded the Israel Prize.  For those interested in learning more about Friedman’s revolutionary approach to Talmud study, Yehudah Mirsky penned an article at Jewish Ideas Daily a couple of years ago that focuses on his research into the Babylonian Talmud, and Amit recently reviewed a collection of his articles on Tannaitic literature here at the Talmud Blog. Here is a bio-bibliographic piece by Friedman’s student David Golinkin that appeared in  a Festschrift published in his honor.  Many of Friedman’s 100+ articles can be viewed here. 

Over the next few months we hope to devote some blog-time to Friedman’s research. But in truth, most of our readings, ruminations, and even reviews are influenced by the great change that he has wrought. We wish him very hearty congratulations.