For over 150 years, scholars have debated a fascinating question: To what extent did the Geonim—the heads of the great academies of Sura and Pumbedita—engage with the Jerusalem Talmud? The Geonim saw themselves as the guardians and transmitters of the Babylonian Talmud, which became the dominant text of Jewish law. But was the Yerushalmi, composed in the Land of Israel, also part of their intellectual world?Cross file under (Jerusalem) Talmud Watch.My current research is shedding new light on this issue. While working on previously unpublished teshuvot (responsa) from the Geonic period, I have uncovered evidence suggesting that more Babylonian Geonim made use of the Jerusalem Talmud than previously thought.
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