The Talmud and Its Discontents

In a recent English-language op-ed, the retired Saudi statesman Prince Turki al-Faisal wrote that “Israel must abandon its talmudic ambitions and cease its bloody brutality and seizure of Arab lands in Palestine, Syria, and Lebanon.” This particular phrasing fits neatly into a pattern of at least eight centuries of Christian and Muslim defamation of the Talmud—and might come as a surprise to those Jews who would contrast this pietistic text with the supposedly more bellicose Bible. It also says something about the widespread ignorance about this difficult text, so unlike other books.