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December 5: The Talmud, Completed
Rabbi Ravina ben Huna, known as Ravina II, head of the Jewish academy at Sura, a key center of learning in Babylonia, is said to have died on this date in 475. Tradition holds Ravina II to be the last redactor of the Talmud; following his death, no more additions, only minor edits, were made. He was one of 761 authoritative rabbis, amoraim, whose teachings and arguments across more than two centuries were recorded and who are mentioned by name in either or both the Babylonian and Palestinian Talmuds. To read our editor’s article about “The Talmud’s Atheist,” click here.
“The highest form of wisdom is kindness.” —Berakhot 17a
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