| Discipline: | Rabbinic literature |
| Awards: | National Jewish Book Award (2018) |
Barry Scott Wimpfheimer is an American scholar of the Talmud and Rabbinic literature. He is an associate professor at Northwestern University and chair of its department of religious studies.[1]
Wimpfheimer grew up in an Orthodox household in Riverdale, New York and began studying the Talmud in 5th grade.[2] [3] He earned his B.A. from Columbia University and M.A. from Yeshiva University in Talmudic studies. He received his rabbinic ordination in 2000.[4] He then earned a Ph.D. from Columbia in religion, studying under David Weiss Halivni. His work has focused on the Babylonian Talmud as a work of law and literature.[5]
Wimpfheimer's book on the history and evolution of the Talmud, The Talmud: A Biography (2018) won a National Jewish Book Award in 2018.[6] He argued that the Talmud can be read in three different ways: the essential Talmud, which sees the Talmud as a work of religious literature produced at a certain historical period; the enhanced Talmud, which sees the text as the central canonical work of Judaism after the Destruction of the temple; and the emblematic Talmud, which sees the scripture as the primary symbol of Jews, Judaism and Jewishness.
Wimpfheimer also teaches an online introductory Talmud course via Coursera.[7] He is the co-editor of .[8]