About the conference:
For several decades, scholars of rabbinic literature have looked towards Rome, and Greco-Roman culture more generally, in order to provide a framework for understanding rabbinic texts of Palestinian provenance. This attempt to reach beyond the strictures of the literature itself has opened up avenues of inquiry and has yielded a more nuanced understanding of how Jews as a minority participated within the Greco-Roman world. On this rare occasion, scholars within the two disciplines—Talmudic and Iranian Studies—shall be working in concert to examine the interaction between Jewish and Iranian cultures in terms of legal exegesis, literature, and religious thought.

Conference Schedule:
SUNDAY, May 6 @ 314 Royce Hall
"The Road Ahead" • Junior Scholars Session • 4pm
Chair: Dvora Weisberg (Hebrew Union College)
Shai Secunda (Yeshiva University)
Jason Mokhtarian (UCLA)
Yuhan Vaivana (Harvard University)
Respondent: Prods Oktor Skjaervo (Harvard University)

"At the Crossroads of Talmudic and Iranian Studies" • Evening Plenary • 7:30 pm
Chair: Carol Bakhos (UCLA)
David Goodblatt (UCSD)utes
M. Rahim Shayegan (UCLA)  20-25 minutes

MONDAY, May 7 @ UCLA Faculty Center
"Babylonian Talmud in light of Iranian Evidence" • 9:30 am
Chair: Gail Labovitz (University of Judaism)
Yakov Elman (Yeshiva University)
Geoffrey Hermann (The Jewish Theological Seminary)
Richard Kalmin (The Jewish Theological Seminary)
Respondent: Isaiah Gafni (Hebrew University, Jerusalem)

"Zoroastrian Practices, Sasanian Jurisprudence, and the Talmud" • 1 pm
Chair: Hossein Ziai (UCLA)
Maria Macuch (Freie Universität Berlin)
Shaul Shaked (Hebrew University, Jerusalem)
Prods Oktor Skjaervo (Harvard University)
Respondent: James Russell (Harvard University)

“Past Achievements and New Directions” • Roundtable Discussion • 3:30 pm
Chair: Carol Bakhos (UCLA)
Touraj Daryaee (Cal State, Fullerton)
Clarisse Herrenschmidt (École des Hautes Études en
Sciences Sociales, Paris)
Carlo Cereti (Università “La Sapienza”, Rome)
Aryeh Cohen (University of Judaism)
Steven Fraade (Yale University)