"Kalmin expertly uses the examples in his book to claim that the borders of late ancient empires were porous, and that ideas and traditions moved freely between them. This is undoubtedly correct and an important corrective to the inward gaze of rabbis—Roman and Sasanian—celebrated in scholarship in recent decades."
"Few . . . rigorous, scholarly publications are also written in a brilliant, clear, and fluent manner, making them interesting and enjoyable reading for any educated reader. Professor Richard Kalmin’s Migrating Tales: The Talmud’s Narratives and Their Historical Context certainly belongs to this category."
"Rightly contests a dichotomous division of the rabbinic world into 'West' and 'East,' 'Greco-Roman' and 'Persian,”' and presents instead a much more complex and dynamic picture of migration, transition, and interaction between regions, languages, and cultures. . . . The book deserves praise for the remarkable erudition that underlies it, for its scrupulousness, and for the textual and philological sensitivity that guides every page of it."
"Kalmin's approach is quite convincing, and will hopefully encourage others to pursue similar areas of research. Recommended for academic libraries, with interests in rabbinics or ancient Jewish history."
"This book is highly recommended for its thorough research, elegant translations, and readable style. It is a significant addition to talmudic scholarship."
"A rich resource for students of rabbinic literature who seek to understand how legends were borrowed and retold among rabbis and non-Jews in the Roman east. This book will also serve as a methodological guide for scholars interested in studying cultural sharing among a wide range of traditions."
"A fascinating book, a real tour de force. In Kalmin's hands, the stories of the Babylonian Talmud become evidence of the Bavli's cultural connections with Greeks, Romans, Christians, and others. If anyone tries to tell you how insular ancient rabbinic literature was, tell them to read this book."—Shaye J. D. Cohen, Littauer Professor of Hebrew Literature and Philosophy at Harvard University
"Kalmin's work represents an outstanding contribution towards identifying the various contexts and influences that shaped the Babylonian Talmud. He offers new and informative readings of rabbinic material and, while carefully applying cutting-edge systems of philological, literary, and textual criticism, he does not overlook the historical contexts that also played a major role in the process. This study poses a stimulating challenge to preconceived ideas of how rabbinic narratives originated and were subsequently refashioned."—Dr. Isaiah M. Gafni, Sol Rosenbloom Professor of Jewish History at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
"Migrating Tales puts well-selected stories from the Talmud under a microscope, focusing on very specific details to expose these stories' surprising origins in non-Jewish or non-Babylonian literature. Kalmin's overall emphasis is on the penetration of elements from the west, from the Roman Empire, into a document composed in the east, in the Persian Empire. This book is committed to a set of questions about how to determine provenance and context when dealing with such a complicated, composite document as the Talmud. An important and nuanced statement on how to read Talmudic stories in their late ancient context, one from which serious students and scholars of the Talmud and late ancient literature have a great deal to learn."—Moulie Vidas, Assistant Professor of Religion and the Program in Judaic Studies at Princeton University
