Rabbi Dr. Yaakov Elman is Associate Professor of Jewish Studies at Yeshiva University , where he teaches courses in Bible and Talmud. he received his M.A. in Assyriology from Columbia Unviersity and his Ph.D in Talmud from NYU. Professor Elman is the author of Authority and Tradition: Toseftan Braitot in Talmudic Babylonia; and is the co-editor of Transmitting Jewish Traditions: Orality, Textuality, and Cultural Diffusion. Prof. Elman has published widely in the field of Talmud, and his research interests include rabbinic theology, unfolding systems of rabbinic legal exegesis, and the cultural context of classical rabbinic texts. He is also a director of the Friedberg Genizah Project.