Trial Stories in Ancient Judaism

The image of the lofty and impartial judge is rooted in biblical and ancient texts; God is often depicted as the ultimate judge on high that human judges must emulate. But in these same collections of texts, we find counternarratives that challenge this view of judges, acknowledging their limitations. They are humans with a place in the social and material world, which comes inescapable relational and emotional entanglements. This talk will explore one trial story in the Babylonian Talmud that leaves us with a new image of the judge: not aloof and impartial, not biased and corrupt, but caught somewhere in between. It will end by considering what we can do with this compromised image of justice.

Chaya Halberstam is a professor of Hebrew Bible and Judaism in the department of Religious Studies at King’s University College at the University of Western Ontario. Her research focuses on the legal cultures of Israelite and Jewish antiquity, with an emphasis on early rabbinic literature. Her work explores the role of legal discourse in shaping cultural attitudes and practices—and its limits. Her first book, Law and Truth in Biblical and Rabbinic Literature, came out in 2010 and received the Salo Baron prize for best first book in Jewish studies. Her most recent book, Trial Stories in Jewish Antiquity: Counternarratives of Justice, came out in 2024 with Oxford University Press.