Wednesday, November 13, 2024
Wednesday, November 13, 2024
Get the Daily
Briefing by Email

Subscribe

The Talmud: Why Has a Jewish Law Book Become So Popular?

William Kremer
BBC World Service, Nov. 8, 2013

“… with each daf yomi cycle, the Talmud gets more accessible.”
 
Step into the last carriage of the 07:53 train from Inwood to Penn Station in New York and you may be in for a surprise. The commuters here are not looking at their phones or checking the value of their shares, but peering down at ancient Hebrew and Aramaic text and discussing fine points of Judaic law.

It’s a study group on wheels, and the book absorbing their attention in between station announcements is the Talmud – one of the most challenging and perplexing religious texts in the world. The group started 22 years ago, to help Long Island’s Jewish commuters find their way through the “book”, which stretches to well over 10 million words across 38 volumes.

In his book, the Complete Idiot’s Guide to the Talmud, Rabbi Aaron Parry says that when, shortly before his death, Einstein was asked what he would do differently if he could live his life again, he replied without hesitation: “I would study the Talmud.”

It contains the foundations of Halakha – the religious laws that dictate all aspects of life for observant Jews from when they wake in the morning to when they go to sleep at night. Every imaginable topic is covered, from architecture to trapping mice. To a greater extent than the other main Jewish holy book, the Torah, the Talmud is a practical book about how to live.

… [To read the full article, click here]
________________________________________________________

 

Donate CIJR

Become a CIJR Supporting Member!

Most Recent Articles

The Empty Symbolism of Criminal Charges Against Hamas

0
Jeff Jacoby The Boston Globe, Sept. 8, 2024 “… no Palestinian terrorist has ever been brought to justice in the United States for atrocities committed against Americans abroad.”   Hersh Goldberg-Polin...

Britain Moves Left, But How Far?

0
Editorial WSJ, July 5, 2024   “Their failures created an opening for Reform UK, led by Nigel Farage, a party promising stricter immigration controls and the lower-tax policies...

HELP CIJR GET THE MESSAGE ACROSS

0
"For the second time this year, it is my greatest merit to lead you into battle and to fight together.  On this day 80...

Day 5 of the War: Israel Internalizes the Horrors, and Knows Its Survival Is...

0
David Horovitz Times of Israel, Oct. 11, 2023 “The more credible assessments are that the regime in Iran, avowedly bent on Israel’s elimination, did not work...

Subscribe Now!

Subscribe now to receive the
free Daily Briefing by email

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

  • Subscribe to the Daily Briefing

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.