The Essential Talmud (Thirtieth Anniversary Edition)

The Essential Talmud is a masterful introduction by Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz to the great repository of Jewish wisdom, the Talmud. A book of profound scholarship and concise pedagogy, The Essential Talmud succinctly describes the Talmud's history, structure, and methodology. It summarizes the Talmud's main principles, demonstrates its contemporary relevance, and captures the spirit of this unique and paradoxical sacred text as a human expression of divine law. "The Talmud is a repository of thousands of years of Jewish wisdom. Its two-and-a-half million words consist of a conglomeration of law, legend, and philosophy, a blend of unique logic, shrewd pragmatism, history, science, anecdotes, and humor. In The Essential Talmud, Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz, regarded as one of the leading rabbis of the century, offers an introduction to this sacred Jewish text, clearly and brilliantly describing the beliefs, attitudes, and methods that have occupied students of the Talmud for centuries." "If the Bible is the cornerstone of Judaism," writes Rabbi Steinsaltz, "then the Talmud is the central pillar, soaring up from the foundations and supporting the entire spiritual and intellectual edifice." The Talmud, though in many ways the most important book in Jewish culture, is a work with which most Jews are almost entirely unfamiliar. Rabbi Steinsaltz, whose life's work includes his efforts to revive the study of the Talmud among the Jewish people, observes that "a Jewish society that ceases to study the Talmud has no real hope of survival." Describing the Talmud as "the backbone of creativity and national life" for Jews, Rabbi Steinsaltz explains that "understanding the Talmud gives one a key, not only for itself, but for all Jewish culture." He goes on to state that "from a cultural perspective the Talmud is the tool for self-understanding" for the Jewish people." "Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz has a remarkable encyclopedic knowledge of Torah, Halakhah (Jewish law), and. Kabbalah (Jewish mystical thought), as well as a mastery of the sciences. He has earned worldwide recognition as a scholar, teacher, and mentor. The Essential Talmud, like several other works by Rabbi Steinsaltz, has become a modern Jewish classic. His own Talmud translation and commentary, a project that Rabbi Steinsaltz began in 1967, has received extraordinary praise, and tens of thousands of volumes of his Talmud edition are circulating." "The Essential Talmud is a superb window through which we can gain a glimpse, and more, of perhaps the most unique sacred work in the history of religion. In a single brief volume, Rabbi Steinsaltz succeeds in capturing the flavor and spirit of the Talmud as a human document and at the same time summarizes its main principles as an expression of divine law." "A work of profound scholarship and yet also of concise, simple, and brilliant pedagogy, The Essential Talmud will make equally enlightening reading for those who are already versed in the subject and those who come to it for the first time."--BOOK JACKET. Preface To The Essential Talmud -- 1. What Is The Talmud? -- 2. Life In The Talmudic Period -- 3. The Oral Law -- The First Generations -- 4. The Oral Law -- The Era Of The Zugot (pairs) -- 5. The Tannaim -- 6. The Compilation Of The Mishnah -- 7. The Amoraim In Babylonia -- 8. The Amoraim In Palestine -- 9. The Redaction Of The Babylonian Talmud -- 10. Talmudic Exegesis -- 11. The Printing Of The Talmud -- 12. The Persecution And Banning Of The Talmud -- 13. The Structure Of The Talmud -- 14. The Layout Of A Talmud Page -- 15. The Subject Matter Of The Talmud -- 16. Prayers And Benedictions -- 17. The Sabbath -- 18. The Festivals -- 19. Marriage And Divorce -- 20. The Status Of Women -- 21. Civil Law -- 22. Criminal Law -- 23. Sacrifices -- 24. Dietary Laws -- 25. Ritual Purity And Impurity -- 26. Ethics And Halakhah -- 27. Derekh Eretz (deportment) -- 28. The World Of Mysticism -- 29. Midrash (halakhic Exegesis) -- 30. The Talmudic Way Of Thinking -- 31. Strange And Bizarre Problems -- 32. Methods Of Study -- 33. The Talmud And The Halakhah -- 34. Aggadah In The Talmud -- 35. What Is A Scholar? -- 36. The Talmud's Importance For The People -- 37. The Talmud Has Never Been Completed -- App. Orders And Tractates Of The Mishnah And Talmud. Adin Steinsaltz ; Translated From The Hebrew By Chaya Galai. Includes Index. A masterful introduction to the to the great repository of Jewish wisdom, the Talmud In The Essential Talmud , the renowned Israeli scholar and teacher Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz succinctly describes the history, structure, and methodology of the sacred text by which the Jewish people have lived and survived through the ages. Rabbi Steinsaltz summarizes the Talmud's main principles, demonstrates its contemporary relevance, and captures the spirit of this unique and paradoxical text as a human expression of divine law. This expanded edition features a historical overview of life in the times of the Talmud and an in-depth look at the content and appearance of the original Talmudic page. As Rabbi Solomon S. Bernards of the B'Nai B'rith Anti-Defamation League puts it, "this book is indispensable to those, Jews and Christians alike, who would like to gain an insight into what it is that moves the contemporary Jew." This expanded version of the classic text on Jewish theology—by the scholar Newsweek called "a genius of the highest order" —demonstrates the contemporary relevance of this proud legacy of the Jewish people