Decoding the Talmud: Inside the Story, Substance, and Significance of the Book That Defines Judaism.
Discover the intricate world of the Talmud, its history, authors, and significance- and experience it yourself. You'll decode every part of the Talmudic page and see why it powers Jewish life to this day.
01
Why Is Everyone Reading Law?
In this lesson, we will learn about the nature of Jewish law: the Oral Torah that
was given by G‑d to Moses and transmitted through the centuries. We learn
about its scope. It doesn’t just cover crimes and contracts; it covers every
facet of human life. And we will come to understand why Jews consider the
study of law to be an act of religious worship.
02
The Mishnah: Documenting Our Covenant with G‑d
This lesson introduces the six orders of the Mishnah and the Tanna’im who
crafted the Mishnah’s text. We will dive deeply into a couple of Mishnayot and
learn how the sages packed a vast amount of information into very few words.
And we will come to understand why the study of this text is so important for
the very soul of a Jew.
03
Decoding the Mishnah
Lesson 3 will focus on the major questions that the amorai’m asked about
each Mishnah and how they went about answering these questions. And then
we will treat ourselves to the experience of a Talmudic sugya. We will see
how the sages hone in on a single phrase in the Mishnah we met in Lesson 2,
debating its meaning, back and forth, before finally coming to a conclusion.
04
The Amora'im and the Book They Composed
The Gemara was written by the amora’im, who lived over the course of
three centuries in Israel and Babylonia. In Lesson 4, we will meet them and
learn about the historic forces that shaped their lives. We will examine the
structure of the book they produced: a structure that makes the Gemara
one of the most unusual books in the world.
05
Talmudic Thinking
The Gemara kop—the “head of the Talmudist” is one of the most valuable
assets of the Jewish people. The Gemara does not only elucidate Jewish
law; it also teaches generations of Jews how to think. We will take another
look at our Lesson 3 sugya, learning how to halt kop— how to follow a
Talmudic argument.
06
The Talmud's Posterity
The Talmud’s journey over the past 1,500 years has seen it carried to
all corners of the world. Lesson 6 explores the Talmud’s history from its
composition to the present. We will highlight the work of the codifiers and
commentators and the challenges of censorship and persecution that have
plagued the Talmud over the years.
