Table of Contents
In gratitude to my beloved parents, Arnold Stanley and Elinor Parry, whose lifelong devotion to
each other and to raising their children as upright decent human beings should give them
comfort in the Heavenly Abode. This book is dedicated in their blessed memory.
Foreword
Imagine coming across the following ad in your favorite magazine. AMAZING SPECIAL OFFER! STORE ALL OF AMERICAN CULTURE ON A SINGLE SHELF IN YOUR LIVING ROOM! What would your reaction be? You would probably say to yourself, Thats really going too far even for Madison Avenue!
You can get some idea of what an incredible work the Talmud is when you realize that this is precisely what the Jewish sages managed to accomplish for Jewish culture! They managed to condense all that a Jew needs to know to be fully oriented in all aspects of his culture into the 20 Tomes of the Babylonian Talmud that fit very nicely on most living room shelves.
Not only does the Talmud contain the entirety of Jewish law, from ritual law, to family laws to torts; it is also a work of ethics, philosophy, biography, literature, history, and folktales. But that is not all. To fully appreciate its genius you also have to realize that the Sages compiled a work that contains all this information and is still suited to all age groups and all levels of scholarship.
Jewish children through the ages have begun to swim in its waters from the age of nine or ten. Amateur scholars, and all ordinary Jews are commanded to be such, have studied it in their spare time and found it interesting and stimulating. And yet the most brilliant Jewish minds have spent their entire lives immersed in its depths without running out of new ideas to explore.
If you run all these facts through your mind you will readily see why the Jewish people regard it with the reverence due to a work that is divinely inspired. There is no way human beings could have come up with a literary work that manages to accomplish all this without Divine assistance. It is easy to comprehend why the Jewish people consider the Talmud as holy as the Five Books of Moses.
The ability of the Jewish people to survive two thousand years of exile and persecution and still emerge vibrant and intact is one of the great mysteries of human history. It does not diminish the immensity of the feat to point out that it was the Talmud that made this possible. Observant Jews have always been one hundred percent literate. Their most sacred commandment is the one that orders them to study the Torah. In practice they have carried out this obligation by studying the Talmud. They have always carried their entire culture around with them stored on their living room shelves.
It is difficult to write a book about the Talmud that manages to describe it accurately without reducing the majesty of the work. Rabbi Parry has managed to do precisely this. No doubt this is thanks to his many years of experience at introducing the Talmud to highly intelligent and educated people who become interested in Jewish studies only later in life. His background and his book both merit our sincere admiration. The intelligent reader will be rewarded with an appreciation of the Talmuds intellectual immensity and with a taste of what it is like to swim in its deep waters even if he lacks any prior familiarity with its methods and its ways.
I feel honored to have been chosen to introduce his book and recommend it highly.
Rabbi Noson Weisz
While studying at the famed yeshivas of Chaim Berlin, Lakewood and the Mir in Jerusalem, Rabbi Noson Weisz also received a degree in Microbiology from the University of Toronto, an M.A. in Political Science at the New School for Social Research, and his L.L.B. from the University of Toronto. Rabbi Weisz is currently a senior lecturer at Yeshiva Aish HaTorah in Jerusalem.
Introduction
As one of the worlds great books of wisdom, the Talmud ranks right at the top. Yet, very few people have actually read the Talmud. It remains a mystery to most, both Jews and non-Jews, many of whom view it as an obscure collection of mental exercises, logic, and deduction written by a group of rabbis who seem to delight in debating and challenging everything said.
The Talmud is arguably one of the most enigmatic texts known to humankind. Part religious laws, part wise sayings, and part stories, it presents the beliefs and views of learned Jewish sages of antiquity, which would lead anyone unfamiliar with its contents to believe that whatever it had to say would be out-of-date and hardly relevant today. But quite the opposite is true. Contained in this ancient text is guidance for living a wholesome life that resonates as well today as it did centuries ago. Studying it requires honing ones way of thinking and reasoning, and is invaluable for learning how to organize thoughts and prioritize many facets of life.
What the Talmud has to say has challenged and delighted scholars throughout the centuries, and it continues to do so today. No less a personality than Albert Einstein, when asked near his death in 1955 what he would do differently if he were to start his life all over again, responded without hesitation, I would study the Talmud.
When people talk about studying the Talmud, they dont say theyre reading it, as the Talmud isnt meant to be read. Instead, its meant to be learned. Traditionally, learning the Talmud took place with the help of a teacher, almost always with a rabbi. If, indeed, this work serves as a stepping-stone to actual in-depth Talmud study for some of you, our efforts will have truly been blessed.
How to Use This Book
Mastery of the actual Talmud text is not the goal here. Merely reading a book about the Talmud, no matter how complete, cant accomplish this. For this reason, the purpose of the pages ahead isnt to turn you into a Talmud scholar (or, in Hebrew, a Talmid Chacham). However, you can expect to gain a greater appreciation for the Talmuds unique rhythm and cadence; how the sages took a concept and moved it from the hypothetical into the concrete, their original system of logic, and the wise proclamations about ethics and morality that illuminate the paths of many today.
Part 1, Introducing the Talmud, sets the stage for what the Talmud is all about, and how it came to be.
Part 2, Inside the Talmud, deals with the actual structure of the Talmud, and the contents of each Talmudic order.
Part 3, The Spirit of the Talmud, delves into specific qualities or themes that are expressed throughout the Talmud.
Part 4, The World According to the Talmud, discusses Talmudic wisdom on such important subjects as science and medicine, the environment, and death and afterlife.
Part 5, Living the Talmud Way, offers insight and assistance on how the precepts of the Talmud apply, and can be applied, to modern living.
Extras
To help you get the most out of this book, Ive sprinkled it with the following helpful information boxes:
Talmud Tutor
Definitions of words and phrases that you might find in the Talmud.
