Menachem Mendel

A friend on Facebook linked to a web site that has some Tosafot translated into English: Tosfos in English.

Posted on January 13th, 2012 under Talmud, Talmud Study. Comments: 1

Becoming the People of the Talmud: Oral Torah as Written Tradition in Medieval Jewish Cultures by Talya Fishman has won the National Jewish Book Council’s award for the best work of scholarship. Congratulations.

Posted on January 10th, 2012 under New Books, Talmud, Talmud Study, Textual Studies. Comments: 1

Daf Yomi recently covered some discussion about urinating rabbis. I previously posted on the subject here, here, and here.

Posted on January 2nd, 2012 under Daf Yomi, Talmud, Talmud Study. Comments: 2

The New Jerusalem Talmud is an interesting attempt to merge both the multi-vocality and graphic of the Talmud with modern technology and issues.

Posted on December 27th, 2011 under Talmud, Talmud Study, Technology. Comments Off

The NYT has an article about a new index to the Talmud. (hat tip) It is available in either English or Hebrew and is published by Feldheim.  There is a website for the book that includes some sample pages and it looks very good.  I would be interested to know if anybody has used it.

Posted on December 27th, 2011 under New Books, Talmud, Talmud Study. Comments: 7

The following is an example of how a scribal error made its way to the commonly used printed editions of the Talmud. The example is from Bechorot 38b. Florence II-I-7: איני והא’ רב אידי בר אבין א’ רב יצחק בר אשייאן אדר וניסן לח London – BL Add. 25717 402: איני והא’ (רבא ידי)[רב אידי] [...]

Posted on December 23rd, 2011 under Daf Yomi, Manuscripts, Talmud, Talmud Study, Textual Studies. Comments: 1

Below is a clip from Israel Channel 10 about a South Korean television crew that visited the Ponevezh Yeshiva in Bnei Brak in order to see the study of Talmud first hand. The clip is in both Hebrew and English. I tried to add subtitles, but I couldn’t see to get it done correctly. See [...]

Posted on December 14th, 2011 under Jewish-Gentile Relations, Popular Culture, Talmud, Talmud Study. Comments: 3

The beginning of tractate Bechorot has some interesting discussion about relations between Jews and Gentiles. The following statement is found on Bechorot 2b: והא אמר אבוה דשמואל: אסור לאדם שיעשה שותפות עם הגוי, שמא יתחייב לו שבועה, ונשבע לו בשם עבודת כוכבים שלו, והתורה אמרה: (שמות כג) לא ישמע על פיך! Has not the father [...]

Posted on November 17th, 2011 under Daf Yomi, Jewish-Gentile Relations, Talmud, Talmud Study. Comments Off

Michael Makovi asks an interesting question about this article: We further read [in the article], “It is well known that the Talmud favors a strong ‘safety net’ for taking care of the poor.” It also favors bloodletting and incantations to demons. We do not appeal to outdated Talmudic medicine or superstition or science, says Maimonides, [...]

Posted on November 14th, 2011 under Talmud. Comments: 8