The Essential Talmud [Hardcover]

Adin Steinsaltz (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0876681607 | ISBN-13: 978-0876681602 | Publication Date: April 28, 1994

The first book to capture the flavor and spirit of the Talmud as a human document and to summarize its main principles as an expression of divine law.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Offers a fascinating introduction to the codified oral tradition." -- Christianity Today --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Hebrew

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 306 pages
• Publisher: Jason Aronson (April 28, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0876681607
• ISBN-13: 978-0876681602
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,031,531 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

166 of 168 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very good, if slightly detached, introduction to the Talmud, November 16, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Essential Talmud (Paperback)

I'm a non-Jewish person who is completely new to - but very interested in - Judaism and Jewish thought. Having read around the subject of the Talmud, I realised I didn't know my Mishnah from my Midrash and I sought a book which would tell me exactly what the Talmud was, its history and an overview of its contents. Essential Talmud does that very well, putting the Talmud into context and charting its development and its importance to the Jewish people and their identity. Fortunately for me the book stayed within its scope - I wasn't bogged down by minutiae. On completion of the book, I knew what the various stages of the Talmud were, how they came about and who the main authors were from the Mishnah to the Tosafot. I also knew just how huge the Talmud was and how it was divided and sub-divided. The only negative thing I felt about the book was that it was maybe too 'detached' - it did not transmit or recreate the atmosphere of sagely debate for me or really bring the Talmud 'to life'. More importantly, it would have really benefitted from some sample pages illustrating what the various sections of the page were. Navigating around the beautifully written Talmud's pages seems like a pleasure in itself so it was a missed opportunity not to show what it actually looked like. Overall it was a very enjoyable starting point for a self-confessed novice, teaching me what I wanted to know, though not leaving me quite as enthusiastic to read my first tractate as I thought it might.

98 of 101 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Useful Introduction, but not the "Essential" Talmud, April 14, 2002

By 

"krchicago" (Chicago, IL United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Essential Talmud (Paperback)

Rabbi Steinsaltz, one of the most respected Talmudists of his generation, has devoted significant effort to introducing the Talmud to a wider audience and encouraging people to actually read it rather than merely read about it. Starting to read the Talmud without some idea of what it is and what it is about would be a very frustrating project, however, and this book is intended to help bridge that gap.

"The Essential Talmud" is divided into three sections, covering history, content and method. The historical section gives a very traditional account of the origins of the Talmud in the oral Torah, and its compilation and editing in Palestine and Babylon. By "traditional" I mean that this is essentially the account that the Talmud gives of itself or that can be filled in from other rabbinic literature. Whether or not this history is completely accurate, it is a significant part of the Talmud's self-presentation and of its authority, and throws important light on both the Talmud's content (largely the teachings of prior masters) and its methods (the obsessive quest to identify the authors of and reconcile the various teachings). In short, it is very difficult to understand the Talmud if you do not understand where the Talmud believes it came from, and Rabbi Steinsaltz's chapters on history are very helpful in that regard. He then goes beyond the Talmud itself to offer a brief history of Talmudic exegesis, and some very interesting information on the printing and persecution of the Talmud.

The second section of the book covers the structure and content of the Talmud. Here Rabbi Steinsaltz offers a very concise summary of the topics touched on by the various tractates of the Talmud. These very brief chapters can do no more than give one a sense of the general subject matter covered, but they successfully provide a general overview. What I found lacking in this section was the complete absence of any citations to the Talmud itself, or any bibliography for further reading on the various subjects. It is easy enough to guess that most of the material on marriage will be found somewhere in Tractates Ketubot and Kiddushin, but it is less easy to determine the source for his comments on the status of women or on ethics and halakhah. Some citations here would have been nice, in case the reader is sufficiently intrigued to want to read more. For example, in the chapter on ethics, Rabbi Steinsaltz summarizes rabbinic thinking on the sometimes conflicting claims of justice ("truth") and compromise ("peace"). I would love to read more on this subject, but I don't know where in the Talmud (or in other commentaries) to look. (For a more detailed look at the subject matter of the Talmud, see Abraham Cohen's "Everyman's Talmud," which has chapters that cover most of the tractate subjects, and additionally pulls together material on other subjects (such as the nature of God, sin and repentance, and so on) that is scattered throughout the Talmud.)

The third section of the book is entitled "Method," and while it is in some ways the most intriguing part of the book, it is also in some ways the least successful. Here Rabbi Steinsaltz attempts to give the reader a sense of how the Talmud operates, what problems it studies, how it approaches those problems, and how it uses logic, midrash and aggadah to achieve its goals. There are many interesting insights here *if* you already have some experience with reading Talmud. The real difficulty is the almost complete lack of concrete examples or actual text from the Talmud to illustrate Rabbi Steinsaltz's points.

Overall, I found this to be a good summary of basic points that someone new to Talmud study needs to know. The book is well written and easy to read. The failure to include any extended passages of text is a major flaw, however, and makes it impossible for this book to really capture the "essence" of the Talmud.

49 of 49 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars More than meets the eye..., July 30, 2004

By 

FrKurt Messick "FrKurt Messick" (Bloomington, IN USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Essential Talmud (Paperback)

Adin Steinsaltz is second to none in the field of Talmudic studies. A translator and editor of the magnificent Steinsaltz edition of the Talmud, he heads the Israel Institute for Talmudic Publications, one of the primary institutes for the discipline. Author of more than 60 books, Rabbi Steinsaltz's writings are what first introduced me to the interesting and complex world of the Talmud in an accessible and engaging manner.

The Talmud is not part of the shared Judeo-Christian tradition; this is a development of rabbinic Judaism after the divergence of the paths. Steinsalz states that if the Bible constitutes the cornerstone of Judaism, the Talmud is its central pillar. The Talmud arose from the writings of teachers and the wise in Palestine and in Babylonia from the aftermath of the destruction of the second Temple up until the early Middle Ages. Steinsaltz traces this history in the first part of the text, from the periods of oral tradition, to the tannaim (the period of Hillel and Shammai), the compilation of the Misnah, the amoraim (interpretations), and the final redaction and printing. Steinsaltz also looks at the various times of the banning and burning of the Talmud. He points out that without the Talmud, the Jewish communities might well have ceased to exist, which is one of the reasons why persecutors sought to limit or destroy the books.

In his second section, Steinsaltz looks at the structure and content of the Talmud. While the Talmud consists of the Mishnah (a book of halakhah, the laws, written in Hebrew), and the Gemarah (the commentary on the law), in fact there is much more to Talmud than this. Into the commentaries rabbis and sages included many details and facets about the culture and general life of Jewish people beyond the legal and theological beliefs. It represents a thousand years of wisdom, legend, philosophy, common sense and community interpretation that goes well beyond a strict legal codification. While talking about such well-known topics such as dietary restrictions and Sabbath/holy day observances, one gets a sense for the greater community, what is important and what is identity-forming.

The third section is on method. The Jewish tradition never developed a theological practice like the Christian theological process, largely because the Talmudic process already encompassed much of what would have been otherwise covered. There are particular ways of thinking, approaching problems of interpretation and applicability, as well as an open-endedness to Talmud that makes it a strong and continuing vital presence in Jewish life. The Talmudic scholar is not required to memorise and accept all that is written in the books -- unlike the Bible, it was never seen as having a final redaction and closing of the canon. Indeed, according to Steinsaltz, it is the responsibility of a Talmudic student or scholar to question things that seem to conflict with each other, or with daily life. Just as culture and society continue to change, so too does the Talmud and the way it is applied and interpreted -- this process is built into the document itself.

In this book, Steinsaltz writes for the general audience. He defines his terms and, while he uses a fair amount of Hebrew terminology, he keeps these well explained and relevant. He does not go off on tangents or into too much detail for an introductory survey; however, he does give good examples as highlights (for instance, the discussion about the mouse who brought in breadcrumbs to Passover, etc.). These add colourful details; the Talmud can be wonderfully practical and astonishingly removed from real life, all within pages of each other.

This is a wonderful introduction to the Talmud by a wonderful teacher.