Rabbinic literature Books
Brandeis University Press Come and Hear - What I Saw in My
Book SynopsisSpurred by a curiosity about Daf Yomi—a study program launched in the 1920s in which Jews around the world read one page of the Talmud every day for 2,711 days, or about seven and a half years—Adam Kirsch approached Tablet magazine to write a weekly column about his own Daf Yomi experience. An avowedly secular Jew, Kirsch did not have a religious source for his interest in the Talmud; rather, as a student of Jewish literature and history, he came to realize that he couldn’t fully explore these subjects without some knowledge of the Talmud. This book is perfect for readers who are in a similar position. Most people have little sense of what the Talmud actually is—how the text moves, its preoccupations and insights, and its moments of strangeness and profundity. As a critic and journalist Kirsch has experience in exploring difficult texts, discussing what he finds there, and why it matters. His exploration into the Talmud is best described as a kind of travel writing—a report on what he saw during his seven-and-a-half-year journey through the Talmud. For readers who want to travel that same path, there is no better guide.Trade Review"Kirsch gives a tantalizing taste of what reading and seriously grappling with the Talmud is like." * Publisher's Weekly, starred review *"If you’re considering delving into the Talmud, you might want try “Come and Hear” first. It’s an excellent introduction." -- Aaron Leibel * Washington Jewish Week *"Kirsch wanted to fill the “Talmud-sized gap” in his Jewish understanding, and his readily digestible essays on the forty Talmudic tractates of the Daf Yomi cycle in Come and Hear efficiently offer this service to his readers.” * TLS *"Adam Kirsch...does a masterful job of summarizing the entire Talmud section by section and is insightful as a both a reader and a storyteller. Kirsch’s work is another step in teaching the broader Jewish world that the Talmud is a book worth opening again and again." * Tradition *"Once again the brilliant and indefatigable Adam Kirsch, one of America's best literary critics, has done the world a great public service. Come and Hear invites us into the world of the Talmud, one of literary history's most daunting and least accessible texts. Kirsch doesn't merely explain or introduce readers to this world; he shows us why it's a world worth exploring, for anyone who cares about how human beings think. Welcome." -- Dara Horn, author of People Love Dead Jews“It’s no small feat that Adam Kirsch manages to make a labyrinthine text accessible, an ancient conversation eminently alive. Come and Hear is a rare and invaluable doorway into the long-standing house many of us have felt hesitant to enter: the Talmud. Kirsch makes the rabbinic sages feel like recognizable relatives, and the parsing of legal minutiae feel like thrilling detective work. His writing is crisp and clear, even his chapter headings are inviting. Just as the author confides that ‘doing Daf Yomi was by far the most important Jewish experience of my adult life,’ reading Kirsch’s book may be one of yours." -- Abigail Pogrebin, author of My Jewish Year: 18 Holidays, One Wondering Jew“Come and Hear is a clear and incisive introduction for new swimmers in the vast sea of Talmud and for veteran students of its pages who appreciate fresh insights into ancient debates and the rabbinic mindset behind them. Adam Kirsch has placed his own captivating voice into an enduring, quirky, and arcane conversation and remarkable textual reclamation project that has brought ancient wisdom in contact with modern life.” -- Dr. Erica Brown, Mayberg Center for Jewish Education and Leadership, The George Washington University“Come and Hear entices readers to sample the fruits of Kirsch's 7 ½-year Talmud regime, which includes its quirkiest tidbits and the staples of rabbinic debate and wisdom. A joy to read--and a surefire enticement to savor the pleasures of Talmud for oneself." -- Rabbi Vanessa Ochs, University of Virginia“This beautiful book aims to capture what the Talmud actually is. Come and Hear is helpful, clear, practical, and detailed---and always engaged in conveying the fundamental uniqueness of the Talmud, which Adam Kirsch movingly calls its own genre. This is a love song to the ‘freedom to learn without the obligation to agree,’ and a living example of the Talmud's central role in Jewish continuity—in Hebrew, Aramaic, and now, in a leading contemporary critic's hands, in English." -- Aviya Kushner, author of Wolf Lamb BombTable of ContentsIntroduction I. Tractate Berachot and Seder Moed: Prayers, Shabbat and Holidays 1. Berachot: On how to pray, whose prayers are granted, and the perils of snubbing a rabbi's wife. 2. Shabbat: On forbidden labors, set-aside items, and learning the Torah while standing on one leg. 3. Eruvin: On bounaries, interpreting the Torah, and why the Messiah will come on a weekday. 4. Pesachim: On searching for chametz, the Passover sacrifice, and how to calculate the size of hell. 5. Shekalim: On money-changers in the Temple, the appearance of impropriety, and what happened to the Ark of the Covenant. 6. Yoma: On sacred choreography, the meaning of atonement, and the many uses of manna. 7. Sukka: On squaring the circle, using an elephant as a wall, and why the sages juggled torches. 8. Beitza: On newly laid eggs, good table manners, and why the Jewish people need a fiery law. 9. Rosh Hashanah: On the date of Creation, hearing the shofar, and how to trick death. 10. Taanit: On praying for rain, the importance of solidarity, and the inauspicious dates. 11. Megilla: On divine inspiration, rewriting the Bible, and Haman's years as a barber. 12. Moed Katan: On holidays, making graves, and the right to be beautiful. 13. Hagiga: On divine judgment and the danger of praying into God's secrets. II. Seder Nashim: Marriage and Divorce 14. Yevamot: On levirate marriage, converting to Judaism, and a camel that didn't dance. 15. Ketubot: On marriage contracts, the value of virginity, and how to deal with a disgusting spouse. 16. Nedarim and Nazir: On how to take a vow — and why you shouldn't. 17. Sota: On magic potions, unfaithful wives, and a worm that chews through stone. 18. Gittin: On divorce, the destruction of the Temple, and the real meaning of tikkun olam. 19. Kiddushin: On betrothal, the duties of parents and children, and why women don't have to wear tefillin. III. Seder Nezikin: Civil and Criminal Law 20. Bava Kamma: On negligence, restitution, and the problem with being robbed by a Jewish bandit. 21. Bava Metzia: On ownership, exploitation, and when to ignore the voice of God. 22. Bava Batra: On real estate, inheritance, and surviving catastrophe. 23. Sanhedrin: On capital punishment, the World to Come, and using magic to make dinner. 24. Makkot: On flogging, perjury, and forbidden tattoos. 25. Shevuot: On taking oaths, the burden of proof, and when to throw a duck at a judge. 26. Avoda Zara: On idol worship, intermarriage, and the rabbi who used an emperor as a footstool. 27. Horayot: On mistaken judgments and why scholars outrank kings. IV: Seder Kodashim and Tractate Niddah: The Temple, Sacrifices, and Ritual Purity 28. Zevachim and Menachot: On animal sacrifices, meal offerings, and how the Jewish people is like an olive tree. 29. Hullin and Bekhorot: On kosher slaughter, separating meat and dairy, and when a firstborn isn't a firstborn. 30. Arakhin, Temura, and Karetot: On the value of a life, switching sacrifices, and a punishment worse than death. 31. Meila, Tamid, Middot, and Kinnim: On stealing from God, a day in the life of the Temple, and avian brainteasers. 32. Nidda: On menstruation, ejaculation, and why girls are wiser than boys. Conclusion Acknowledgments
£24.70
University of Pennsylvania Press The Return of the Absent Father
Book SynopsisTrade Review"[This book] shows just how much we have missed, and how valuable a fresh perspective on a seemingly well-trodden set of texts can be. . . . In its unassuming way, it urges us to reassess some of our most established habits when reading rabbinic literature, and to be much more courageous, methodologically and analytically, in reading Talmudic texts as literature." * Mira Balberg, in a review of the Hebrew edition *
£37.05
Brandeis University Press Bringing Down the Temple House – Engendering
Book SynopsisA feminist project that privileges the Babylonian Talmudic tractate as culturally significant. While the use of feminist analysis as a methodological lens is not new to the study of Talmudic literature or to the study of individual tractates, this book demonstrates that such an intervention with the Babylonian Talmud reveals new perspectives on the rabbis’ relationship with the temple and its priesthood. More specifically, through the relationships most commonly associated with home, such as those of husband-wife, father-son, mother-son, and brother-brother, the rabbis destabilize the temple bayit (or temple house). Moving beyond the view that the temple was replaced by the rabbinic home, and that rabbinic rites reappropriate temple practices, a feminist approach highlights the inextricable link between kinship, gender, and the body, calling attention to the ways the rabbis deconstruct the priesthood so as to reconstruct themselves. Trade Review“Happy families may all be alike, but the priestly family is unhappy in its own ways, shows Marjorie Lehman in her fine-grained readings of Babylonian Talmud Tractate Yoma. Lehman’s story is one of patriarchy and hierarchy, but also of vulnerability and reflection, as the tractate turns towards the practices of self-affliction that, until today, characterize the day of atonement. Tractate Yoma reads, if not quite like a novel or poem, then like a series of meditations on the shifting meanings of home and the anxieties about continuity and control. You will leave Bringing Down the Temple House never thinking the same way again about ‘the house’ as a Jewish cultural topos.” -- Beth Berkowitz, Barnard College, author of Animals and Animality in the Babylonian Talmud“Strikingly original. Lehman brings to bear a feminist lens to demonstrate how one group of men (the rabbis) critiques and wrestles with the legacy of another group of men (the priests). Feminist attention to the constitutive relationships of the household (husband-wife, father-son, mother-son) illuminates the anxieties and tensions that play out as the rabbis claim the mantel of religious leadership from their priestly rivals.” -- Elizabeth Shanks Alexander, author of Gender and Timebound Commandments in Judaism“Lehman persuasively demonstrates that the theme ‘house’ runs uniquely and distinctively through Bavli Tractate Yoma, read holistically as a self-contained literary unit. With an erudite combination of academic Talmud criticism and feminist and gender analysis, Lehman shows the many gendered paths Bavli Yoma takes to disconnect the rabbinic ‘house’ from a Temple ‘house’ for which she perceptively detects a lack of rabbinic nostalgia.” -- Alyssa Gray, Professor of Rabbinics, Hebrew Union College-JIR“Through insightful analyses, compelling argumentation, and beautiful prose, Lehman mines Tractate Yoma’s structure, content, and imagery to reveal the intricate connections that the rabbis drew between gender, the home, and the temple. A model of what can be learned when we read the Talmud as literature and bring feminist analysis to ancient texts, and an absolute pleasure to read.” -- Sarit Kattan Gribetz, Fordham UniversityTable of ContentsIntroductionChapter 1: Unsettling the Temple BayitChapter 2: Violence in the Temple: Father Priests and Their SonsChapter 3: Mothers and Sons: Broken HousesChapter 4: From Inside Out: Kimhit’s HouseChapter 5: Intergenerational Transmission and the Problem of MothersChapter 6: Sexuality Inside and Outside the Temple HouseChapter 7: Sustaining the Rabbinic HouseholdChapter 8: Vulnerable Bodies in Vulnerable HousesChapter 9: Purity and Impurity: From Priest to RabbiAfterwordAcknowledgementsNotesBibliographyIndex
£30.40
De Gruyter Tractates Peah and Demay
Book SynopsisFirst Order: Zeraïm / Tractate Peah and Demay is the second volume in the edition of the Jerusalem Talmud, a basic work in Jewish Patristic. It presents basic Jewish texts on the organization of private and public charity, and on the modalities of coexistence of the ritually observant and the non-observant. This part of the Jerusalem Talmud has almost no counterpart in the Babylonian Talmud. Its study is prerequisite for an understanding of the relevant rules of Jewish tradition.
£197.60
De Gruyter Pirke de-Rabbi Elieser: Nach der Edition Venedig 1544 unter Berücksichtigung der Edition Warschau 1852
Book SynopsisThis first German translation of Pirke de-Rabbi Elieser (approx. 9th cent.) is based on the Venice printed edition of 1544, which is the textual basis for the textus receptus (Warsaw 1852) with the commentary by David Luria (1798-1855). The deletions made for the 1852 Warsaw edition are marked in the Hebrew text which is included with the translation. These marked passages make it clear that the deletions in the 1852 Warsaw edition related particularly to comments which could have been seen as polemical by non-Jews.
£223.72
De Gruyter Tractates Sotah and Nedarim
Book SynopsisThe original text of the Jerusalem Talmud is here established on the basis of the editio princeps and the existing manuscripts. The text is fully vocalized. This edition also presents the first English scholarly translation and commentary of the Jerusalem Talmud. All technical terms and syllogisms are explained. The edition will serve as a necessary foundation for the understanding of all rabbinic tradition once the entire Talmud has been commented.
£215.18
De Gruyter Tractate Ketubot: Sixth Order: Tahorot. Tractate Niddah
Book SynopsisThe Tractate Ketubot ("marriage contracts") discusses inter alia the sum specified at the time of marriage to be paid in the event of divorce or the husband's death, together with the mutual obligations of man and wife, the wife's property, the law of inheritance in the female line and the widow's rights. The Tractate Nidda ("Female impurity") regulates conduct during menstruation (cf. Lev 15:19ff) and after birth (Lev 12); further topics are women's life stages, puberty and various medical questions.
£206.62
De Gruyter Tractates Gittin and Nazir
Book SynopsisThe ninth volume of this edition, translation, and commentary of the Jerusalem Talmud contains two Tractates. The first Tractate, “Documents”, treats divorce law and principles of agency when written documents are required. Collateral topics are the rules for documents of manumission, those for sealed documents whose contents may be hidden from witnesses, the rules by which the divorced wife can collect the moneys due her, the requirement that both divorcer and divorcee be of sound mind, and the rules of conditional divorce. The second Tractate, “Nazirites”, describes the Nasirean vow and is the main rabbinic source about the impurity of the dead. As in all volumes of this edition, a (Sephardic rabbinic) vocalized text is presented, with parallel texts used as source of variant readings. A new translation is accompanied by an extensive commentary explaining the rabbinic background of all statements and noting Talmudic and related parallels. Attention is drawn to the extensive Babylonization of the Giṭṭin text compared to genizah texts.
£206.62
Koren Publishers Koren Talmud Bavli, Noe Edition, Vol 37: Hullin
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£29.44
Koren Publishers Koren Talmud Bavli, Noe Edition, Vol 39:
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£29.44
Koren Publishers Koren Talmud Bavli Noe Edition, Vol 41: Karetot,
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£29.44
Koren Publishers Koren Talmud Bavli, Berkahot Volume 1b, Daf
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£9.67
Koren Publishers Koren Talmud Bavli, Berkahot Volume 1c, Daf
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£9.67
Koren Publishers Koren Talmud Bavli, Berkahot Volume 1d, Daf
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£9.67
Koren Publishers Koren Talmud Bavli V2a: Shabbat, Daf 2b-20b, Noe
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£9.67
Koren Publishers Koren Talmud Bavli V2c: Shabbat, Daf 47b-67b, Noe
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£9.67
Koren Publishers Koren Talmud Bavli V2e: Shabbat, Daf 90b-115a,
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£9.67
Koren Publishers Koren Talmud Bavli V2f: Shabbat, Daf 115a-137b,
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£9.67
Koren Publishers Koren Talmud Bavli V2g: Shabbat, Daf 137b-157b,
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£9.67
Koren Publishers Koren Talmud Bavli V10a: Ta'anit, Daf 2a-18b,
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£9.67
Koren Publishers Koren Talmud Bavli V10b: Ta'anit, Daf 18b-31a,
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£9.67
Koren Publishers Koren Talmud Bavli V17a: Nazir, Daf 2a-20b,
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£9.67
Koren Publishers Koren Talmud Bavli V17c: Nazir, Daf 47a-66b,
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£9.67
Koren Publishers Koren Talmud Bavli V18a: Sota, Daf 2a-14a,
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£9.67
Koren Publishers Koren Talmud Bavli V21d: Bava Kamma, Daf 55b-62b,
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£9.67
Koren Publishers Koren Talmud Bavli V21h: Bava Kamma, Daf
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£9.67
Koren Publishers Koren Talmud Bavli, Noe Edition, Vol 35: Menahot
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£29.44
Koren Publishers Koren Talmud Bavli, Noe Edition, Vol 42: Nidda,
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£29.44
Koren Publishers Koren Talmud Bavli V2d: Shabbat, Daf 67b-90b, Noe
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£9.67
Koren Publishers Jerusalem Koren Talmud Bavli V3c: Eiruvin, Daf 52b-76a, Noe
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£9.67
Koren Publishers Koren Talmud Bavli V4a: Pesahim, Daf 2a-21a, Noe
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£9.67
Koren Publishers Koren Talmud Bavli V4b: Pesahim, Daf 21a-50a, Noe
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£9.67
Koren Publishers Koren Talmud Bavli V14d: Yevamot, Daf 53b-70a,
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£9.67
Koren Publishers Koren Talmud Bavli V15e: Ketubot, Daf 65b-90a,
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£9.67
Koren Publishers Koren Talmud Bavli V18b: Sota, Daf 14a-32a,
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£9.67
Koren Publishers Koren Talmud Bavli V18c: Sota, Daf 32a-49b,
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£9.67
Koren Publishers Koren Talmud Bavli V19a: Gittin, Daf 2a-24a,
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£9.67
Koren Publishers Koren Talmud Bavli V21a: Bava Kamma, Daf 2a-17a,
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£9.67
Koren Publishers Koren Talmud Bavli V21f: Bava Kamma, Daf 83b-93a,
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£9.67
iUniverse The Ordeals of Isaac and Jacob
a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.
£13.35
Rlpg/Galleys Essential Figures in the Talmud
Book SynopsisThe Talmud chronicles the early development of rabbinic Judaism through the writings and commentaries of the rabbis whose teachings form its foundation. However, this key religious text is expansive, consisting of 63 books containing extensive discussions and interpretations of the Mishnah accumulated over several centuries. Sifting through the huge number of names mentioned in the Talmud to find information about one figure can be tedious and time-consuming, and most reference guides either provide only brief, unhelpful entries on every rabbi, including minor figures, or are so extensive that they can be more intimidating than the original text. In Essential Figures in the Talmud, Dr. Ronald L. Eisenberg explains the importance of the more than 250 figures who are most vital to an understanding and appreciation of Talmudic texts. This valuable reference guide consists of short biographies illustrating the significance of these figures while explaining their points of view with numerouTrade ReviewAlthough Essential Figures in the Bible and Essential Figures in the Talmud were not published as a set, they complement one another nicely....The Talmud is the masterwork of rabbinic Judaism, comprised of the Mishnah—a written compilation of rabbinic oral commentaries and discussions on the first five books of the Hebrew Bible—and the Gemarra, a rabbinic commentary on the Mishnah. Eisenberg’s handy volume brings together information on more than 250 of the more than 2,000 rabbis and scholars mentioned in the Talmud. Entries usually include passages from the Talmud that nicely introduce the wisdom of these Jewish sages in their own words. These A-Z volumes are concise and informative and are recommended for theological and research libraries as well as academic and large public libraries with extensive Judaica collections. * Booklist *The Talmud has been compared to an ocean that is most difficult to navigate. This handy reference book provides short biographies of all the key scholars of the Talmud, including those of the Mishnah and the Gemara and of both the Babylonian and the Jerusalem Talmuds. As such, it is an invaluable tool for anyone who studies a “page of Gemara,” which inevitably will make mention of one or more such scholars and will necessitate a biographical reference to such luminaries as Hillel or Akiva, or the hundreds of other less known rabbinical scholars. Written in clear, easily understood language, Essential Figures in the Talmud is a book that will greatly facilitate the understanding of Judaism’s law and lore. -- Mordecai Schreiber, author of Hearing the Voice of God: In Search of ProphecyTable of ContentsPreface Acknowledgments Introduction List of Abbreviations List of Rabbis without Patronymics Essential Figures in the Talmud Appendix A: Chronological List of Rabbis Appendix B: Maps of Talmudic Academies Glossary Bibliography About the Author
£64.00
Philosophical Library Babylonian Talmud
£19.76
Philosophical Library The Babylonian Talmud
£14.20
Legare Street Press The Talmud
£25.60
LEGARE STREET PR The Talmud
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£18.95
LEGARE STREET PR The Talmud
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£14.09
LEGARE STREET PR The Talmud Of Jerusalem Tr. By M. Schwab
£23.70
LEGARE STREET PR The Talmud
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£22.75
