Talmud
An ancient rabbinic dispute pitted eminent scholars against one another. The Taḥanun prayer is rooted in that story of public shame and private distress.
The cadences of the Talmud left their mark on Yiddish, and Israeli, speech patterns.
Illustrating a talmudic passage.
Why did Rabbi Akiva’s students die?
A passage in the Talmud’s first tractate shows why it’s such a uniquely influential work, and so unlike anything in the history of Western literature, theology, or legal scholarship.
“Keep your feet inside your house.”
Genius and Anxiety.
The Talmud, C.S. Lewis, and the importance of friendships based on disagreement.
“Jewish tradition expects us to study opinions that we’re not allowed to live by.”
Some disjointed aphorisms may be a polemic against a popular philosophy.
Bruriah is the only female cited repeatedly as a religious authority, and rarely shown in the roles the Talmud generally associates with women. Who was she?
Thoughts on daily Talmud study not conducted “in the spirit of a believer.”
Not always poetic, bur reliably inspiring.
Daf yomi.