Ebook: Reading the Talmud: Developing Independence in Gemara Learning

Today many thousands of spiritually motivated Jews want to join the resurgence of interest in Talmudic study, but are disadvantaged by not having the benefit of years of childhood training in Hebrew, Aramaic, and the unique nature of Talmudic dialect. These adult learners are forced to choose between two undesirable alternatives: struggle with the text by looking up every other word in an Aramaic-English dictionary, or rely exclusively on a translated version of the Talmud.Reading the Talmud seeks to bridge this gap by providing the adult student with a way to ease the difficult transition toward learning the Talmud in the original. An entire chapter of Bava Metsia is broken up into forty-three manageable classes, providing the student with the basic tools: vocabularly, syntax and a series of questions to guide the reader along the pathways of the Talmudic argument. Proceeding through the classes, the reader gradually develops greater independence in Gemara learning through increasing familiarity with Talmudic rhythms and formulas.From the Letters of Approbation:"Will certainly be of invaluable assistance to newcomers to Talmudic study by enabling them to make a breakthrough...which will lead them to self-sufficient competence."Rabbi Mendel Weinbach, Rosh Yeshiva, Ohr Somayach"One of the most valuable books published in recent times.Rabbi Mordechai Becher, Senior Lecturer, Gateways Organization"...one who studies Torah in translation lives his entire life in translation...Reading the Talmud, an introductory Talmud textbook, answers this need..."Rabbi Baruch TaubNOTE: This eBook makes heavy use of Hebrew font, and at present is not available in the .mobi format. Readers using ePub (iPad, iPhone, Nook, etc.) are acceptable, and PDF formats are readable by most computers and eReaders. This book will not be made available on Amazon to Kindle readers until the technical issue of the right-to-left font is resolved.Henry (Hillel) Abramson is Dean of Academic Affairs and Student Services at Touro College South in Miami Beach. A native of northern Ontario, he received his PhD from the University of Toronto and has held visiting appointments and post-doctoral fellowships at Harvard, Cornell, Oxford and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He received his Talmudic training at Yeshivat Ohr Somayach in Jerusalem, Monsey, and Toronto. He is the author of several books and scholarly articles on Jewish thought and history, including The Sea of Talmud: A Brief and Personal History (2012).