Talmud Books

The Essential Talmud

Adin Steinsaltz

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 14 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

The Essential Talmud is a masterful introduction to the beliefs, attitudes, and methods of the sacred text by which the Jewish people have lived and survived through the ages-by the renowned Israeli rabbi, scholar, and teacher. Rabbi Steinsaltz is the first 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. This expanded edition features a new preface by the rabbi, a historical overview of life in the times of the Talmud, and an in-depth look at the content and appearance of the original Talmudic page. This seminal volume makes abundantly clear the importance of the Talmud in the lives of modern Jews. "This book is indispensable to those, Jews and Christians alike, who would like to gain an insight into what it is that moves the contemporary Jew." (Rabbi Solomon S. Bernards, B'Nai B'rith Anti-Defamation League)REVIEW: "Offers a fascinating introduction to the codified oral tradition." (Christianity Today)

Everyman's Talmud: The Major Teachings of the Rabbinic Sages

Abraham Cohen

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 28 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

An enlightening book for all religious faiths 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

This book will provide you with a great deal of insight into the scriptures. Since Christianity has its roots in Judaism, this book is valuable in increasing your knowledge to God's written word. The text size could be a little bigger than it was for easier reading.

meet the rabbis 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 1 people found this review helpful.

really worth reading, this is one fine introduction into the literture of the thoughts of the rabbi,or the teacher in the time of JESUS.

Insightful, fun and revealing! 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I found this book to be a wonderful resource for insight into Biblical thinking.I have found the insights of the talmud to bring clarity and understanding to my Christian vocation and my relationship with Christ. Very worthwhile read!

Very interesting... but difficult to read 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

The content is great, but be aware that the typography is abysmal and is difficult to read.

Editorial Review:

The First Comprehensive Summary, for the English Reader, of the Teaching of the Talmud and the Rabbis on Ethics, Religion,Folk-lore and Jurisprudence. Cohen does an excellent job of presenting the origins of Talmudic literature and summarizing in a meaningful way the many doctrines it contains.

Book of Legends/Sefer Ha-Aggadah: Legends from the Talmud and Midrash

Hayyim Nahman Bialik, Y.H. Rawnitzky

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Total reviews: 13 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

The first complete English translation of the Hebrew classic Sefer Ha-Aggadah brings to the English-speaking world the greatest and best-loved anthology of classical Rabbinic literature ever compiled. First published in Odessa in 1908-11, it was recognized immediately as a masterwork in its own right, and reprinted numerous times in Israel.

The Hebrew poet Hayim Nahman Bialik and the renowned editor Yehoshua Hana Ravnitzky, the architects of this masterful compendium, selected hundreds of texts from the Talmud and midrashic literature and arranged them thematically, in order to provide their contemporaries with easy access to the national literary heritage of the Jewish people -- the texts of Rabbinic Judaism that remain at the heart of Jewish literacy today.

Bialik and Ravnitzky chose Aggadah -- the non-legal portions of the Talmud and Midrash -- for their anthology. Loosely translated as "legends", Aggadah includes the genres of biblical exegesis, stories about biblical characters, the lives of the Talmudic era sages and their contemporary history, parables, proverbs, and folklore. A captivating melange of wisdom and piety, fantasy and satire, Aggadah is the expressive medium of the Jewish creative genius.

The arrangement of this compendium reflects the theological concerns of the Rabbinic sages: the role of Israel and the nations; God, good and evil; human relations; the world of nature; and the art of healing. Here, the reader who wants to explore traditional Jewish views on a particular subject is treated to a selection of relevant texts at his fingertips but will soon become immersed in a way of thinking, exploring, and questioning that is the hallmark of Jewish inquiry.

"Whatever the imagination can invent is found in the Aggadah," wrote the historian Leopold Zunz, "its purpose always being to teach man the ways of God." The Book of Legends/Sefer Ha-Aggadah, now available in william Braude's superbly annotated translation, enables modern Jews to experience firsthand the richness and excitement of their cultural inheritance.

The Boy on the Door on the Ox: An Unusual Spiritual Journey Through the Strangest Jewish Texts

Martin Samuel Cohen

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Editorial Review:

The Mishnah, an ancient Jewish text composed around 200 c.e., is the foundation document of rabbinic law. In this groundbreaking work, Martin Samuel Cohen explores texts from the Mishnah as a foundation document of Jewish spirituality, Using the Mishnah's sketchy characters as personal spiritual guides, Rabbi Cohen makes these obscure texts particularly relevant to a modern seeker. This witty, scholarly and charming meditation demonstrates how the study of Mishnah can provide spiritual guidance.

The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Talmud

Rabbi Aaron Parry

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 14 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Comprehensive elementary approach to the meaning of the Talmud 5 out of 5 stars.
14 of 15 people found this review helpful.

This book is a friendly comprehensive summary intended for secular Jews and non Jews about the meaning of the Talmud, (the Jewish Oral Law). The Torah is the Jewish written Law.

The first half chapters outline brief explanations about Judaism, the origins of the Talmud, and a glimpse of every of its tractates, mostly related to Jewish fundamentals, laws and concepts

The last half chapters illustrate about ancient Talmud Sages opinions about mathematics, ecology, medicine, astronomy, and rulings about controversial issues like cloning, sex and abortion.

It also offers interesting transcripts of famous Talmud pieces of wisdom and websites with Talmud content for daily consultation

Amusing and practical

Editorial Review:

An insightful look at one of the most unusual written works ever created. Compiled centuries ago by a group of wise men as a way to preserve the oral traditions of the Jewish faith, the Talmud has challenged and thrilled some of the world's greatest minds with its complex approach to exploring ideas and subjects from virtually every possible angle. This essential guide makes the ancient text of the "oral Torah" accessible for all readers, whether they're Jewish or not.

The Talmud Unmasked: The Secret Rabbinical Teachings Concerning Christians

I. B. Pranaitis

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 22 Average rating: 3.0 of 5

inaccurate 1 out of 5 stars.
7 of 12 people found this review helpful.

The author is either ignorant of basic Aramaic translation or purposely inciting hate. Many of the terms he uses like "apostates" in the Talmud does not refer to Christians, as he contends. Also the Talmud uses the word "akum" which refers to idol worshipers. Christians are not included in this terminology.

Some Sunshine on the Secretive Religion of the Jews 5 out of 5 stars.
4 of 9 people found this review helpful.

This book reveals just a small amount of what is actually in the Talmud and should be required reading for every non-jew if they want to begin to understand what jews Really believe and practice. This is a religion of extreme hatred for the non-jewish inhabitants of the earth but especially Christians. The Talmud is racist and extols Jews as the chosen masters of the rest of mankind who are described as beasts.
To prove how damning the Talmud really is and why it's contents are hidden and violently denied it contains this passage, "To communicate anything of our law to a Gentile means the death of all Hebrews; for if the Goyim knew what we teach about them, they would exterminate us without mercy."
Wake up folks and read this book. Contrary to what a previous reviewer has written, there is nothing complex about what the Talmud has to say, it's black and white and doesn't require special knowledge to understand it's meaning, I have read it. The Talmud Unmasked is also not anti-semitic (term used to attack the messenger and turn away readers), it is simply the truth.
The author has done an excellent job but this is only the tip of the iceberg. For further and more in-depth reading, I recommend "The Plot Against the Church", if you can locate it.

Editorial Review:

The Ingersoll Lecture.

Jesus in the Talmud

Peter Schafer

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Total reviews: 5 Average rating: 3.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Scattered throughout the Talmud, the founding document of rabbinic Judaism in late antiquity, can be found quite a few references to Jesus--and they're not flattering. In this lucid, richly detailed, and accessible book, Peter Schäfer examines how the rabbis of the Talmud read, understood, and used the New Testament Jesus narrative to assert, ultimately, Judaism's superiority over Christianity.

The Talmudic stories make fun of Jesus' birth from a virgin, fervently contest his claim to be the Messiah and Son of God, and maintain that he was rightfully executed as a blasphemer and idolater. They subvert the Christian idea of Jesus' resurrection and insist he got the punishment he deserved in hell--and that a similar fate awaits his followers.

Schäfer contends that these stories betray a remarkable familiarity with the Gospels--especially Matthew and John--and represent a deliberate and sophisticated anti-Christian polemic that parodies the New Testament narratives. He carefully distinguishes between Babylonian and Palestinian sources, arguing that the rabbis' proud and self-confident countermessage to that of the evangelists was possible only in the unique historical setting of Persian Babylonia, in a Jewish community that lived in relative freedom. The same could not be said of Roman and Byzantine Palestine, where the Christians aggressively consolidated their political power and the Jews therefore suffered.

A departure from past scholarship, which has played down the stories as unreliable distortions of the historical Jesus, Jesus in the Talmud posits a much more deliberate agenda behind these narratives.

Talmud Jmmanuel

Judas Ischarioth

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

I highly reccommend this book for the open minded. 5 out of 5 stars.
3 of 4 people found this review helpful.

Who was Jmmanuel, was he the man known today as Jesus? Was there a connection to Ancient Extraterrestrials? These questions are addressed in this clear German/English translation from the original 2,000 year-old Aramaic scrolls discovered in a burial cave.

Even in the Bible they called him Jmmanuel.

Isaiah 7.14 "Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Imman'u-el."

Matthew 1. 23 "Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son,
And they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is,
God with us."


I highly reccommend this book for the open minded. I found a great web site for further research on the genuineness of the TJ, go to www.tjresearch.info. I would also recommend reading Celestial Teachings: The Emergence of the True Testament of Jmmanuel, by James W. Deardorff.

Find the truth for yourself. 5 out of 5 stars.
3 of 5 people found this review helpful.

This book is probably the most important book in human history. The truth will one day prevail.

The Mishnah: A New Translation

Jacob Neusner

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Total reviews: 9 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

A LANDMARK TRANSLATION 5 out of 5 stars.
30 of 30 people found this review helpful.

Jacob Neusner's translation of the Mishnah (which he undertook in collaboration with several of his pupils) was first published in 1988. It is a landmark among modern popular translations of ancient Rabbinic texts, and has rapidly become a standard work, taking its place alongside the earlier English translations by Herbert Danby and Philip Blackman.

Unlike those earlier translations, however, Neusner's approximates in English the particular flavour of the eliptical, laconic style of the original. For the first time, English-speaking readers can gain an insight into how the Mishnah says what it says, without the paraphrases and glosses of Danby and Blackman.

But Neusner's approach to the translation has its price. First, the text does not flow like Danby's translation. Readers are made starkly aware that the Mishnah is a compilation of teachings, not a work of literature. Second, the terse, eliptical style results from the Mishnah's being written originally for readers who understood not only the subject matter but also the set of the minds that considered it and the milieu that cradled it. There is therefore much in the text that is taken for granted, and uninitiated readers can feel at a disadvantage.

To meet the needs of the uninitiated, however, Neusner provides an extensive introduction. This places the Mishnah in context and explains its purpose. It is a mine of information presented with the clarity and simplicity of style which only the greatest scholars command. Indeed, the introduction is valuable for the expert as well as the novice.

In short, this is an important work. Its value lies in two particular areas: the non-paraphrastic style of the translation that imitates as closely as reasonably possible the style of the original, and the extent and quality of the background material provided in the Introduction.

The Cambridge Companion to the Talmud and Rabbinic Literature (Cambridge Companions to Religion)

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Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

A contemplative, philosophical, and methodical cross-examination 5 out of 5 stars.
5 of 6 people found this review helpful.

The Cambridge Companion to The Talmud and Rabbinic Literature is a scholarly volume of essays by an assembly of learned authors assembled especially to introduce students to historical, cultural, hermeneutical issues relevant to the study and interpretation of rabbinic literature. Individual essays include "Rabbinic Authorship as a Collective Enterprise", "Jewish Visionary Tradition in Rabbinic Literature", "Rabbinic Historiography and Representations of the Past", "Hellenism in Jewish Babylonia", and much more. A contemplative, philosophical, and methodical cross-examination highly recommended for Judaic studies shelves, college students, independent scholars, and intermediate to advanced self-study.

Editorial Review:

This volume guides beginning students of rabbinic literature to the range of historical-interpretive and culture-critical issues that contemporary scholars use when studying the rabbinic texts of late antiquity. The editors, themselves well-known interpreters of rabbinic literature, have gathered an international collection of scholars to support students' initial steps in confronting the enormous and complex rabbinic corpus. Unlike other introductions to rabbinic writings, the present volume includes approaches shaped by anthropology, gender studies, oral-traditional studies, classics, and folklore studies.