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Wisdom of the Talmud

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Wisdom of the Talmud

By: Ben Zion Bokser
Narrated by: Allen O'Reilly
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About this listen

This is a highly comprehensive introduction to the Talmud, the age-old storehouse of Jewish wisdom. Bokser covers the long history of the Talmud, from its origin in the Babylonian exile, its growth through the five centuries after the Roman destruction of the Temple, and the later persecution of the Talmud. The book covers a number of high-level topics, including social ethics and personal morality, with numerous examples from the Talmud. Ben Zion Bokser was one of the major Conservative rabbis of America. He stressed the Rabbinic sages and the Talmud as the source of Judaism. "This is not an uncommon impression and one finds it sometimes among Jews as well as Christians - that Judaism is the religion of the Hebrew Bible. It is, of course, a fallacious impression. Judaism is not the religion of the Bible." Bokser affirms revelation, but revelation is always framed in humans by man. "Man receives a divine communication when the divine spirit rests on him, but man must give form to that communication."

©1951 Philosophical Library (P)2013 Audible, Inc. Judaism Philosophy Sacred Writing Middle East Talmud English
All stars
Most relevant
gives a good insight to the Talmud. would read before and after reading the talmud

would recommend

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As part of my recent foray into Judaism, I listened to a general introductory book on Judaism itself (excellent), and moved on to the Torah (excellent), intending to look at the Talmud and then the Kaballah (excellent). For the Talmud, this book was the wrong choice.

I really tried. I persevered most of the way through. But it was just so irritating.

As an introduction to the Talmud, I found it got bogged down in the minutiae of Jewish history, with the result that I still have no idea what the distinction is between the Torah and the Talmud.

Don't get me started on the narration! I was out of breath as I listened, so most of it went over my head. And did you know that there are two additional books in the Bible that most people are not aware of? Apparently, we have "Deuteromony" and "Deuteromody". I actually became embarrassed for the narrator. We also had "antidotes", telling of the escapades of various rabbis ...

This guy should definitely not give up his day job (whatever that might be), and the audio editor at Audible should ask her/himself whether they are in the right role. Added to all that, the 'stitching' of the sequential recorded sessions was horrendous, with frequent gaps and repetitions.

This was not one of Audible's finest moments, and I would recommend quietly retiring this title.

Sub-par production (to put it politely)

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