Unit 1 · A Very Big Book of Questions

The Talmud is a set of Jewish books. It is very big. In many libraries it fills about twenty tall books. All of them share one name.

The Talmud is old. Historians say it was finished about 1,500 years ago. It was written in two languages, Hebrew and Aramaic.

The Talmud is split into parts. Each part is about one topic. One part is about prayers. One part is about holidays. One part is about lost things.

A rabbi is a Jewish teacher. The Talmud is full of rabbis. They lived a long time ago. They lived in the land of Israel and in Babylonia.

The rabbis had many names. Rabbi Akiva. Rabbi Meir. Rav. Abaye. Rava. The Talmud tells what each one said. It tells when they agreed. It tells when they did not.

Jewish tradition says the rabbis passed on teaching from teacher to student. One rabbi learned from another. Then he taught the next one. The chain went on and on.

The Talmud is full of questions. One rabbi asks. Another rabbi answers. Then a third rabbi asks a new question. It goes on like a long talk.

The rabbis did not always agree. The Talmud writes down both sides. It keeps the first answer. It keeps the second answer too. Readers can see both.

The very first page asks a question. It asks: when does the evening prayer time begin? Rabbis give different answers. That is how the Talmud works.

Look at a page of the Talmud. The middle has the oldest words. This is the Mishnah and the Gemara. The Mishnah is short. The Gemara talks about it.

Around the middle are more words. These were written later by helpers. One helper was named Rashi. He lived in France about 950 years ago. He explained hard words.

So one page holds many voices. Old rabbis in the middle. Later helpers around the edge. A reader can go back and forth between them.

Many people study the Talmud with a partner. The partner is called a chavruta. Two people sit with one page. They read it together.

They do not read quietly. They talk out loud. One reads a line. The other asks, "What does that mean?" They try to work it out.

A study room can be loud. Many pairs talk at once. That is not rude. That is how the Talmud has been studied for a very long time.

Jewish people have studied the Talmud for hundreds of years. Some study it in a school. Some study it at home. Some read one page every day.

Reading one daf, or page, a day is called Daf Yomi. The Babylonian Talmud has about 2,700 pages. So one page a day takes more than seven years!

You do not have to be Jewish to learn about it. Anyone can. In this course we learn what the book says. We learn how people read it.

In this class we talk about the Talmud carefully. We say, "The rabbis said." We say, "Jewish tradition holds." This tells whose idea it is.

Jewish people read the Talmud in many ways. Some read every word as a rule. Some read it for its stories. Some study it for history. All of these are real ways.

We do not say who is right. We learn what the book says. We learn how people read it. That is what study means.

The Torah is the first five books of the Bible. The first book is Genesis. The last book is Deuteronomy. Together they are one long story with many rules.

In a synagogue, the Torah is kept as a scroll. A scroll is a long roll of paper or animal skin. It has two wooden rods. You roll it to find your place.

Every week, Jewish people read a part of the Torah out loud. By the end of the year, they finish all five books. Then they start again.

Jewish tradition says the Torah came from God. It says Moses received it at Mount Sinai. Mount Sinai is a mountain in a desert.

The Torah tells the story. The people camp at the foot of the mountain. Moses goes up. He comes down with rules for the people to keep.

Different people read this story in different ways. Some read it as history. Some read it as a holy story. In this class, we say what the Torah tells and what tradition holds.

A rule in the Torah is called a mitzvah. More than one are called mitzvot. Some mitzvot say, "Do this." Some say, "Do not do this."

Here are some mitzvot. Honor your father and mother. Do not steal. Leave some of your crops for poor people. Rest on the seventh day.

Rabbinic tradition counts 613 mitzvot in the Torah. That is a lot of rules! Many of them are about being fair and kind to other people.

Shabbat is the seventh day of the week. The Torah says to work six days and rest on the seventh. Shabbat starts Friday at sunset. It ends Saturday night.

Many Jewish families light candles on Friday evening. They eat a special meal. They sing. They do not go to work or school. It is a day to rest and be together.

The Torah says everyone rests. Parents rest. Children rest. Helpers rest. Even the animals rest. Rabbinic tradition says Shabbat is a gift.

The Torah says, "Do no work on Shabbat." That sounds simple. But what is work? Is carrying a bag work? Is writing work? Is lighting a lamp work?

The Torah does not give a list. So people asked. The Mishnah gave an answer. It listed thirty-nine kinds of work. Planting is one. Cooking is one. Writing is one.

A rule can be short. Living by it takes more words. That is why a short rule can lead to a very long book.

The Mishnah gave a list. But the list made new questions. What if you carry something small? What if you write one letter, not two? The rabbis asked all of this.

Their questions and answers were written down. That is the Gemara. The Mishnah and the Gemara together are the Talmud. Rule, question, answer, new question.

The rabbis cared about people. They asked: what if someone is sick on Shabbat? They said saving a life comes first. A rule about rest should not hurt anyone.

The rabbis loved questions. A question is not a mistake. A question shows you are thinking. In the Talmud, a good question is praised.

Pirkei Avot is a small book of rabbis’ sayings. It says a shy person does not learn. That means: if you are afraid to ask, you miss out. So ask!

In this class, you can ask anything about the Talmud. What does that word mean? Why did they say that? Every question helps us learn.