The Talmud
May 11, 2009 by Shoshana Boyd Gelfand
Ed. Rabbi Norman Solomon
Penguin, 2009, £16.99
Talmud is essentially an activity, not a book; you engage in it, rather than read it as you would a piece of literature.
Thus Normon Solomon introduces the challenge of how to reduce this epic work, how to capture the intricacies and richness of the Babylonian Talmud that shaped rabbinic Judaism and remains today a core element into a one-volume anthology. The Talmud consists of law and lore, literature and theology, humour and intellectual debate. It contains discussions of historical figures, commerce, Temple offerings, torts, holiday observances, family relationships, agriculture and capital punishments, to name but a fraction of the subjects covered within its 63 volumes. The task of selecting representative sections which reflect the diversity of the entire work is mammoth.
