I just finished teaching a six-week course that was an introduction to the Talmud. Having spent years in its study, it was a chance for me to see it with new eyes. A teacher must be in touch with the students and see things as they see them so that he can communicate rather than bloviate. Most of my students had not spent time in Talmud study before.
Moses learned, God wanted not just for Moses to listen to Him — He wanted to listen to Moses defend his people and lead them to be better.
The Talmud is vast and its text, even in translation, is not the sort of thing American readers, even sophisticated ones, are used to. I prided myself as a kid in tackling complex and deep books, so when I saw a Talmud translation in the library of my childhood synagogue, I decided to pick it up and have a go. I got nowhere. It seemed inscrutable. I lost interest in it for many years before finding a way into its wealth of…
