Detailed explanation of what the Talmud is and a summary of its teachings. Reading this, one can see why there are so many Jewish scholars, scientists, virtuoso musicians, and so on. All of those things take a lot of intense study, and the study of the Talmud is perhaps the exemplar of such study. After all, it is not just a commentary itself, but there are commentaries on the commentaries (and probably commentaries on the commentaries on the commentaries!) Now, you can also say that arguing for centuries over things that seem so inconsequential is also a great waste of time. And of course, given that the underlying text--the Torah, i.e., the first 5 books of the Jewish Bible--are full of stories about less than honorable people--and I don't just mean NON-Jews--I can also ask, "What's the point? How can anyone believe in any of this?" But, if I were Jewish, the opportunity to spend my life, supported by the state, endlessly re-reading and trying to find new interpretations of the Talmud, would not be an unattractive prospect. But, this book is well organized, clearly written, and though a bit dense at times, actually enjoyable. Well done job of making a bit of a mystery--for a non-Jew in any case--a bit clearer. ( )

Well, on the malus side, it probably should have been called Introduction to the Talmud, instead of the Essential Talmud; it’s not that I know anything about this subject, but I thought that I’d be getting edited quotes and a small glimpse of what this very large collection of texts is actually like to read, you know—the way Adin wrote it it’s more like a very very long introductory essay at the beginning of a classic novel, (and the length of some novels lol!), with lots of background information and abstract summaries, but no concrete, Rabbi A said…. Rabbi B said…. Rabbi C said…. ~that you’d get if the some portion of the literal text was translated for me.

But, Jewish law is still an instructive topic. In a sense, it’s more like the modern civilization of science than Christianity is, arguably, even if science isn’t Jewish in any particular way (and Yiddishkeit is very particular, of course, very specific). Instead of consisting of abstractions about philosophy and one or two core principles, or abstractions about love or a particular divine Teacher to learn to love from, Judaism, especially in the crucial sense of Jewish law, basically consists of the particular, the specific rules and standards people should adhere to according to religion in all of the many many concrete situations of life, not unlike our practical scientific civilization, which cares more about results than anything else, either for worse or possibly for better at times…. Of course, traditional Orthodox Judaism, of which Adin is an adherent, has some problems common with other pre-modern cultures, not least the separated condition of women, which poses a real difficulty and should not simply be glossed over as it is in most of the old books. Still, Jewish law does provide a good counter-example to the idea that religion is ‘stupid’, unreasoned, not like science in any way. And hopefully there will always be Jewish women and men, in all of the centuries of the future times of Earth.

This is a very clearly written guide to the Talmud: its history, the material it covers, and methods of interpretation.

R' Steinsaltz is an Orthodox rabbi who has made it his life's work to open up the Talmud, and is writing from that perspective rather than a secular academic one, but he acknowledges historical sources and credits them when they contradict certain details in the Talmud itself. I'd say it's best for someone who wants this specific perspective, but it's a useful one. ( )

> INTRODUCTION AU TALMUD, de Adin Steinsaltz (Albin Michel, 2002). — Le rabbin Adin Steinsaltz a traduit en hébreu moderne, puis en français et en anglais, l’immense corpus du Talmud de Babylone. Il nous propose ici une « biographie » et une radioscopie objectives du Talmud, monumentale compilation du savoir, du vécu et de la tradition d’Israël achevée à la fin du Ve siècle, qui font de son livre un manuel aussi précieux qu’incontestable. (Spiritualités Vivantes)

> Babelio : https://www.babelio.com/livres/Steinsaltz-Introduction-au-Talmud/433971

> Adin Steinsaltz, INTRODUCTION AU TALMUD, Albin Michel, coll. « Présences du judaïsme », 326 pages. — LE TALMUD, c’est cette autre bible du judaïsme qui doit transmettre la loi de la bouche, la loi orale, Torah chébeal pé. C’est à partir de ce texte essentiel que les juifs interprètent les Écritures, qu’ils suivent des règles de vie et comprennent la Révélation. Le rabbin Adin Steinsaltz explique ce texte et relate ses nombreuses transformations. (Guy FERLAND)
—Le devoir, 22 août 1987, C8 : https://collections.banq.qc.ca/ark:/52327/2763935

Summary of that. I wish there was more information about the Talmud itself. I need my own copy of the Talmud.