Daf Yomi is a cycle of reading the Talmud one page a day for seven and a half years. By following the Daf Yomi, people all over the world study the same page of Talmud every day. Talmud educators, bloggers, lecturers, etc. can also release timely materials based on where we are in the cycle. The first Daf Yomi cycle started in 1923. A new cycle begins on January 5, 2020. I have decided (for many personal reasons) to try to keep up with the Daf Yomi cycle. I also wanted a place to create, store, publish and hopefully discuss my reactions to my studies – so I created this blog.
The Talmud is typically studied either in pairs or in groups, but rarely alone. I am neither an observant Jew or a university scholar. I am more of a novice dilettante. I don’t have an established partner or group to share my studies. I will try to work out my own understandings through these notes and, if anyone replies, the back and forth with commenters (Please comment!) will help clarify my thinking.
I can sort of read Hebrew, but I don’t know enough to study the Talmud in Hebrew. I am using The Schottenstein Edition of the Talmud Bavli (available here https://www.artscroll.com/ ) with English translations and elucidations of the Hebrew and Aramaic. I will try to post useful links and resources as I find them. In addition, I was fortunate to find a complete set of Jacob Neusner’s The Babylonian Talmud in a used book store. I will be following along in Professor Neusner’s set as well. The Art Scroll edition is for religious Jews and comments from a Torah observant Jewish perspective. Jacob Neusner is one of the foremost (if not the foremost) Jewish academic scholars and his translation presents a more academic perspective. Information about Professor Neusner can be found at his Wikiperdia page here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacob_Neusner . Professor Neusner wrote or edited more than 900 works in his lifetime!
In addition to not being a Talmud scholar, I am also a novice blogger. I hope to add many features to this blog, but I am learning while doing. I would like to add key words, images, etc. I hope you will be patient with me as we work this out as we proceed.
Finally, I will hopefully make the Talmud more relevant today by trying to bring in current events, contemporary dilemmas, etc. I do not believe I will be a unbiased, nonpartisan commentator on these matters. I will try as hard as I can, however, to invite debate, be open to different viewpoints, treat others with respect and agree to disagree sometimes. I work in a profession where many of my coworkers have a very different political viewpoint than I do. I hope that I have learned to have fun, good natured, open debates because of this experience.