Gemara

Waiting Between Eating Meat and Dairy

Why some Jews wait six hours, while others wait one or three.

Talmud Words and Phrases

Essential vocabulary for understanding the Talmud.

Why The Mishnah Is the Best Jewish Book You’ve Never Read

This almost 2,000-year-old text flies under the radar -- but it's immensely important to Jewish life.

What Is the Talmud?

An intergenerational rabbinic conversation that is studied, not read.

Rav and Samuel

Early Amoraim engaged in respectful debate.

Who Was Hillel?

The preeminent sage of first century Palestine whose name is on Jewish campus organizations worldwide.

Rabbenu Tam

The grandson of Rashi and leader of medieval French Jewry.

Commentators on the Talmud

A guide to the major sages and scholars known for their work on this canonical text.

Talmudic Thinking

Monotheism and the sanctification of the trivial

The Written Torah and the Oral Torah

According to Jewish tradition, two Torahs were received on Mount Sinai -- one written, and one passed down orally for generations.