TALMUD

Liel Leibovitz (2023). How the Talmud Can Change Your Life:

                                    Surprisingly Modern Advice 

                                    from a Very Old Book.


Leibovitz is an Israeli journalist and author of several books. He writes like i would image a good Jewish Rabbi storyteller...lots of details, rich with history, drama, and relational dynamics...only toward the end of the chapters is the big reveal, but even then it is left open for further discussion, more questions...it's the way of the Talmud.

The Talmd is a combination of Halacha or Jewsih law, principles of living a good life, and Aggadah or stories that give life and color to the law...both are needed.

There is a tradition of reading and studying one page of Talmud a day--it takes seven and a half years to do, after which those who follow this tradition celebrate together.

Each chapter takes on a significant area of life with stories and principles from the Talmud and from Leibovitz's personal experience and adventures in journalism.

Some of the wisdom:

  • from Hillel--a body that can't poop, can't pray (we need to take good care of our bodies)
  • find a friend that holds you accountable, that you can argue with, that helps you grow
  • let your life pass on the torch to the next generation, let them learn from your life, leave a legacy
  • romance is also about sacrifice for the good of the other
  • question everything, no absolutes, just living the questions as best we can
  • study the Talmud, Leonard Bernstein once said, as a "manual for living with defeat"


Even though you may not be Jewish, Leibovitz presents a convincing case that there is ancient wisdom that applies to modern times in the Talmud based on hundreds of years of debate, dialogue, and insight--see if you can find an on-line version of the Talmud, and choose a page that you feel drawn to...does it speak to you?





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