What the Talmud Actually Says

What This Book Covers

1. Prologue
2. Chapter One - Sabbath: You Shall Not Work
3. Chapter Two - Women, Sex, and Marriage Contracts
4. Chapter Three - Death, Blood, and Ritual Cleanliness
5. Chapter Four - Stealing, Swearing, and Getting Sued
6. Chapter Five - Food Laws: Clean, Unclean, and Totally Banned
7. Chapter Six - When Rabbis Argue and No One Wins
8. Chapter Seven - Prayers, Blessings, and God’s Daily Schedule
9. Chapter Eight - Demons, Magic, and Haunted Toilets
10. Chapter Nine - Gentiles, Slaves, and Outsiders
11. Chapter Ten - What the Talmud Thinks Life Is Actually About
12. Chapter Eleven - You Get the Point

Excerpt

PROLOGUE THE TALMUD ISN’T one story. It’s not like the Bible, the Quran, or the Gita. It’s a conversation between hundreds of rabbis, across hundreds of years, written down in massive stacks of text. Here’s how it works: The Mishnah is Jewish law, written around 200 CE. The Gemara is commentary on the Mishnah, written and developed in both Israel and Babylon over hundreds of years. The Talmud = Mishnah + Gemara, with centuries of debates baked in. It contains laws about food, sex, money, murder, Sabbath, business, and God. Arguments on literally everything. Stories about rabbis, miracles, demons, and bathroom etiquette. Questions that rarely get answers. There’s no plot. There’s no main...