Everyman's Talmud: The Major Teachings of the Rabbinic Sages

By organizing the words of the Talmud into 'topics' or 'themes' and collecting together teachings from various tractates Abraham Cohen provides an excellent means for most readers to learn what the Talmud says in many areas of life. Traditional ' learning' is a different story entirely and involves going through each tractate as it is written. And while the Tractates are organized around subjects they often contain much diverse matter. Also ' learning 'them involves an intense kind of study most often with a ' chavruta' or learning partner, or in another framework with others. That kind of study is much different from simply reading as it involves a much more slower, more difficult and deep process of intellectual understanding. This work is a good one for the ' reader' but ' learning' as such requires a different kind of investment and effort.

This book is a wonderful introduction to the traditions of post exilic Judaic thought. It is divided into chapters that make sense (topically) to those of us not familiar with the Talmudic and Rabbinical writings themselves. Cohen covers all the most important traditional ideas from the Talmud, including mystical elements like folklore and magic. Contains an excellent index.Christians will find this book very eye-opening in terms of understanding the New Testament, particularly with regard to discussions in the NT about the traditions of men. It also includes a thorough history of the names and dates and key players in the development of modern Judaism. It helped me separate the facts from the theories. Be sure to read all the front matter: the foreword, the preface by Cohen, and the introduction. If you don't, you will not fully appreciate the contents in the remaining chapters.

Abraham Cohen's _Everyman's Talmud_ was the first complete English introduction to the Talmud when it was published in 1928. So far as I know, it has never been surpassed.It is admirably thorough. In about 400 pages Rabbi Cohen hits all the major Talmudic themes: God and man, revelation, Jewish practice including ethics and jurisprudence. Filled with well-chosen quotations and explicated by Rabbi Cohen's crisp, scholarly expository prose, the volume is not at all a quick and easy read; you will want to take your time with this one. But your efforts will be well repaid.Not that I'm an expert myself -- but if I had to pick just one introductory volume on the Talmud for those who simply want to know what it says, this would be it. Highly recommended as an overview of rabbinic theology. (My own copy is the 1967 edition, so I can't comment on Jacob Neusner's introduction.)

This is an excellent book that collects and organizes the outlook of the sages of the Talmud. While the author may be more inclined to attribute ideas to historical reasons than most Orthodox rabbis, he mostly confines this book to quotations and brief explanations from the vast talmudic literature.The comment by another reviewer of the author's failure to accept Jesus as the messiah is a sad reflection on the attempted Christianization of Judaism. One would hardly expect a talmudic scholar to accept the Christian messiah. The Talmud was written centuries after the life of Jesus and the sages of the Talmud unequivocably rejected his claims to messiahhood.