Talmud

[Josh Barkin]

Before I begin sounding ungrateful, I want to thank you (awesome OakTree people) for releasing the new Talmud module. I'll be ordering as soon as my poor grad student self can scrounge up the $200. I can't overstate this thanks.

 

But...

 

1. Is there a non-translated (Aramaic/Hebrew) version in the works?

 

2. Why is it set up as a reference tool to scroll with the Mishnah? Yes, yes... I know that the Gemara can be understood as a commentary on the Mishnah. However...

 

- The Talmud has its own pagination system that exists entirely separate from the Mishnah's. For example, in the Babylonian Talmud, Baba Metzia 58b-59b starts as a discussion on the Mishnah's Baba Metzia 4:10. To anyone that studies Talmud, it's the Talmud's references that matter, not the Mishnah's. No one says, "Read the Babylonian Talmud's commentary on Baba Metzia 4:10." They say, "Read Baba Metzia 58b."

 

- Neusner's Talmud translation should run as a reference tool to scroll alongside the Aramaic/Hebrew text of the Talmud. This would make it far more useful to people who actually study Talmud.

 

[in my ideal world, I'd have an Accordance module of the entire Talmud. Then I'd have reference tools (Neusner's translation, Rashi's commentary, Steinsaltz's commentary -- hey, I'm dreaming, the Tosefot, etc). Accordance's interface has the capacity to do something that Jewish scholars have been itching to do for decades: have computers represent the hypertextuality of a Talmud page.]

[Helen Brown]

Josh:

 

I am glad you asked!

 

This is the first Talmud we have been able to get. Of course we are pursuing an Aramaic/Hebrew original, as well as a Yerushalmi, Tosefta, and many more of the texts you mention.

 

The text of Neusner's Mishna is included in the Talmud, but the advantage of it scrolling with the Mishna is that the original tagged Mishna (and Neusner) can be kept in view however far one scrolls down the comments.

 

However, this is too complex of a structure to be a text, it is best formatted as a tool. The Folio numbers are in there, but I confess that we ignored them on the first release. I have already posted an automatic update for the widget, to version 1.1 in which the Folio numbers are treated as page numbers, and some other errors are corrected including missing sections. This version should soon be available on CD-ROM as well.

[AlejandroBotta]

I am glad to hear that the Aramaic/Hebrew original might be in the horizon. I have the Soncino Talmud and the Judaic Classics Library (OS 9, Davka) but the interface is so poor that I hardly feel like using it (I know, compared with Accordance every other interface looks bad :-). One good thing about the Windows version of the Soncino Talmud by Davka is that it comes with the "Tzuras Ha-Daf" (the authentic Talmud page), something that every Talmud student will love to have in sight when using Accordance (or at least, this Talmud student :-)

[danzac]

I found myself needing an English translation of a Yerushalmi, so I too hope to see this in Accordance.