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From: mls@cbnewsm.att.com
Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian
Subject: Re: Talmud.
Message-ID: <Dec.19.01.15.41.1989.14371@athos.rutgers.edu>
Date: 19 Dec 89 06:15:44 GMT
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This is not really critical to anything I said, but a digit dropped out
in one place -- the Talmudic commentaries grew up in the 200+ years
after the Mishnah; they were completed by about 500 C.E. at the latest.

Note: there is an excellent sketch of what the Talmud means to Judaism
in the current Book Review section of the New York Times Sunday edition.
This is a review of the current lavish project of the Steinzalz Talmud.
As the reviewer points out, the "canonical" Vilna Talmud contains on its
pages many centuries of still further commentary by the rabbis, in fine
print around the text of the Talmud _per se_.  Judging from this first
volume (you can probably find it at Waldenbooks or Daltons) the whole of
this Talmud will take up something over a hundred feet of shelf space.
-- 
Michael L. Siemon		We must know the truth, and we must
...!cucard!dasys1!mls		love the truth we know, and we must
...!att!sfbat!mls		act according to the measure of our love.
standard disclaimer	  				-- Thomas Merton