TIP of the day: Hear ye, Hear ye learn to use your Rabbinic resources

Yes, I'm excited about the recent announcement from Rick Brannon of additional ties between Logos tools and rabbinic literature. The literature is so vast (and so foreign) that most of us not only can't find a reference in the Talmud, even while reading the directions on how to do so, we also have no clue as to where to start and how to relate it to what we do know. This is an illustrated list of Logos resources to get you going ... and continuing ...

1.My starting point which I recommend at every opportunity is a book rewritten by a young professor (now rabbi) who was teaching undergraduate courses at Vanderbilt University. This pleasant read identifies assumption about scripture that are Jewish but not generally Christian.

Cherry, Shai. Torah through Time: Understanding Bible Commentary from the Rabbinic Period to Modern Times. Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society, 2007.

2. There are introductory resources in Logos that give interesting, clear examples as to what one should expect to find in rabbinic literature. I'd start with the midrash just because its more fun.

Katz, Michael, and Gershon Schwartz. Searching for Meaning in Midrash: Lessons for Everyday Living. Philadelphia, PA: The Jewish Publication Society, 2002.

3. The next major literature to be introduced to is the Talmud ... which originally is daunting in length and indexing scheme.

Katz, Michael, and Gershon Schwartz. Swimming in the Sea of the Talmud: Lessons for Everyday Living. Philadelphia, PA: The Jewish Publication Society, 1998.

4. Now you have the background necessary to read the Judaica references references provided by Logos in the Ancient Literature section of the Passage Guide

5.As of the recent update, Commandments of the Law will expand and show Judaica references if you click on the law's identifier. Going through the references methodically will teach you the reasoning behind the laws.

6. As of the recent update, the Feast and Sacrifices interactive carries a Judaica colum - click on the entry to expand.

7. From Wikipedia: "Daf Yomi (Hebrew: דף יומי‎, Daf Yomi, "page of the day" or "daily folio") is a daily regimen of learning the Oral Torah and its commentaries (also known as the Gemara), in which each of the 2,711 pages of the Babylonian Talmud are covered in sequence. Under this regimen, the entire Talmud is completed, one day at a time, in a cycle of seven and a half years.

Tens of thousands of Jews worldwide study in the Daf Yomi program, and over 300,000 participate in the Siyum HaShas, an event celebrating the culmination of the cycle of learning. The Daf Yomi program has been credited with making Talmud study accessible to Jews who are not Torah scholars, contributing to Jewish continuity after the Holocaust, and having a unifying factor among Jews"

You can add Daf Yomi to your home page (it's a Reading Cycle) and participate. One complete cycle and you'll have read the entire Talmud.