Sunday, April 12, 2026

Fact-Checking the Torah -- Talmud

If you don't know your Tanakh backwards and forwards in Biblical Hebrew or you have never read Mishnah, you need to fix that.

Then go to Sefaria, which just posted the last tractate of Babylonian Talmud with vowels. 

It includes translations. If you use the English one, you will see bolded words representing the actual text, plus filler. You'll only understand why the filler reads as it does if you did the prerequisite work, learning Tanakh and Mishnah. 

Click to the right of a section and you'll get reference material, including Rashi's commentary. But again, you will only understand why the commentators jumped the way they did if you do the other study first.

So learn Biblical Hebrew, study the Tanakh (available on both Mechon Mamre and Sefaria) and the Mishnah (also on both sites), and then tackle Talmud.

By the way, Sefaria also has the Jerusalem Talmud with vowels.