The World Zionist Organization Torah Education Department in cooperation with the Beit Midrash Lelorah Yeshiva in Jerusalem are pioneering in an innovative project — studying Torah from tape cassettes. The project has already recorded onto cassettes some 1,500 pages of the Babylonian Talmud, and the hope is that the remaining 1,000-odd pages will be recorded in a few months.
The tapes consist of readings and straight forward explanations (based on Rashi’s commentary) of the Talmud text. So far some 800 cassettes have been produced, each 90 minutes duration and embracing an average of three Talmud “omudim” (pages). The reader and commentator is Rabbi Shabbtai Sabbato of Yeshivat Bet-El.
The original purpose of the project, according to the WZO, was to enable the mostly overseas students at the Beit Midrash Letorah Yeshiva to continue studying Talmud by themselves when they end their terms at the Yeshiva and return home. But given the success of the idea, the tapes are expected to serve far wider audiences.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
