The transfer of the entire Talmud to cassettes has just been completed here by Rabbi Shabtai Sabbato, 35, of the World Zionist Organization’s Beit Midrash Letorah Yeshiva. The achievement was marked this week at a ceremony attended by the two Chief Rabbis, Knesset members, scholars and WZO leaders.
There are 1,000 cassettes containing 1,500 hours of Talmud study. They will enable busy would-be students to imbibe Talmud study while driving or (on Walkmen) while engaged in other non-intellectual pursuits.
The explanations and commentary offered by Sabbato also enables persons unfamiliar with Talmudic exegesis to follow the Talmudic texts with relative ease. The cassettes come with drawings and diagrams where these are necessary for a fuller comprehension of the subject matter.
According to Sabbato, anyone who listens to the tapes for one hour a day will be able to complete the entire Babylonian Talmud within four years. The universal “Daf Hayomi” — one page a day — program takes seven years.
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