Today we’ll talk not about a specific page of the Talmud but about the shape of the Talmudic page and how it came to look this way. After beginning in oral transmission and then to transmission in manuscript, the Talmud began to be printed in the late 15th century, first in Spain and then Italy. The Soncino family gave us the distinctive format with the Gemara text in the center of the page, with Rashi’s 11th century commentary on the inner margin, explaining the flow of the Talmud’s argumentation and that of the Tosafot (“additions”) on the outer margin, carrying forward the texts dialectics with further sharp questions and answers. Over the years, further study aids were added to the margins, helping us students find relevant Bible verses and parallel Talmudic passages.

If you’d like to see images of Talmudic manuscripts, please check out this website, from the Hebrew University.

To see a folio of Bomberg Talmud, 1520, click here

For a folio of the Soncino Talmud, 1483, click here

To check out the familiar page of the Romm “Shas Vilna”, click here.

The opening and closing music for this podcast is Ufros from The Epichorus album One Bead.