How the Talmud Can Change Your Life

"[A] stellar outing...Meticulously analyzed and surprisingly accessible.-- ""Publishers Weekly (starred review)"" An erudite and accessible examination of a baffling work.-- ""Kirkus Reviews"" It may take about seven years to read the Talmud, but I read Liel Leibovitz's book in one night, because I could not put it down. It's so good. Such nachas I have (as my ancestors would say). With wisdom and humor, Liel shows us why this ancient book has startling relevance to our lives today, unpacking lessons about everything from work to relationships to, yes, bodily functions.--A.J. Jacobs, author of The Year of Living Bliblically According to Leonard Cohen, the Talmud is 'a manual for living with defeat.' Liel Leibovitz, a biographer of Cohen, shows us--in magnificent, hair-splitting detail--how that works in practice. With much learning, unfailing insight, and storytelling skill, Leibovitz unveils a fascinating world of ancient sages and colorful rabbis, of sinners and saints, of wisdom found and lost and then found again. Read this book. You may realize that you have been a Talmudist all your life without knowing it. Or else that you want to be one for the rest of your life.--Costica Bradatan, author of In Praise of Failure: Four Lessons in Humility What D. H. Lawrence called 'the one bright book of life' was really the Talmud, as he would have known if he had read Liel Leibovitz's inspired and inspiring volume, which is itself alive with wisdom, humor, and the generous lightening energy that illuminates the world without setting it on fire.--Jonathan Rosen, author of Best Minds: A Story of Friendship, Madness, and the Tragedy of Good Intentions"