Archive - Talmud & Tech

Disputes Between Pharisees and Sadducees: Scripture, Impurity, and Legal Reasoning (Mishnah Yadayim 4:6-8)

This Mishnah passage presents a series of polemical exchanges between the Pharisees (פרושים - the predecessors of rabbinic Judaism) and Sadducees…

5 hrs ago

Divine Reciprocity: Biblical Instances of Measure-for-Measure (‘Midah Keneged Midah’) Punishment and Reward (Mishnah Sotah 1:7-9)

This Mishnaic aggadic passage explores the principle of midah keneged midah ("measure for measure"), asserting that individuals are punished according…

Jun 15

The Beauty and the Bandit: The Talmudic Tragedy of R' Yoḥanan and Reish Lakish (Bava Metzia 84a)

This sugya opens with R' Yoḥanan (fl.

Jun 13

Pt2 Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah and the Fiery Furnace in the Talmud: Aggadic Expansion of Daniel 3 (Sanhedrin 92b-93a)

This is the second and final part of a two-part series.

Jun 12

Pt1 Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah and the Fiery Furnace in the Talmud: Aggadic Expansion of Daniel 3 (Sanhedrin 92b-93a)

This is the first part of a two-part series.

Jun 11

The List of Ingredients in the Temple Incense: The ‘Ketoret’ Formula in Detail (Keritot 6a)

Notes, unrelated to the piece:

Jun 10

Actual Resurrection or Allegory? The Valley of Dry Bones in Ezekiel 37 in the Talmud (Sanhedrin 92b)

Ezekiel’s Dry Bones and the Talmudic Imagination

Jun 9

‘Sacred and Defiles the Hands’: The Canonical Status of the Biblical Books of Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs (Mishnah Yadayim 3:5)

This piece analyzes one of the most consequential passages in the Mishnah: Yadayim 3:5–4:2.

Jun 8

Some Technical Notes on Sefaria Relating to Talmud: The Missing API Manual, ‘Grounding’ LLMs, and Emulating and Enhancing the Outlines of…

In Part 1 of this piece, I discuss Sefaria’s API, as it relates to fetching text; especially the original Hebrew text and translations of Talmud…

Jun 6

Mapping the High-Level Hierarchical Structure of Classical Hebrew Texts: A Case Study of Graphing Talmudic Chapters and Word Counts

Jun 5

‘Where in Scripture is Notarikon Found?’: Talmudic Interpretation of Biblical Words as Acronyms (Shabbat 105a)

This sugya explores how individual Hebrew words in the Torah can function as acronyms—known as notarikon—encoding deeper or concealed meanings.

Jun 4

‘Tractate Kinyanim’: Modes of Acquiring People, Livestock, Land and More (Mishnah Kiddushin 1:1-6)

This opening chapter of Mishnah tractate Kiddushin outlines the legal mechanics by which people, property, and contracts are acquired or released in…

Jun 3

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