Helpful formatting is something I’ve discussed a number of times on this blog, as well as in a post on the Seforim Blog, see there for a broad, up-to-date survey of this topic: “From Print to Pixel: Digital Editions of the Talmud Bavli“ (June 5, 2023)
interesting as always. considering the well accepted idea that the real value of talmud study is teaching one to think, and that aids -- even such as punctuation, but especially translation and color-coding -- make it too easy and defeat the ultimate purpose. I'm not saying i subscribe to this, but would be interested in your opinion: when is it too much, or is it all subjective?
See my response to a similar question raised in the comments to my blogpost at the seforim blog (that I referenced at the beginning of the current piece):
"it would be difficult to argue that lack of punctuation is any kind of advantage, narrowly speaking. Of course, speaking more broadly, communities that are more conservative will be much more invested in their studies, and so will be able to overcome lack of punctuation and other such difficulties.
In general, as I point out in the piece, even the Orthodox world has accepted more and more user-friendly texts: Steinzaltz, Schottenstein, Oz VeHadar, Mesivta, and more
I think all this is quite clear if you think about a regular English book, which invariably has standard punctuation. If it didn’t have punctuation, you would still parse the text correctly in 99%+ cases. But it would be a lot more of a mental effort, for no reason."
I would only add that certain insertions of punctuation are subjective in that the meaning of a portion of a sugya will be impacted dramatically by their placement and thus read differently by, for example, Tosfos and Rashi. Thus, while I agree that most punctuation will be apparent, in some cases one must base punctuation on the interpretations of Rishonim or even Achronim.
See my response to a similar question raised in the comments to my blogpost at the seforim blog (that I referenced at the beginning of the current piece):
From my experience, it’s extremely rare for matters related to how to punctuate the text to be the subject of the disagreement. In a discussion in the Facebook group “Ask the Beit Midrash”, R’ Josh Waxman agreed that it is extremely rare
interesting as always. considering the well accepted idea that the real value of talmud study is teaching one to think, and that aids -- even such as punctuation, but especially translation and color-coding -- make it too easy and defeat the ultimate purpose. I'm not saying i subscribe to this, but would be interested in your opinion: when is it too much, or is it all subjective?
See my response to a similar question raised in the comments to my blogpost at the seforim blog (that I referenced at the beginning of the current piece):
https://seforimblog.com/2023/06/from-print-to-pixel-digital-editions-of-the-talmud-bavli/#comments
As I wrote there:
"it would be difficult to argue that lack of punctuation is any kind of advantage, narrowly speaking. Of course, speaking more broadly, communities that are more conservative will be much more invested in their studies, and so will be able to overcome lack of punctuation and other such difficulties.
In general, as I point out in the piece, even the Orthodox world has accepted more and more user-friendly texts: Steinzaltz, Schottenstein, Oz VeHadar, Mesivta, and more
I think all this is quite clear if you think about a regular English book, which invariably has standard punctuation. If it didn’t have punctuation, you would still parse the text correctly in 99%+ cases. But it would be a lot more of a mental effort, for no reason."
I would only add that certain insertions of punctuation are subjective in that the meaning of a portion of a sugya will be impacted dramatically by their placement and thus read differently by, for example, Tosfos and Rashi. Thus, while I agree that most punctuation will be apparent, in some cases one must base punctuation on the interpretations of Rishonim or even Achronim.
See my response to a similar question raised in the comments to my blogpost at the seforim blog (that I referenced at the beginning of the current piece):
https://seforimblog.com/2023/06/from-print-to-pixel-digital-editions-of-the-talmud-bavli/#comments
As I wrote there:
From my experience, it’s extremely rare for matters related to how to punctuate the text to be the subject of the disagreement. In a discussion in the Facebook group “Ask the Beit Midrash”, R’ Josh Waxman agreed that it is extremely rare