How the Talmud Can Change Your Life

Surprisingly Modern Advice from a Very Old Book

By: Liel Leibovitz

Narrated by: Liel Leibovitz

For numerous centuries, the Talmud—an extraordinary work of Jewish ethics, law, and tradition—has compelled readers to grapple with how to live a good life. Full of folk legends, bawdy tales, and rabbinical repartee, it is inspiring, demanding, confounding, and thousands of pages long. As Liel Leibovitz enthusiastically explores the Talmud, what has sometimes been misunderstood as a dusty and arcane volume becomes humanity's first self-help book. How the Talmud Can Change Your Life contains sage advice on an unparalleled scope of topics.

Leibovitz guides listeners through the sprawling text with all its humor, rich insights, thoroughly enjoyable stories, and multilayered conversations. Contemporary discussions framed by Talmudic philosophy and psychology draw on subjects ranging from Weight Watchers and the Dewey decimal system to the lives of Billie Holiday and C. S. Lewis. Chapters focus on fundamental human experiences to illuminate how the Talmud speaks to our daily existence. As Leibovitz explores some of life's greatest questions, he also delivers a concise history of the Talmud itself, explaining the process of its lengthy compilation and organization.

With infectious passion and candor, Leibovitz brilliantly displays how the Talmud's wisdom reverberates for the modern age and how it can, indeed, change your life.

©2023 Liel Leibovitz (P)2023 Tantor

An intro to the Talmud

It hadn’t crossed my mind to study the Talmud but I read this bc I like Liel. By the end, I’m ready to sign up. Thank you for writing it.

Great path to find your way into the Talmud!

Great and inspiring introduction to the essence of the jewish law and foundational stories. Loved the easiness and lightness of the book

Timely and Lively

A very lively and timely intro to The Talmud. Somehow not at all what I expected, but in a good way.

Engaging Talmud Stories

A splendidly engaging romp through a series of Talmudic stories juxtaposed to more modern ones

Easy to listen to a complex topic

Very worthwhile. Very listenable presentation of a book with no answers.
If you are interested in an introduction to Talmud, this is good. I’m still completely ignorant and have no plans to study much further, but I feel like I’ve been given a peek into its complexities, and a little nudge into understanding the need for, and the skill of critical thinking. And the value of true friendship. This book may have satisfied my curiosity about Talmud.