A01=Liel Leibovitz
adulthood
ancient rabbinical legends
ancient wisdom
Author_Liel Leibovitz
Category=QRAB
Category=QRJF5
Category=QRVX
community
death
eq_isMigrated=0
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
family
friendship
inspiration
jewish tradition
judaism
loss
love
philosophy
psychology
rabbi
scholar
self-help
talmud
teachings
Product details
- ISBN 9781324105008
- Weight: 211g
- Dimensions: 140 x 211mm
- Publication Date: 11 Mar 2025
- Publisher: WW Norton & Co
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
Secure
checkout
Fast Shipping
Easy returns
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, which includes communicating with your partner, dealing with grief and being a friend.
Leibovitz guides readers through the sprawling text with all its humour, rich insights, compulsively readable 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—the mind-body problem, the power of community, the challenges of love—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 organisation.
With infectious passion and candour, Leibovitz brilliantly displays how the Talmud’s wisdom reverberates for the modern age and how it can, indeed, change your life.
Liel Leibovitz is host of Tablet’s daily Talmud podcast Take One and cohost of the Unorthodox podcast. Author of A Broken Hallelujah and Stan Lee and coauthor of The Newish Jewish Encyclopedia, he lives in New York City.
