Reviews
Come and Hear: What I Saw in My Seven-and-a-Half-Year Journey through the Talmud by Adam Kirsch
ckehoe79's review
5.0
Interesting look at one of Orthodox Judaism 's most sacred texts after the Torah.
lewismillholland's review
5.0
This book's central thesis is to open up conversation rather than to close it — to query is a cherishable back in itself. That's what "Come and Hear" means, that's how Kirsch uses it.
This won't be a long-winded review. It doesn't need to be. This book, and more specifically, the Talmud, have impacted every piece of writing I've done since. The overly logical, nearly childish thinking of the Rabbis — the use of parables to make a point —treating no stone as too small to leave unturned — it's an incredible way of proto-philosophizing, of pseudologic-as-literature.
It's just, like, a really good book.
This won't be a long-winded review. It doesn't need to be. This book, and more specifically, the Talmud, have impacted every piece of writing I've done since. The overly logical, nearly childish thinking of the Rabbis — the use of parables to make a point —treating no stone as too small to leave unturned — it's an incredible way of proto-philosophizing, of pseudologic-as-literature.
It's just, like, a really good book.
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