Completing a Cycle of Talmud Study

As our second cycle of Talmud learning draws to a close, we are delighted to inform you that the next cycle begins on January 5, 2020 (8 Tevet, 5780), and will be produced by the Steinsaltz Center in Jerusalem.

On January 4, 2020, the last Aleph Society essay will be delivered to you by this email service. To continue studying the Talmud with commentary and insights from Rabbi Adin Even-Israel Steinsaltz, visit the Daf Yomi from the Steinsaltz Center in Jerusalem.

The Steinsaltz Center offers a page with daily updates as well as essays one, two and three days in advance. Visit the page now. Bookmark the link for easy access to the essays, which will update automatically each day.

The Aleph Society thanks you for your commitment to our Jewish texts and for your dedication to learning the Talmud. We salute your achievement in learning. May you continue to find wisdom and meaning as your studies continue.


This insight comes from the last essay on the page Nidda 73

The closing daf of Massekhet Nidda, indeed the closing daf of the Babylonian Talmud, ends with the following statement:

The Sage of the study house of Eliyahu teaches: Whoever repeats words of Jewish law every day may rest assured that he will have a share of the World to Come, for it is said (Habakkuk 3:6), halikhot olam lo, literally, “His ways are everlasting”; read not halikhot (his ways) but halakhot (Jewish law).

While Rashi and others have this statement as part of the Gemara, it does not appear in many manuscripts, and may be a later addition. Tosafot explains its appearance based on a Gemara in Massekhet Berakhot (daf 31a) that teaches that just as we find that the prophetic books close on a positive note of praise and comfort, it is appropriate for the Talmud to close in a similar manner.

Rabbi David Luria suggests that this statement is particularly important here, since the Mishnayot of the Order of Ṭohorot continue, and the editors of the Gemara feared that students would conclude their study with Massekhet Nidda. The statement encouraging the daily study of halakhot, i.e. of Mishna, means to encourage completion of the other tractates. According to the Maharsha this statement was included in order to emphasize to the individual who completes Massekhet Nidda that even though the accepted stringency instituted by Rabbi Zeira (see above, daf 66) renders many of the laws of the tractate moot, nevertheless there is an independent value of the regular study of these laws.

The Arukh La-Ner points out that the final Mishna at end of the Massekhet Oktzin, which is the very last tractate of the Talmud, has a parallel conclusion, describing the great reward that is due to the individual who studies Torah, based on the passage in Mishlei (8:21). At the conclusion of the study of all the laws of the Mishna, it is appropriate to be told of the spiritual reward that accompanies such endeavors. Similarly, at the end of the study of the Talmud, a statement attesting to the ultimate reward of a place in the World to Come is certainly in place.