historical perspective. We elucidate those idioms that may be foreign to us today and also attempt to explain the thought-process of the Rabbis. Finally, in the “D’rash” section, we have given modern applications of the talmudic teachings. (A “D’rash” is an interpretive treatment of a text.) We believe strongly in a “conceptual approach” to the Talmud, that the Rabbis were dealing with much more than the details of Jewish ritual practice. Their discussions, though often couched in legalistic language,