Talmud for Dummies by Arthur Kurzweil
(Wiley)
May 13, 2025
DOS FOR DUMMIES WAS PUBLISHED in November 1991 — and a publishing juggernaut was born: it has spawned over 1,600 titles. It took a decade for Judaism to get its own volume, written by Rabbi Ted Falcon of the Reform Movement along with technology writer David Blatner. Kabbalah for Dummies got its turn in 2006, and Torah for Dummies surfaced in 2008, under the supervision Kurzweil, who ran the pre-internet Jewish Book Club — and now he’s returned to distill 2,771 imposing pages spread over 63 hulking volumes into a basic navigational guidebook. It may even stay in print longer than new titles like Bluesky for Dummies or Polyamory for Dummies. Marc Weisblott
