glintglimmergleam:

the thing about the Talmud is that it’s not written like a narrative, it’s a record of oral arguments, so it’s incredibly difficult to follow without years of training in particular modes of rhetoric and vocabulary and Bible.   there’s no plot.  there’s no backstory, no contextual descriptions, no historical summaries.  details are only mentioned if someone thought it pertains to the nitpicky argument at hand.

amazing characters like the wizard Rabbi Eliezer and reformed thief Reish Lakish and feminist badass Beruria will wander in for a passage or two in the middle of a lengthy grammar debate regarding, like, subclauses of ancient agricultural property law, say one or two RIDICULOUS, THEOLOGICALLY AMAZING THINGS, and drop the mic.  maybe you’ll hear from them three volumes later, maybe you won’t.