18Forty Podcast A Page is Worth A Thousand Worlds: A Conversation with Michelle Chesner
18 snips
Mar 18, 2020 AI Snips
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Printed Page Shapes Religious Expectation
- Early Talmud manuscripts lacked the familiar page layout with Rashi and Tosafot and page numbers, which surprises modern readers.
- The printed Talmud's standard page is a product of print-era layout choices, not the original manuscript form.
Medieval Layout Migrated Into Talmud Print
- The multi-column page with central text and marginal commentaries originated in medieval Christian law manuscripts.
- Jewish printers adopted that visual structure when moving the Talmud into print, shaping how it is read today.
Bomberg: Christian Printer Of The Talmud
- Daniel Bomberg, a Christian printer in Venice, produced the first complete printed Talmud and used Jewish editors and correctors.
- Bomberg's Christian status let him bypass restrictions that often limited Jewish printers in certain cities.