It has been another bumper year for Talmudology, with over 77,000 visits and 103,00 page views.
THE MOST POPULAR POSTS OF 2021
Here are the ten most popular posts of 2021, together with those of 2020 for comparison.
| 2021 Top Posts | Last Year's Top Post |
|---|---|
| Pesachim 68a ~ Resurrection of the Dead A history of our attempts at resurrection, starting with the Bible, and ending in a Yale lab, with re-animated pigs’ brains. |
Avodah Zarah 28b ~ Ear Candling The stupid - and fun side - of a silly way to clean your ears. |
| Avodah Zarah 28b ~ Ear Candling The stupid - and fun side - of a silly way to clean your ears. |
Bava Basra 126b ~ The Healing Power of Saliva Saliva, wound healing, and the magic of a firstborn’s spit. |
| Bechorot 8a ~ Rashi on Mermaids Mermaids in rabbinic (and Greek) literature. And a sighting by Christopher Columbus. |
Kiddushin 82a ~ The Best Doctors Go to Hell Doctors were at best useless, and at their worst, agents of death. To hell with them |
| Bava Basra 126b ~ The Healing Power of Saliva Saliva, wound healing, and the magic of a firstborn’s spit. |
Kiddushin 30a~ How Many Letters are in a Sefer Torah? 304, 801. Or 304, 805. And why the rabbis miscounted |
| Zevachim 113b ~ On the Identity of the Re'em How the re’em survived Noah’s flood, and ended up on a prehistoric cave painting. |
Kiddushin 29a ~ Swimming and Drowning The Jewish requirement to teach a child to swim |
| Bechorot 16a ~ A Flat Earth, The Eye, and the Sky The geocentric universe is modeled by the structure of an eye. |
Bechorot 8a ~ Rashi on Mermaids Mermaids in rabbinic (and Greek) literature. And a sighting by Christopher Columbus. |
| Kiddushin 29a ~ Swimming and Drowning The Jewish requirement to teach a child to swim. |
Berachot 50a ~ "The Three Who Ate" - on Yom Kippur David Frischmann wrote a story about the rabbi who made Kiddish on Yom Kippur. But was it true? |
| Niddah 13 ~ Onanism, Self-Pollution and Potential People The Talmud viewed sperm as potential people. It’s a viewpoint very removed from our own. |
Bechorot 16a ~ A Flat Earth, The Eye, and the Sky The geocentric universe is modeled by the structure of an eye. |
| Keritot 5b ~ Hemorrhoids, Plague, and the Ark of the Covenant Recovering the true cause of the Plague at Ashdod. And it wasn’t hemorrhoids. |
Berachot 2 ~ How Many Words Are In the Babylonian Talmud? 1.8 million, give or take |
| Kiddushin 82a ~ The Best Doctors Go to Hell Doctors were at best useless, and at their worst, agents of death. To hell with them. |
Niddah 13 ~ Onanism, Self-Pollution and Potential People The Talmud viewed sperm as potential people. It’s a viewpoint very removed from our own. |
WHERE ARE THE TALMUDOLOGY READERS FROM?
Here are the top five Talmudology reading countries:
USA - 61% (47,000 visitors)
Israel 12% (9,000 visitors)
United Kingdom 5% (4,400 visitors)
Canada 3% (3,000 visitors)
Australia 2% (1,800 visitors)
And there are plenty of readers from unexpected places too. Over 1,200 people enjoyed Talmudology in India, and 150 read it in Korea. There were 43 readers from Serbia, 23 viewers from the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, and 17 on the island of Madagascar. We value your readership, and don’t worry, we cannot identify any of you in more detail, even if we wanted to.
We reached and exceeded our goal of 1,000 subscribers, and now have over 1,100. Onwards and upwards!
We are grateful to all those who took the time to email with comments and corrections. Help keep Talmudology honest and let us know if you spot an error.
Sign up here for email alerts, and follow us on Twitter (@Talmudology) as we continue to study science, medicine and the Talmud.
Plans for next year
This coming year will be a huge one for Talmudology. We will complete our posts on the entire Babylonian Talmud. Talmudology started half way through the study of Yevamot, and that is where we will be in May, some seven and a half years after the very first Talmudology post.
NEw Book Announcement
In the Fall, Oxford University Press we will publish a new history of the Jewish People, one based on their encounter with plagues and pandemics. You can read more about the book here.
Coming soon from Oxford University Press.
So stay healthy and look after yourselves, and if you can, look after someone else too.
תכלה שנה וקללותיה, תחל שנה וברכותיה
The Year and its Curses have Come to an End
May the Next Year and its Blessings Begin*
*See Talmud Bavli Megillah 31b
