Jewish schools dedicate many hours and resources to study of Talmud, but more than seventy percent of all students are still unable to learn a page of Talmud on their own at the end of secondary school studies. How can this be improved?

Study of Talmud in our day is radically different than in the days of the Gaonim (7th – 10th centuries), and Rishonim (11th to 16th centuries). Our sages cautioned us not to transcribe Oral Tradition into writing (Gittin 60b), but persecutions and destructions eventually forced scholars to preserve the Talmud in texts. Today, we learn exclusively from texts – usually from the Vilna printing of 1880. The first full printing of the Babylonian Talmud was of the Catholic printer Daniel Bombergi of Venice, in 1520-1523. Before that, the Talmud was learned orally, or from manuscripts. As study moved from manuscripts to printings, the mentality of study changed. Manuscripts were fluid and informal - scholars even corrected manuscripts on their own authority. Printed texts created a revolution, “exiling” the Oral Tradition into the fixed format of literature.

Manuscripts themselves were revolutionary. Talmud lessons given in the academies of the later Amoraim (5th century), Saboraim (6th century) and Gaonim (7th century on) included sources from the Tannaim (1st – 2nd centuries) and early Amoraim augmented by commentary and analysis of later teachers. Academy scribes preserved these lessons in written protocols, scholars and editors polished and edited the protocols, the result being the manuscripts we have today. These protocols recorded all the sources – Tannaim, Amoraim, and the words of the later teachers, as one continuous text. Editors of the protocols did not need to mark the various components, since scholars using the manuscript knew how to distinguish the various layers of text to learn the recorded lessons correctly. In our day, however, students of Talmud receive no training in layer disection, even though understanding of the text is virtually impossible without it. The Revadim (“layers”) method helps to understand layer separation in Talmud, and ensures more accurate, independent, and enjoyable study.

How does “Revadim” work? Revadim operates on a model of four stages of increasing complexity. Each stage presents a series of special learning skills. The first stage is study of Mishnah with relevant skills. The second stage teaches skills for comparison of the Mishnah with Tosefta, beraitot , and Midreshei Halachah of Rabbi Akiba and Rabbi Yishmael, to arrive at a more balanced and complete picture of what the Tannaim taught. This comparison of Tannaitic sources is preparation for study of the Amoraim in the Talmud, who concentrated on resolution of contradictions in tannaitic sources. The third stage is study of amoraic literature, which includes learning the various forms of amoraic discussions, called “sugyot.” The final stage is study of the anonymous, aramaic-language text known as the “gemara,” the “talmud,” or the “stama d’talmuda.”

These four stages – Mishnah, tannaitic literatue, amoraic literature and talmudic literature – are cumulative, and form an upward spiral of skills which enable independent study. Each individual skill is presented and explained through simple examples, then drilled in increasingly complex examples until mastered. At the end of the process, study of Mishnah and Talmud becomes clear, logical and fulfilling.

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