The Talmud, often referred to as “The Sea of the Talmud”, is vast both in breadth and depth. The gemara (Megillah 18b) describes the difficulty of maintaining a hold on all the Torah you learn quoting Proverbs (23:5): "When you lift (or close) your eyes from it – and it disappears".

Chazal (Eruvin 54b) prescribe a method for gaining a true understanding and making a lasting acquisition of all the material you learn. Rav Chisda is quoted as saying: “The Torah can only be acquired with signs.”

Talmud Navigator is an attempt to organize the Gemara in database form, mapping and charting the Talmud by tagging the various components and building blocks of the according to type and hierarchy. It is based on the system outlined by the Ramchal in Derech Tvunos.

This system of textual organization serves as a self-aid to outline the sugya in a clearer fashion, promoting a better understanding of the flow of the Gemara and to facilitating summary and review. It is also an excellent tool for a less advanced Gemara learner to identify and grasp the logical flow and interconnections of its various components.

Each Thursday we will post a PDF file which maps the gemara studied in that week’s daf hayomi cycle. Iy”H we plan in the future to make available the Excel file which enables the user to make his own condensed selections of the Gemara.  For example: highlighting the main statements, arguments, questions, conclusions or personalized anchor points of the sugya determined by the learner himself to facilitate his own review.

Before using Talmud Navigator we strongly recommend reading the Extended Introduction and the Guidelines.

Talmud Navigator is prepared by Rabbi Hanoch Zweig.