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Orthodox Jewish Women Take A New Lead In Talmud Study In Israel

"I never thought I would live to see this day," said one of the women participating in a recent celebration in Jerusalem.
Orthodox Jewish women are increasingly joining a custom called <em>Daf Yomi</em>, Hebrew for "daily page," which involves reading a page a day of the Talmud, a centuries-old, multivolume collection of rabbinic teachings, debates and interpretations of Judaism. Here women read the last pages of the cycle at their first women's mass Talmud celebration in Jerusalem in January.

Among devout Orthodox Jews, the intense study of Talmud is no longer just a man's world. Women are increasingly delving into this central religious work, and American expats in Israel are at the forefront of the trend.

They're following a custom called Daf Yomi, Hebrew for "daily page," which involves reading a page a day of this centuries-old, multivolume collection of rabbinic teachings, debates and interpretations of Judaism. It takes about seven years and five months to read all 2,711 pages.

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