Customer CJ (6/1/2004) wrote:
The Bar Ilan Judaic Library Classic Edition is exactly what its name implies. It is a huge library with hundreds of volumes of Judaic texts on a single CD-ROM. Like a conventional library you have access to all the books, but that is where the comparison stops. With the Bar Ilan Judaic Library, access to the books is only the beginning...

The Bar Ilan Judaic Library is about...
Saving Time...
Accurate Information...
Authoritative Texts...
Ease of Use...
and flexibility in integrating your research with wordprocessers and publishing tools.

To use Bar Ilan effectively you do not need to be a computer whiz...The Bar Ilan is designed to work the way you learn. Bar Ilan was designed for people who want to make the time they spend learning More Productive. Take for example the study of Chumash...

To start you click your mouse to open the passuk or chapter you want to study. You can then highlight the text you want to study without groping around to find the features you need, everything you need is built right into the mouse. All the software's Menus and commands can be viewed in either Hebrew, English or French. All commands are Microsoft Windows Commands, which make it easy and intuitive and permits you to spend your time studying Torah instead of learning how to use the program.

Now you have the Passuk you want to learn on your screen in big easy to read letters with the vowels. The next step in the study to process is to view various commentaries on the Passuk. This can done with a click of your mouse. You can see as many as 5 commentaries on the Passuk and if there are footnotes in the commentaries you can explore them as well.

For further study on this Passuk... you may want to see where and how the Passuk is explained in the Talmud or Midrash. That can be done as well - just click your mouse and you will see all the places this Passuk is used throughout Talmudic & Midrashic Literature. Imagine a super Mikros Gidolos and a Torah Timema all rolled into one, with instant access and pinpoint accuracy. What I am describing is just the Chumash portion of this CD. However these features are repeated over and over in every area of study whether it is Mishna, Talmud, Midrash, Halacha, Machshava, Mussar and Tefilla. All related texts are linked to each other to help the user develop a comprehensive picture of the material being studied. It can truthfully be said that integrating the Bar Ilan Judaic Library in your Torah study will enhance your understanding, and make the time you invest in Torah Study more productive.

Of the many features in the program here is my favorite...
1. The Daf Yomi feature... Permits instant view of the Blatt of the Day with Rashi & Tosfos. Not only can you read the Gemara text easily since it has sentence punctuation - it also gives you instant access to all the footnotes, Halachic and Tanach. The CD features the Reshonim on the Blatt as well and that makes learning Daf Yomi a breeze. And not forget something I use often the Amazing Gematria System and the Jewish Calendar... They really come in handy. All in all I feel confident recommending the Bar Ilan Judaic Library to everyone!