Judy Siegel-Itzkovich (6/1/2006) wrote:
Five Stars***** Requires Windows 2000/XP/Vista - Retail $39.95

The festival of Shavuot has no complicated rituals like those of Passover or Succot, but ­ as the holiday marking the giving of the Torah at Sinai ­ it
encourages Jews to stay up the whole night and study. But what do you do if you want to study Talmud in honor of Shavuot, for example, and you
don¹t know how?

There are apparently enough Jews out there with such a desire, and they are the potential audience for Gemara Buddy, a program for learning and
reviewing Gemara, even for complete beginners. Produced by TES of Monsey, New York with support from the Jewish Continuity Foundation, it stars Rabbi
Nachman Zakon, principal of Yeshiva Ohr Olam high school in Jerusalem¹s Har Nof quarter who has written Jewish-themed books for children in the past and
has a talent for explaining complex ideas in simple English.

While listening to the explanation, you can click on any word ­ Hebrew or Aramaic -- and see an instant translation of that word with Gemara BuddyOs
Hebrew-and Aramaic-to-English dictionary. It¹s also easy to look up a cross reference in the Bible, the Shulhan Aruch, the Mishna Brura or Maimonides¹s
commentary, as an icon appears on the left hand of the page: Just click a button and the relevant passage appears.

The Talmud Text is shown in the format of pages from the Babylonian Talmud, with Rashi¹s commentary and the Tosfot flanking the verses on either side.
The oral lessons in English covers the entire talmudic page (front and back) in about one hour, and there are 12 such lessons. Rabbi Zakon¹s narrated
explanation is extensive and comprehensive.

With the Start/Play/Stop/Rewind/Pause icons, you can begin and stop listening when you wish. And one doesn¹t have to listen to the whole narration at once.
You can key in the verse and go straight to the part you want to hear. The text can be viewed in small, medium and large type in the traditional format, but you
can also turn it all into regular word-processed text in any font and size using its tool menu. Users can even add vowels automatically to the text plus punctuation
such as question marks, hyphens, periods and exclamation marks to help them learn to read the text more easily. Teachers will find it useful to copy and paste text
to their computer¹s paint program to make up worksheets and create written annotations (which can be sent as e-mail messages) or record their own notes in their
own voices with the built-in sound recorder. The on-screen highlighting and printing capabilities allow users to color code and highlight each page in as many different
colors as they wish. They can view the text with their customized highlights and print them out on a color printer. The camera icon on the bottom of the screen is
useful for adding pictures, charts and diagrams, and you can add artwork from your own digital archives as well.

The program also includes charts, diagrams and help sheets for each page of the chapter as well as prepared fill-in quizes that can be printed out (the answers cannot,
however, be typed into the empty line and checked by the program). A Daf Yomi calendar that informs you what part of the Gemara should be studied on the day assigned
to it is also available by clicking an icon on the right-hand side of the screen.

So while making your cheesecake for the holiday, prepare your Talmud study in advance by printing out text, as Jewish law does not permit using a computer on Shavuot.