The Woman Bringing the Talmud to South Koreans: 'It Stimulates the Mind'

What drives a woman who does not define herself as religious to bridge the gap between people worldwide and the study of the Talmud?

Bar Sahar, an Israeli with a degree in visual communications design from Holon Institute of Technology (HIT), spoke about this in an especially surprising interview with the journalist Eliezer Hayun from Ynet.

According to her, it all began when she was invited to exhibit in South Korea, where she was astonished to find that the Korean people are familiar with the Jewish Talmud, and many of them study it regularly. She explained, "Almost every mother reads a piece of the Talmud to her children daily, with the aim of developing their minds."

Not Just for South Koreans

The situation Sahar encountered definitely represents a fascinating reality, as in South Korea, the Jewish Talmud is considered one of the most popular books. Sahar says, "The reason for their interest in Judaism is their profound admiration for Jewish wisdom, considering that numerically, Jews are a minority, but they constitute 22% of Nobel Prize winners across various fields."

Koreans, interested in intellectual development, have established numerous alternative schools across the country that offer Jewish Talmud studies outside normal school hours. Even the Korean Ministry of Education recommends studying the Talmud, labeling it a "fruitful and stimulating educational book."

Sahar herself was very surprised by this discovery and decided to advance a special initiative - a website allowing Koreans to familiarize themselves with the Talmud and study it in a user-friendly manner. She named the site "Talmuda," and says she has a partner in its creation – Jimi, a Korean friend who currently helps manage the site.

The website, as Sahar describes, is designed very intriguingly, with great attention to font selection and letter styling. "I tried to match the fonts as closely as possible to the original 19th-century script," she said. "I also added features that allow for moving between different tracts according to topics and interests."

She claims that over time, she finds the site not only suitable for Koreans but also for secular Israelis. As someone who doesn't define herself as religious, Sahar argues she sees the unique beauty in the pages of the Talmud and is very moved by it. "I took it as a mission to share these feelings with more Israelis," she explained, "and I plan to translate the site into additional languages to reach millions more people."