An index of biblical citations in the Bavli

[rhu]

To help me find ideas for my dvar Torah, I downloaded the entire Talmud Bavli from Mechon Mamre and wrote a Python script to compile an index of biblical citations in the Bavli. This might be useful to others, so here's the link. Edited: Mechon-Mamre has graciously given permission, so you may now forward the link. There's also now a PDF version.

If you are the kind of person who is interested in this sort of thing, I'd love your feedback on how I can make it more useful.

Comments

[magid.livejournal.com]

That's excellent!

I'd add space between each chapters' cites, just for readability, especially given the line length. And for some reason, I find that Hebrew font harder to read than others, but I think I'm in the minority on that one.

[530nm330hz.livejournal.com]

When I make the PDF, I intend to have 3 or 4 columns per page, like a concordance would. I may do a hanging indent, which will help separate them out.

I'm not specifying a Hebrew font on the HTML version, so you're getting whatever your system prefers, which is probably not your best Hebrew font.

[lindalee.livejournal.com]

I know that you & I have been out of touch for a few years, but there's something very comforting in knowing that you are in some ways exactly the same. :-)

[530nm330hz.livejournal.com]

I'll take that as a compliment. :-)

[lindalee.livejournal.com]

It was intended as one. :-)

[cellio]

Oh, most excellent!

I would find blank lines between chapters very helpful. Indentation without blank lines is harder for me to read in reference text like this. (As opposed to reading, say, a novel, where it's not as hard for me because I'm reading every word instead of scanning.)

Narrower lines per your comment to magid would also make it a little easier to use, but multi-column layouts + web browsers don't work, so that's only for the hard copy.

[530nm330hz.livejournal.com]

I've posted the PDF at http://dafcast.net/tanach-bavli.pdf --- of course, to squeeze it all on 14 pages meant sacrificing readability, but it wouldn't be hard for me to make a version which is more generous with whitespace and font size. Even at 32 pages it would be inexpensive to print.

The way the hanging indent works is that the chapter number is the hang, but the actual citations are in a block. I think it worked out pretty well.

[530nm330hz.livejournal.com]

I created a somewhat larger-print (i.e., 12pt type and more generous whitespace) version: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/5106357/tanach-bavli-3.pdf

[cellio]

Thank you! This works better for me and is small enough that printing it is no big deal.

The hanging indent (on either version) makes for much easier navigation for me than your original version -- thanks!