Sea of the Talmud/ the Talmud (so named because of its depth and expanse)

A wide-ranging Talmudic corpus. A nickname for the Talmudic books containing thousands of pages of Mishnah, Gemara, midrashim, and commentaries, and covering many different subjects.

("I, Moses son of Maimon the Spaniard, built it, and with the waters of the Talmud I drew it, and with the sapphire of the Tosefta I founded it, and with the kohl of Sifra I spread it, and with the gold of the Sifrei I plated it, and with the words of the Geonim I supported it, and like refined silver I purified it, and in the depths of my heart I cast it" — Maimonides, Introduction to the Mishnah; and likewise: "Child of delight, where are your faces appointed? There you will encounter a band of prophets, wise of heart and mighty in strength, craftsmen in the valley of the sea of the Talmud and in the depths of wondrous pilpul" — Malbim, Introduction to Vayikra; and likewise: "He leapt into the great sea of the Talmud and rowed and circled like a wheel, veering this way and that...and delved deeply into pilpul" — H. Hazaz, First Generations, 16; and likewise: "In his daily immersion in the sea of the Talmud, he was once swept off to the shores of page 57 in tractate Berakhot" — H. Be'er, To the Place Where the Wind Goes, 93)

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