"For centuries Jews have studied sacred texts with partners. This practice, known as hevruta, is a classic mode of Jewish scholarly life. Two people sit together and read a text aloud, discuss it, analyze it, relate it to other texts, and share relevant illustrations from their own lives or stories they have heard. When they disagree, they set out their reasons, side by side. The Talmud is sixty-three books' worth of hevruta sessions, conducted over many centuries. Why would a record of arguments become a sacred text, second only to the Bible in importance? Perhaps to show us that truth has multiple faces and is best discovered in conversation with others."