Ruth Calderon captivated Israel and the Jewish world with her maiden Knesset speech in which she taught a piece of Talmud, and offered a plea that Gemara take a greater role in Israeli civic life. Her book of aggadic analyses furthers this goal by encouraging secular Israelis to look more into texts which animated their ancestors; religious readers who are already familiar with many of these texts will be similarly rewarded for their openness by encountering Calderon’s sensitive and often insightful readings. Yitzchak Blau reviews “Alfa Beta Talmudi” in this week’s Alt+SHIFT.