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Which blat Gemara (Bavli, Vilna edition) has the largest quantity of Talmudic text or the most complex and difficult to understand concepts?

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I ask because Berachos 32a looks pretty scary. Help with tags also appreciated. – yoel Sep 2 '12 at 22:38
Related: judaism.stackexchange.com/q/2672/1569 – b a Sep 2 '12 at 23:06
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I'm talking Vilna, but good point. @dan I really just mean "this daf would take the longest to read", not "take the longest to chap". – yoel Sep 3 '12 at 0:48
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How do you define "densest" such that it can be measured? – Double AA♦ Sep 3 '12 at 3:19
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Totally different question now, and I'm surprised it was your own edit. I was going to revert it for you till I noticed it was. Concur with @doubleaa. What's your question, exactly? – Seth J Sep 3 '12 at 17:54
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closed as not constructive by yoel, Monica Cellio♦ Sep 3 '12 at 20:41

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1 Answer

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If you're just looking for long talmudic text, there are others in Brakhot with little commentary: See Brakhot 56b, 58.

Difficult sugyas with little Talmudic text and plentiful Tosafot/Rashi are qualitatively longer (and scarier!) than the more aggadic, pshat texts. There are a few in Niddah that make you hold your breath when you first turn the page onto them: See Niddah 10a, 18, 67a.

The longest battle, imho, are the four days studying masekhet kinim.

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An excellent answer! Out of curiosity, what do you mean when you refer to four days spent studying Kinim? Did you mean a different masekhta? Kinim has no gemara in the Bavli (nor Yerushalmi, for that matter), and has only three chapters in the Mishna. Why would it be studied in four days? – Shimon bM Sep 3 '12 at 9:57
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Thanks Shimon. Kinim is embedded in Masekhet Me'ila (it starts on Daf 22). Just look at all of the rishonim and their very different approaches to the text to see what the challenge. The language is difficult, and for those mathematically challenged (certainly myself included), it's ain't no picnic. – Aryeh Sep 3 '12 at 10:08
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Thanks, this is a great answer to a better question than the one I originally asked. – yoel Sep 3 '12 at 16:05

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