" 
 ::Your section was written to promote the view that Judaism places ensoulment at conception, which reflects in no way the history or the balance of Jewish views. Nefesh as soul is in Schiff, it's not my own translation. No, the Talmud is a primary source, we have to use secondary sources. ""Majority view"" and ""consensus"" are your words, not mine; there doesn't have to be a majority in favor of a different view for the conception view to nonetheless be an extreme minority, as demonstrated without even going through all of one book. –  ⋅  "