Upcoming Programs – 2019

An exploration of the Samson story, the last 5 chapters of the Book of Judges, and Megillat Ruth as a prelude to the Book of Samuel.

These sessions will include a survey of attitudes towards monarchy and the centralization of human authority in other biblical texts- both narratives and biblical poetry.

Fall 2019.
October: 27 * Note: This class session will have an earlier start time of 9:30am.
November: 3, 10, 17, 24
December: 8, 15, (and possibly 22)

Located at The Spanish & Portuguese Synagogue
2 West 70th Street, New York, 10023

10:00 am - 11:30 am

Price: $200.00

Course Description:
Masechet Ketubot centers on a husband’s financial obligations to his wife after the dissolution of their marriage (upon death or divorce). Several sugyot discusses what happens when a man contests his obligation to pay based on accusations of infidelity or lack of virginity at the time of marriage. Whom did the rabbis believe and what evidence did they require to resolve such claims?

Through careful readings of the gemara and rishonim, we will examine these questions and discuss their relevance in today’s post #metoo era . In the process, we will gain skills in how to read and analyze talmudic texts along with the medieval commentaries.

Syllabus:
Class 1: Introduction to Ketubot: The View of Marriage in the time of Chazal.
Class 2:  Is Ketubah a biblical obligation or a rabbinic enactment?
Classes 3-4:  12b (Mishnah 1:6): Claims of Infidelity
Class 5: 13a (Mishnah 1:7): Claims Regarding Virginity
Classes  6-8: 13a-b (Mishnah 1:8-9): Claims Regarding Sexual History

Required books:
Gemara Tractate Ketubot (with Rashi and Tosafot). Mishnah Ketubot. I will provide other sources as needed.

12:00 pm - 1:30pm

Price: $200.00

10:00 am - 11:30 am

Price: $200.00

This class will focus on studying Talmud a-liba de-hilkheta — for the purpose of halakhic adjudication. The Talmud may be the central text in halakhic literature, but it is not itself a halakhic code.  In order to understand how halakhic rulings emerge from the Talmud text, one must understand the way commentators have struggled with that text, resolving contradictions and filling in gaps, then applying their conclusions to real-life questions.

We will study several sugyot in Masechet Shabbat, tracing the development of the halakhah from the Talmud, through the medieval commentaries and the Shulkhan Arukh, and ending with contemporary applications. Students should have prior experience studying Talmud with traditional commentaries.

9:30 am - 10:30am

Price: $200.00

Course Description:

Massekhet Megillah discusses two main topics: the reading of Megillat Esther and communal Torah reading, interspersing throughout the discussion a broad variety of other topics. By means of close reading techniques and intertextual analysis, we will try to understand how and why the Mishnah redactor has structured the discussion in this way, and what messages regarding Megillah and Torah readings are encoded in the text. Many of the Mishnah’s textual cues point towards the historical background behind the institution of communal reading of Scripture and guide us to a deeper understanding of how Jewish communal life was restructured in the wake of the destruction of the Temple.

Syllabus:

Class 1: Biblical Background and Introduction to Mishnah Megillah – How does the Mishnah’s presentation of the festival of Purim compare to the presentation in the Bible?
Class 2: Chapter 1, Mishnayot 1-3 – Three kinds of communities and their different dates for reading Megillah: how and why?
Class 3: Chapter 1, Mishnayot 4-11 – The “Ein Bein” interlude: its structure and purpose.
Class 4: Chapter 2 – The laws of Megillah reading and their hidden sources.
Class 5: Chapter 3, Mishnayot 1-3: The sanctity of the synagogue.
Class 6: Chapter 3, Mishnayot 4-6: Torah reading and the sanctity of festivals.
Class 7: Chapter 4, Mishnayot 1-3: Torah readers and the nature of communal worship.
Class 8: Chapter 4, Mishnayot 4-10: Torah reading as the foundation of community.

Dates: Nov 11, 18, 25, Dec 2, 9, 16, 23, Jan 6

Required Books:

Mishnah Megillah. I will provide other sources as needed.

Teacher:

Until his recent retirement, Avraham (Avie) Walfish taught Talmud and Jewish Thought at the Herzog College in Alon Shvut, and headed the M.Ed. program in teaching Talmud and Jewish Thought in Michlala College in Jerusalem.  At Yeshiva University he completed his B.A. in philosophy, while studying Talmud with Rav Aharon Lichtenstein and Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveichik. After making aliyah, he received his rabbinic ordination from R. Zalman Nehemiah Goldberg and completed his M.A. and Ph.D. at Hebrew University, writing his dissertation on literary features of Mishnah. He has taught and lectured in many frameworks in Israel and abroad, including Pardes Institute, Bar Ilan University, and Drisha. His extensive publications in different areas of Jewish studies include the Iyun Mishnah website and a recently published commentary on Mishnah Berakhot, Mishnaic Tapestries. In 2005 he was awarded the Prize of the Israeli Minister of Education for creative work in Jewish culture.

Note: This is an online class.  The virtual classroom will be accessible during session times online using video-conferencing software. The course will be conducted as though a typical in-person course with assignments and preparation requirements.

2:00 pm - 3:00 pm

Price: $200.00

Anti-Judeanism and Anti-Judaism:  The Formation of Jewish Identity and the Story of Chanukah

This webinar will consider what Jewish life was like in Judea and in the diaspora during the time of Hasmonean uprising, in the second century BCE, by reading ancient texts about Jewish practices, and exploring Greek attitudes towards the Jews which may have contributed to Jews’ self-understanding. We will conclude by discussing what our sources about Chanukah can tell us about Jewish life during this period, and why Jews living throughout the Greco-Roman world considered the story to be so powerful.

8:00 pm - 9:30 pm

Price: $36.00