Content from Introduction to the Talmud
Last updated on 2024-05-10 | Edit this page
Estimated time: 60 minutes
Overview
Questions
- TO DO
Objectives
- Describe the structure of the Talmud, including how the follow terms relate to one another: Bavli, Yerushalmi, seder (order), masechta (volume), daf (page), mishnah, gemara.
- Describe the historical development of the Talmud from c. 200 - 500 CE.
- Identify some basic assumptions of the Talmudic sages.
- Discuss the role the Talmud has played in the development of Jewish practice.
Introduction
TODO
Discussion
TODO
Callout
TODO
Key Points
TODO
Content from Asking Questions
Last updated on 2024-05-10 | Edit this page
Estimated time: 60 minutes
Overview
Questions
- TODO
Objectives
- Recognize that the terse statements of a Torah verse or Mishnah leave many questions left unanswered.
- Identify what questions a particular piece of Talmud is asking.
Last week, we discussed how the Talmud developed to fill a percieved gap between the Written Torah (or the five books of Moses) and the specifics of daily practice. It saw itself as a comprehensive guide to interpreting the instructions of the Written Torah, so that individuals would know how to perform each of the commandments correctly. The verses of the Torah themselves didn’t have enough detail for people to know how to keep the commandments, and the Mishnah provided that detail. Later sages applied the same process to the Mishnah itself, which again doesn’t have all of the details that might be needed to interpret the correct action. The additional detail that those sages added became a major component of the Gemara.
This week we will examine the process of “adding details” to a terse statement. We will start by examining a Torah verse that provides the basis for the modern Jewish practice of mezuzah, and will discuss how it has come to be interpreted and practiced today. We will then examine a Torah verse that provides the basis for reciting the Shema, and engage in an intensive round of “asking questions” about the text to try to identify where details could be missing. Lastly, we will examine a short mishnah and its accompanying gemara to identify some of the questions the sages ask about the mishnah.
Mezuzah
First we will discuss Deuteronomy 6:9, which says:
And you shall write [these words] upon the doorposts of your house and upon your gateways.
In modern Judaism this is practiced through the use of mezuzot (singular mezuzah). How do we practice mezuzah today?
Points that might arise during discussion include:
- Modern practice is to attach a mezuzah (a scroll containing the verses of the Shema) to doorposts of buildings owned by a Jewish person.
- Custom is to tilt the mezuzah at an angle. People might know that this reflects a debate about whether it should be horizontal or vertical.
- Modern practice is to have a mezuzah on both external and internal doors (except bathrooms and closets). (Medieval French communities only external doors - find source? Is this more generalizable?)
- Most mezuzah cases have a stylized shin or the letters shin-dalet-hey.
- Mezuzah cases can be made out of lots of different materials and are often highly ornate.
- People might point out that we don’t literally write on the doorposts itself, but on something that we attach to the doorposts.
- A custom exists of touching mezuzah and kissing fingertips when passing through a door.
Generate Questions
Read the Torah verse below.
And these words which I command you today . . .you shall discuss them . . . when you lie down and when you rise. (Deuteronomy 6:6-7)
This verse is generally understood to mean that a person is obligated to recite the words of the Shema at nighttime and in the morning. What questions are left unanswered? If you had no other information than that given here and believed there was a right and necessary way to do this, what questions would you need to ask?
Do not try to answer your questions! As you come up with questions, it may be useful to consider “who?”, “what?”, “when?”, “where?”, “why?”, and “how?”
Some possible questions learners may come up with include the following:
- What exactly are these words that need to be recited?
- Does “when you lie down” and “when you rise” refer literally to when an individual goes to bed and gets up? Or in general when people lie down or get up?
- Do I have to say “these words” in the original language they were given (Hebrew) or can I say them in a language I understand? If I don’t understand Hebrew, do I have to say them in a language I understand?
- What if I lie down and get up multiple times per day?
- What if I work the night shift?
- Do I have to say “these words” out loud? If so, does it have to be audible to myself or to other people?
- What if I get interupted in the middle of saying “these words”?
Learners may have difficulty starting the process of coming up with questions. As needed, give an example or two from the list provided in the solution box to kick-start the thinking process.
Content from Diversity of Halachic Opinions in Antiquity
Last updated on 2024-05-10 | Edit this page
Estimated time: 0 minutes
Overview
Questions
- TODO
Objectives
- TODO
The Mishnah’s origin story (add stuff about opening chapter of Pirkei Avot) presents itself as having been transmitted orally in an unbroken chain from Moses to the “Men of the Great Assembly”. However, even the Mishnah includes disagreements between sages in what was transmitted. In the Gemara, the Sages discuss some of these disagreements, introduce alternative sources (baraitot), and ask additional questions beyond those assumed by the Mishnah.
Content from Impact of Talmudic Debates on Modern Practice
Last updated on 2024-05-07 | Edit this page
Estimated time: 0 minutes
Overview
Questions
- TODO
Objectives
- TODO
Content from Argumentation
Last updated on 2024-05-07 | Edit this page
Estimated time: 0 minutes
Overview
Questions
- TODO
Objectives
- TODO
Content from Go And Learn
Last updated on 2024-05-07 | Edit this page
Estimated time: 0 minutes
Overview
Questions
- TODO
Objectives
- TODO