Dear Holy Students of Torah,
Welcome to Talmud 101 at PRS. My name is Rabbi Dr. Eric L. Wasser and I am truly excited to journey with you through a number of sections of Jewish texts, as we together investigate how Talmudic literature uniquely functions simultaneously in the realms of law, interpretation, education, philosophy, and theology.
Our textbook for the course will be Halakhah: The Rabbinic Idea of Law by Chaim Saimon (2018, Princeton University Press). Each week you will be responsible for reviewing and discussing one chapter of the book. I will offer through our Slack questions pertaining to the main ideas of each specific chapter.
In addition, and perhaps more importantly, we will be analyzing other texts that I have chosen through the lens of Saimon’s textbook. Of course, fluency and understanding of these supplementary texts are part of our course requirements.
I look forward to meeting you and engaging in the Mitzvah of Talmud Torah!
B’Shalom,
Rabbi Eric L Wasser, EdD.
PS: you can learn more about Dr. Wasser from his dissertation below. You can also see more of Dr. Wasser at his congregation.
https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/4a7c/bb32446bef1ae92634d626755e6e1540897f.pdf
Course Format
This course will be moderated on Slack and will also include 4 live sessions in the Zoom classroom.
Course Objectives
e following dappim (plural for daf):
1) Menachot 44b: Tzitzit and the Prostitute: Saimon Intro Chapter
2) Sanhedrin 68b: The Rebellious Son: Saimon Chapter One
3) Baba Metzia 59b: The Oven of Achnai: Saimon Chapter Two
4) Berachot 6a, 48b,60a: Blessings/Prayers Saimon Chapter Three
5) Berachot 26b: Tefillot Avoth Tiknum: Saimon Chapter Four
6) Makkot 24b: Core Concepts Saimon Chapter Five
7) Ketuboth 17a/Menachot 29a: Saimon Chapter Six
8) Menachot 99b: Time for Action Saimon Chapter Seven
9) Baba Metzia 92: Food for Thought Saimon Chapter Eight
Assignments
Every week, please watch the lecture and read the chapters. Please provide written answers to the questions posted in each week’s unit. Email the written answers to ewasser@jewishpluralism.org.
The week’s work is due Sundays at 5 PM Eastern. This is a firm deadline.
I will post occasional questions and comments in the #talmud Slack channel. Please respond to them! This will count for participation.
Here are all the questions for the entire course in one document.
About Your Instructor
Ratings and Reviews
Jose TafurExcellent classes Thanks
Kitty HoffmanThe general orientation, and required text, were interesting. The weekly assignments were labour-intensive but simplistic, more suited to high-school. No Slack; no feedback on the weekly assignments until the last week of classes; final class replaced a month after end of term by two online sessions, only one was recorded. Disappointing, because the instructor has much to offer and loves Talmud.
One person found this helpful.
The class was fine, but there was very little interaction. We did not hear from the instructor for most of the quarter, there was no engagement on Slack. The homework was tedious and was geared less towards teaching talmudic thinking than employing grade-school-level study skills to skim a text and parrot the author's words. Not what I was expecting from a Talmud class in rabbinical school.