For the Spring 2012 Semester the following courses available for immediate registration (classes start the week of January 22):
Monday
Advanced Topics in Gemara
Hakham Isaac S.D. Sassoon
Session 1 – Text Analysis
7:00-7:55 PM
Selected Topics in Gemara. A critical analysis of the Talmudic sugya and close reading in selected medieval and modern commentaries. Prerequisites is facility in Talmudic Aramaic, ability to translate the commentaries of Rashi and Tosafot.
Advanced Topics in Gemara
Hakham Isaac S.D. Sassoon
Session 2 – Discussion
8:00-8:55 PM
Selected Topics in Gemara. Conceptual discussion on the source texts from Session 1 with no skills prerequisites. Translations will be provided.
Tuesday
Intermediate Talmud (Berakhot)
Rabbi Leonard Levy
3:00-4:15PM ET
This course is geared for students who have learned Talmud before and have gained significant familiarity with the flow of Talmudic discussions but have not yet acquired the ability to decode Talmudic discussions with precision and accuracy on their own. Students will acquire the requisite decoding skills through detailed analysis of selected Talmudic texts using a precise method of diagramming the discussion. This method includes an introduction to the revadim (source critical) method of Talmud study, and will also begin to introduce the commentaries of selected rishonim and their approaches to the Talmud.
Students enrolling in this course should have a basic knowledge of Hebrew grammar (particularly the verb binyan structure), at least an intermediate level Hebrew vocabulary (such that a clear majority of the words encountered will be recognized without need to refer to a dictionary), and some familiarity with Talmudic Aramaic, particularly the commonly used technical terms which frame Talmudic discussions. Students are expected to submit diagrams of the texts covered each week.
Introduction to Gemara. Tractate Berakhot
Rabbi Ronald D. Price
6:00 -7:15 PM
Introduction to the Mishnah, the questions put to the Mishnah by the Gemara, technical terms, generations of rabbinic sages and mastery of the language and logic of Rashi. Emphasizing translating Talmudic text and the commentary of Rashi.
History of Modern Jewish Thought
Rabbi Alan Yuter
7:30 -9:00 PM
Readings from Jewish thinkers, with reference to classic and non-Jewish theologians of liberal (Kaplan, Geiger, Fackenheim) and traditional (Heschel, Soloveitchik, Hartman) approaches.
Introduction to Issur v’Heter
Rabbi Richard Wolpoe
7:45-9:15 PM
This course introduces issues of Kashrut with concentration on Bassar b’Chalav and M’lichah. Texts used are Minchat Hinuch, Mishneh Torah, Hochmat Adam and Shulkhan Arukh with commentaries.
Wednesday
Practical Halachah
Rabbi Leonard Levy
7:30-9:00PM ET
This course will cover the first third of Shulhan Arukh Orah Hayyim (Laws of daily ritual from waking up through tzitzit, tefillin, reciting Shema, tefillah, public Torah reading, blessings) with selected paragraphs of the commentary Mishnah Berurah, which serves as a baseline for contemporary Ashkenazi practice. Each week students will be assigned selected sections of Orah Hayyim with Mishnah Berurah to learn and to apply that material to answering specific questions regarding contemporary situations. Students should expect to spend at least three (3) hours each week preparing for this course and are expected to submit their answers each week (by Google docs or email) before the shiur begins. Alternate approaches (e.g. Arukh haShulhan, Yalkut Yoseph, UTJ Panel of Halakhic Inquiry) on selected issues will be noted in class on occasion.
Thursday
Issur v’Heter
Rabbi Alan Yuter
6:00-7:30 PM
This course introduces issues of Kashrut. Special attention is paid to the Tur, Beit Yoseph, Shulkhan Arukh and commentaries, with comparison to Yalkut Yoseph.
The Gospels
Rabbi Alan Yuter
7:30- 9:00 PM
The class investigates the Gospels with Historical/Critical Source Analysis, with special attention paid to the Dead Sea Scrolls, early rabbinic literature and other known archaeological evidence from that time period.
Review for Bechinot – Issur v’Heter – Basar b’Chalav*
Rabbi Richard Wolpoe
7:45-9:15 PM
*This class is open to Final Year Semikhah and Advanced Semikhah students only. Auditing of this class requires approval from the Dean.
**All times are Eastern Time Zone