I thought about doing something different for this blog post. Since I have been doing the same things over and over every day, I thought I would tell you all about the classes I am taking since I have not spoken about them in quite a while.
Talmud-I am learning the Tractate of Bava Kama which deals with damages to people and the compensations for them. We are learning the 8th chapter of the Tracate which is called HaHovel which deals with personal damages in five different categories; damage,pain,medical,employment,embarrassment. The part of the Gemara that we are learning deals with the concept of an eye for an eye and the technicalities of the concept. As like any study of Talmud their is constant back and forth argument about in my opinion pointless issues and specific situations. However, I am learning about the basic structure of Talmud and I am learning about the process that the Rabbis use to debate a case in the Talmud. I enjoy the class and I am excited to continue learning Talmud in the future.
Tanach with Commentators- This is probably one of my favorite classes because of the teacher. Vered is an amazing teacher who just has a passion for teaching. Her source sheets that she prepares for us each class take about 8-10 hours for her to prepare. My chevruta, Joel, and I go through them with so much care because it is an amazing way to learn. We have been learning several of the minor prophets: Amos, Hoshea, and now we are beginning Isaiah. I never really learned the prophets when I was in school, so it is a great way for me to become familiar with the prophets and learn the commentaries that go along with them.
Advanced Midrash- Reb Mordechai teaches us several intense and fascinating Midrashim on the weeks Torah Portion. We have a 5 or 6 person Chevruta where we all take turns reading and translating and help each other understand what the Midrashim are all about. It can sometimes be very difficult to understand what is going on because the text is in both Hebrew or Aramaic and they expect you know a lot more background information then we do. I enjoy this class but find it to be a struggle sometimes depending on the Midrash that we are studying.
Poskim- This is the one opportunity I have to learn with the Rosh Yeshiva, Reb Shmuel. We are learning different Halachic works that deal with the Laws of Tzedakah. It is a class that is focused on the process in which Jewish Law is derived over time. We have learned texts from the 12-15th centuries and we are now getting into 20th century texts that will be able to help us interpret Jewish Law. It is incredible to sit in this class lecture because Reb Shmuel is so brilliant and is so quick to throw a new source at us to help clarify any issue at hand. It is too bad that we only meet once a week for this class.
Pirkei Avot- Their is nothing really to special about the class. We learn several Mishnahs from Pirkei Avot every class period, however the best part of the class is the teacher, Rabbi Goldfarb. He is the Director of the Yeshiva and just an all around funny guy. He is always so fascinated with anything that anyone says about the text we are learning, even if what someone says is completely irrelevant. We like to class this the Goldfarb Comedy Hour because we always leave class with a smile on our faces because of Rabbi Goldfarb. I defiantly go to the class for the Comedy Hour and not the learning.
Halacha Le'Maseh- This class focuses on the practical daily use of Halacha. It is taught by the same teacher that teaches me Talmud. I find this class to be very frustrating because of the multiple levels of knowledge in the class. It ranges from not knowing anything to knowing more then you need to know to not be in the class. I am not entirely sure why I stay in the class, but I also realize that their are plenty things that I don't know about everyday Halacha. The thing that I don't like about the class is that he just reads the text book to us and we don't practice our Hebrew or our understanding of the text. My Rabbi I studied with in High School always told me he would never teach a class like this because he said if he wanted someone to read a rule book they don't need to be taught that. I feel like this is the exact situation. I have second thoughts about this class, but I realize that since it only meets once a week for an hour and a half it really isn't worth dropping.
Contemporary Issues in Halacha- This is an all Nativ class taught by my other favorite teacher and my Nativ Yeshiva advisor, Reb Shlomo. His has the voice of god that I have spoken about several times. He takes a different topic every week and prepares a source sheet and discusses it with us. The topics range from second day Yom Tov, minor fast days, pre-marital sex,homosexuality, kosher cheese, and so on. It is a great class because it goes in-depth on issues that we face everyday. I wish that my classmates would take it more serious and play a more active roll in the discussion instead of messing around on their computers during class. The real reason I think that this class is so good is because of the amount of love that the teacher puts into the source sheets and to helping the students learn about the different topics.
Overall, I really enjoy the classes I take at the Yeshiva. I am glad that I am not taking classes at Hebrew U and not doing Ulpan because the Yeshiv is a once in a lifetime opportunity for someone like me who is passionate about Jewish education. Where else can you go everyday and sit down and learn with people who just want to learn and become more educated about your Jewish heritage and learn from some of the best teachers in the world? I am glad that I decided to be at the Yeshiva for the semester on Nativ.
For Shabbat I have no special plans. I am going to go to shul both days at Shira Chadasha and then eat Friday night dinner at Beit Nativ and Saturday lunch at Rabbi Jerry and Jane Epstein's apartment right near base. It should be a very nice, relaxing, and short Shabbat. After Shabbat, my friend Jayne, who is in Israel for a week for a family Bar Mitzvah, will be coming to Jerusalem and I will get to see her and hang out with her the night which is super exciting.
Shabbat Shalom from Jerusalem!!!
David
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