Judaic Studies- Temple Sholom of Ontario

09/01/2022

Tonight's class at 7:30 PM we will continue studying Pirkei Avot beginning in Chapter 3, verse 17, with Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah on the relationship between Torah and the rest of life. And after finishing Chapter 3, we'll see some famous verses at the start of Chapter 4, with Ben Zoma and then Ben Azzai. If we get that far this Thursday, maybe we can skip ahead to Chapter 4, verse 15 and the famous saying of Yannai. In any case, we'll plan what to do in the weeks ahead.
Here's the link to Pirkei Avot in Sefaria, starting at Chapter 3, verse 17:

Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah said: Where there is no Torah, there is no right conduct; where there is no right conduct, there is no Torah. Where there is no wisdom...

08/24/2022

We'll start in Chapter 3 of Pirke Avot
https://www.sefaria.org/Pirkei_Avot.3.14?lang=bi
with the sayings of Rabbi Akiva. (Last week's post has a link to a good article about him.)

Last week we read a saying of Rabbi Ishmael, and his principles of Biblical interpretation were mentioned. Here is a short account of those principles and a bit of explaining what they're about: http://cojs.org/sifra-_the_thirteen_hermeneutical_rules_of_rabbi_ishmael/?fbclid=iwar0cinqgjze1qrjuoql_zjjzwvtkhectolsytyfbzlraighgflpor29l3bo

Greco-Roman Period Rabbi Ishmael, who lived in the first half of the second century, compiled a list of hermeneutical rules which govern the legal interpretation of the Torah. Modern scholars have …

08/24/2022

On Thursday, August 24th, at 7:30 PM on Zoom. We will be continuing with Pirkei Avot, Chapter 3,. Here is a link.
https://www.sefaria.org/Pirkei_Avot.3.4?lang=bi
We will encounter Rabbi Akiva in chapter 3. His life, and his importance, are well described on this website:
https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/rabbi-akiba/

Rabbi Akiba's life, influential on rabbinic judaism, is full of legend and myth.

08/12/2022

We will resume on Thursday, August 18, at 7:30 PM on Zoom. We will be continuing with Pirkei Avot, Chapter 3, verse 4: Here is a link.
https://www.sefaria.org/Pirkei_Avot.3.4?lang=bi
We will encounter Rabbi Akiva in chapter 3. His life, and his importance, are well described on this website:
https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/rabbi-akiba/

Rabbi Akiba's life, influential on rabbinic judaism, is full of legend and myth.

07/31/2022

Please join us next week, Thursday August 4, 7:30 PM on Zoom. We'll conclude Chapter 2 of Pirkei Avot with the oft-quoted sayings of Rabbi Tarfon. Then we'll move on to Chapter 3. where we'll meet, among others, Rabbi Akiva.
Here's a link: https://www.sefaria.org/Pirkei_Avot.2.15?lang=bi
Also, here is the full text from the Talmud of the story of Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Yehoshua, establishing that the law is decided by majority vote, not by invoking miracles: https://acrobat.adobe.com/link/review?uri=urn:aaid:scds:US:3d048902-6841-30cd-b82e-07db2b360464

View this file, and add comments too.

07/10/2022

There will be no class on the July 14th because of the Temple Board meeting.
We will next have class on Thursday evening, July 21, at 7:30 PM on Zoom. We will begin with Pirkei Avot, chapter 1, verse 17.
Judy has commented that when you read chapter 1, verse 18, you may wish to compare the three things on which Shimon ben Gamaliel says the world stands with the three things on which it stands according to Simon the Righteous in chapter 1, verse 3.
In chapter 2, we will briefly meet Rabbi Yehuda ha-Nasi (Rabbi Judah the Prince, who was the organizer and editor of the Mishnah). Then, beginning in verse 8, we'll meet Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakkai and his students.
This is a story that illustrates the historical importance of Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakkai: https://acrobat.adobe.com/link/review?uri=urn:aaid:scds:US:98ef6647-6b2f-3b12-be4e-79ff469bccdd

The Sefaria table of contents for Pirkei Avot: https://www.sefaria.org/Pirkei_Avot?tab=contents ; and, start of chapter 1: https://www.sefaria.org/Pirkei_Avot.1?lang=bi

Moses received the Torah at Sinai and transmitted it to Joshua, Joshua to the elders, and the elders to the prophets, and the prophets to the Men of the Great...

07/07/2022

Tonight, we’ll be continuing with Pirkei Avot. We will start where we left off in Chapter 2, finishing verse 2:8, the last verse that quotes Hillel.
We will also look at the best-known Hillel stories from elsewhere in the Talmud, from Eruvim and Shabbat (attached as a PDF): https://acrobat.adobe.com/link/review?uri=urn:aaid:scds:US:f7a669ed-e7a9-39e8-a931-a67368cace0e

Then we will go back to Chapter I, verse 16, where we meet Rabban Gamaliel, and proceed in order.

This is the Sefaria table of contents for Pirkei Avot: https://www.sefaria.org/Pirkei_Avot?tab=contents ; and, start of chapter 1: https://www.sefaria.org/Pirkei_Avot.1?lang=bi

Please note that if you are using a different printed version of Pirkei Avot, the numbering of verses in Sefaria’s version isn’t necessarily the same, and that printed versions also vary with other printed versions.

Moses received the Torah at Sinai and transmitted it to Joshua, Joshua to the elders, and the elders to the prophets, and the prophets to the Men of the Great...

06/29/2022

Judaic Studies will meet Thursday, June 30th, at 7:30 PM.

We will be discussing Pirkei Avot. We will read all the Hillel and Shammai material together, even though they’re separated in the text. So, we will begin with Sefaria’s Pirkei Avot Chapter 1, verses 12-15, and then jumping to Chapter 2, verses 4-7. Then we’ll go back to verse 16 in Chapter 1 and proceed forward from there. This is the Sefaria version of the entire Pirkei Avot: https://www.sefaria.org/Pirkei_Avot.1.12?lang=bi

Please note that if you are using a different printed version of Pirkei Avot, the numbering of verses in Sefaria’s version isn’t necessarily the same, and that printed versions also vary with other printed versions.

Judy also posted the two most famous Talmudic stories about Hillel and Shammai on the website. She is not sure whether we’ll explicitly look at them in class, but attached is a PDF, just in case we need them. Worth reading, anyway:
https://acrobat.adobe.com/link/review?uri=urn:aaid:scds:US:1d0c22c0-0dba-3f9e-b785-601f48bd23d4

06/21/2022

Judaic Studies will meet Thursday, June 23rd, at 7:30 PM. We will start discussing Pirkei Avot. Here are links to the full text:

In English: Pirkei Avot 1:1 (sefaria.org)

In Spanish: https://acrobat.adobe.com/link/review?uri=urn:aaid:scds:US:7f3040f7-cb64-399f-9c6c-3ed950858708

03/31/2022

Judaic Study class tonight on Birkat Hamazon at 7:30 PM. Zoom link being emailed.
Text from Siddur Lev Shalem:

View this file, and add comments too.

03/15/2022

From Judy: There will be no Judaic Studies on March 17th. We will meet again on March 24, to conclude our study of the writings of Mordecai Kaplan. Meanwhile, to supplement our earlier discussion of Reconstructionism's influence beyond American Conservative Judaism, here are two more examples. One is about Reform, the other about the revival of the oldest functioning synagogue in the Americas in Curaçao.

https://forward.com/fast-forward/483460/simeon-maslin-philadelphia-rabbi-reform-dead-90-obituary/?fbclid=IwAR3ZcB-c3gNe2Gg5LtSGmAsCmMSQ9gOND32zfUmxedSvztvdZ0dcg02zKWY
https://acrobat.adobe.com/link/review?uri=urn:aaid:scds:US:b983c946-9453-314a-84f3-02684156012d

View this file, and add comments too.

02/28/2022

Thursday, March 3rd we will be discussing Mordecai Kaplan's writings: https://acrobat.adobe.com/link/review?uri=urn:aaid:scds:US:80277388-bb11-3543-9985-949eb40de42e

7:30 PM. Zoom links will be mailed.

View this file, and add comments too.