Beit Midrash Winter 2010 - Seder Moed

This week's class will be taught by Jaclyn Rubin, and it is entitled, “When is a Wall Really a Wall?”

In both Eiruvin and Sukkah, the Rabbis learn that a wall, to be classified as a wall, must be at least 10 tefahim high (about 3 feet). As we examine this requirement, we will think about the connection between humans and God and the gap between heaven and earth. Along the way, we will talk about empty space, sukkot, the Temple, and cherubim. Find out what they all have to do with each other, and when a wall is really a wall.

Jaclyn Rubin graduated from Barnard and the Jewish Theological Seminary with B.A.’s in English and Talmud, respectively. Jaclyn holds an M.A. in Talmud from the Jewish Theological Seminary, and completed a year in the Drisha Scholar's Circle. A fellow in the first summer of Yeshivat Hadar, she is now learning there full time.

This week's class will be taught by Shmuel Kadosh, and it is entitled, “Fooling God: Legal Fictions in Jewish Law”
Jewish law is replete with haramot, mechanisms to avoid the consequences of another law.  Selling hametz on Pesah and the heter iska (which circumvents the prohibition of charging another Jew interest) are just two mechanims that Jews utilize every year. At first glance, the use of such mechanisms seems bizarre.  Why does Jewish law allow you to cheat and avoid the consequences of a specific commandment?   In the class, we will discuss the range of legal fictions utilized in Jewish law, and examine their limits.  We will also address the underlying theological difficulty presented by haramot – What does it mean to ‘fool God’ through the use of legal mechanisms?

Shmuel Kadosh currently works as an Assistant Attorney General in the Investor Protection Bureau at the New York State Attorney General's office. He graduated in 2008 from New York University School of Law, where he was an editor on the Law Review.  Shmuel has taught before at Hadar, both at the Beit Midrash and summer Yeshiva.  He is excited to return once again to study with this wonderful community.

Join us this Monday evening, March 8 at 6:30 p.m. at Yeshivat Hadar for a Community Dinner, followed by a class taught by Ram Avital Hochstein.  Dinner will be Indian food and beer, for a cost of $10 including the class. Dinner will begin at 6:30 p.m., followed by the class at 7:30 p.m. RSVPs are required for the dinner. To sign up for dinner, please email Sydney Levine sydney.levine@gmail.com by midnight on Sunday March 7.
This week's class will be taught by Avital Hochstein and it is entitled, “Can Liberty and Poverty Coexist?: A Look at Mishnah Pesahim”
We will look at the first mishnah in the tenth chapter of Pesahim. This mishnah describes a few preparations and initial rules regarding the Seder. We will ask about their fundamental aspects in general, and the roles of poverty on the one hand and freedom on the other, following how the relationship between the two plays out.
 
Avital Campbell Hochstein is rosh yeshiva at Mechon Hadar and teaches Talmud at Yeshivat Hadar. She is the former rosh kollel at the Pardes Institute. A research fellow at Mechon Shalom Hartman, she has taught Talmud for several years at both institutions and was rosh beit midrash at the new Hartman High School for Girls. She is the co-author of The Place of Women in Midrash (Yedioth Ahronoth 2008). Avital is also a founder of Kehilat Shirah Hadashah in Jerusalem.