Join us for a 6-week long JLI course with Rabbi Chaim Cohen!

The Talmud, after the Tanach (Hebrew Bible), is the most foundational work in the Jewish library. Through the ages, thousands of Jewish scholars and sages have written volumes of commentary analyzing the Halachah (Jewish law) and Agaddah (homiletic expositions) that fill its thousands of pages. 

“Diving into the sea of the Talmud” is a quintessentially Jewish experience. For centuries, in Jewish communities across the globe, scholars and laypeople have devoted hours each day to studying the intricacies of the Talmud. The great Talmudic sage Ben Bag Bag said of the Torah, “Turn it over and turn it over again, for everything is in it.” 

The Talmud has shaped Jewish writing, thinking, and living for the past fifteen hundred years. One might argue that much of Jewish culture emerges from the substance—and style—of the Talmud. Echoes of the Talmud’s dialectic argumentation are found in Jewish texts of all genres; discussions between Talmud-conversant Jews often contain the treatise’s characteristic give-and-take. 

Decoding the Talmud: Inside the Story, Substance, and Significance of the Book That Defines Judaism

Here’s a detailed look inside Decoding the Talmud’s six lessons:

Lesson 1: The Jewish People and the Talmud - Why Jewish life orbits a book of law. 

Lesson 2: The Mishnah -The origins, authors, and contents of Judaism’s first legal code.

Lesson 3: Decrypting the Mishnah - How the sages studied, debated, and understood the Mishnah.

Lesson 4: To Create The Talmud - How the sages shaped its structure and substance.

Lesson 5: How the Talmud Thinks - A unique method of logic—and why it matters.

Lesson 6: The Talmud Until Today -Talmudic literature and fifteen centuries of constant study.

The course is free to chai club members and residents of Lansdowne Woods community, you will only pay the costs for textbooks.

All 6 lessons will be on Thursdays from 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm from February 13th - March 27th, 2025. Please note, we will not have class on March 13th due to Purim.

All 6 lessons will be taught via Zoom. Please check your email confirmation for the Zoom.