March 25, 2012

סיום מסכת בבא מציעא | Siyum masekhet Bava Metzia [tractate completion]

New at Alma [Home for Hebrew Culture, in Tel Aviv]! Daf Yomi [daily Talmud folio study group] with Kobi Oz... Your daily or occasional participation would delight us... Sundays through Fridays, from 9am to 10am... At times, Alma lecturers join us. [No fee]

Our Daf Yomi group has been engaging in a dynamic and spirited text inquiry since spring 2011 as we follow the seven-and-a-half-year cycle studying the oral Torah and its commentaries, in which each of the 2,711 pages of the Babylonian Talmud is covered, in order. We are a mix of secular and religiously observant Israeli men and women who share wide-ranging knowledge of Talmud, Torah, Jewish history, and rabbinic law; anthropology; education; computer science; music, management; culinary arts, community organizing; and Israel's geography, ancient and modern history, agriculture, and customs. And more.

At our recent Siyum [completion] of Bava Metzia (the second of three Talmud tractates, or sections, on damages), we celebrated with strong drink and sweets while reading the tractate's closing verses, and the opening verses of Bava Batra (the third tractate). We concluded this traditional siyum with the special Rabbinical Kaddish prayer for rabbis, scholars, and their disciples on completing a unit of study —  a significant accomplishment and a milestone.

Watch the slide show (1:15 minutes).



For more information about the group and to ask questions (in English and Hebrew), visit our Facebook Page דף גמרא יומי נינוח במרכז תל אביב. You can also join the group's page (Hebrew).

Alma Home for Hebrew Culture
Bezalel Yafe 4
Tel Aviv-Yafo
Tel. (03) 5663031

March 15, 2012

Hebrew Lesson: ‏‪כדרכו בקודש [ke-darko ba-kodesh, following his usual style]

Ruth reads The New Dictionary (Even-Shoshan) on ‏‪ke-darko ba-kodesh
A casual phrase in an email that Rabbi Dr. Michael Berger sent me triggered a lesson in Hebrew, Aramaic, and the wisdom of scholars and scholar-friends.‬

Watch the video (5:27 minutes), in Hebrew and bits of Aramaic and English.