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In the Advanced Talmud class at the Conservative Yeshiva, we studied the laws of פריה ורביה (procreation). There's way more material here than I can imagine my readership would be interested in, but there were some interesting tidbits here I am going to share here:
( Zoroastrian fire-priests, Doriana Gray, why not to stay too long in lectures, and seven-month pregnancies that went on a month too long. )
Notes from the Conservative Yeshiva
Be an עַנְווִתָן like Hillel and not a קַפְדָן like Shammai
R. Shmuel Lewis
[On the last day of the Advanced Talmud class, the regular teacher was away, and we were privileged to get a class with the Rosh Yeshiva instead. Most of the Advanced Talmud class was learning לִשְׁמָה, for its own sake. (Admittedly, it was a subject with practical application today (as opposed to in Temple times only), but it was not an area of halacha I am willing to be bound by.) This, however, went beyond that, in a way that will become apparent if you read on. Without wishing to offend my teacher for the majority of the class, I can't help but wish we had had something like this the whole time.
My translation is rather rough here—in places very rough—as we only had a limited amount of time to get through a lot of material, and my חברותה partner, who had better Hebrew than me, was leaving me behind a bit, so that I was left to "backfill" the translation myself. (There were also more sources than we got through at all, but I have covered the main ones here.) If anyone wants to help correct my translations, they would be welcome.]
( Read more... )Notes from Limmud 2006: On Language and Identity—Sugiyot from Massechet Sotah
Wednesday, January 3rd, 2007 01:08 pm( When should one pray in Hebrew, and when can one in the vernacular? The Mishna's examples of which language can be used when suggests a connection between certain prayers, the language one may use for them, and how the speaker should be identifying themselves at that time. )
( Whether the Shema and Amida can be said in the vernacular, and why, and how the post-Talmudic authorities reacted to this. )
( How the meaning of a single letter in the description of the nation-defining moment on Mts Eval and Gerizim leads (eventually) to a description of just how far Joseph let himself get seduced by Potiphar's wife... and what the relevance of this is to the topic under discussion. )
( Whether the Shema and Amida can be said in the vernacular, and why, and how the post-Talmudic authorities reacted to this. )
( How the meaning of a single letter in the description of the nation-defining moment on Mts Eval and Gerizim leads (eventually) to a description of just how far Joseph let himself get seduced by Potiphar's wife... and what the relevance of this is to the topic under discussion. )
