Textual Audacity: Talmud for the Progressive Soul

What is this class about and who is it for?

Each class will be a deep dive into one Talmudic text on a topic relevant to Jews engaged with the Left. We’ll use some supplemental materials to inform our reading, but the core of our study will be the Talmud and its commentaries. Everyone is welcome, but the target audience is Jewish people seeking spiritual nourishment as we engage in the work of building a better world, whatever that looks like for you!

What will happen in this class?

The class time will be split between chavruta (paired independent study, with guidance from me) and full-group discussion. My goal is for the full-group discussion to feel exciting, stimulating, and accessible to people with a wide range of previous Talmud experience, whether this is your first time encountering the Talmud or you learn Gemara regularly. I will strive to match chavrutot based on your learning needs and goals, particularly around preferring to learn in the original language or in translation. Consider inviting a friend who you might like to be your chavruta! 

Do I need to come to every session?

This class is structured such that each class relates to the others, but they are not in a particular sequence! This means that you can come to all of them, or any that appeal based on the topic or that fit in your schedule. 

Logistical deets:

Classes will take place from 7-8 pm on Tuesday evenings in August: August 5th, 12th, 19th, and 26th. I am offering this class on a sliding scale, asking for $18-$36 per class (if you know you’re coming to all of them, that is $72-$144).

The class will be held at an outdoor location in Adams Morgan, with a nearby indoor location as a rain or heat alternative. For classes held indoors, masks will be required. Location will be given upon registration!

How do I register?

Fill out this form, and then use this payment link!

Class descriptions:

Class 1: Can The Beit Midrash Teach Us How To Be?

Looking at stories about Beruriah, a quasi-rabbi woman in the Talmud, we will ask how Torah study as a practice has the potential to impact how we live communally and how we build a better world. 

Class 2: Is it Kosher? Eating Practices as a Study in Building Coalition Across Difference 

We will examine rabbinic narratives of “trustworthiness” around sharing food as a way to examine what kinds of difference are healthy – or tolerable – in movement-building and what lines should be drawn around political alignment. 

Class 3: The Role of Pleasure

We will turn to the capitalist co-optation of “self-care” and the role of pleasure and joy in world-changing work, using texts about personal delight on Jewish holidays. 

Class 4: Strategic Anger

In this session, we will study a text about the expression of anger as a means for world-changing and think about bringing our emotions into our organizing skillfully.