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Lectures on Talmudic Concepts

Medicine from the Talmud
Audio | 45:48
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Medicine from the Talmud
This class attempts to reconcile how the medical advice and remedies mentioned in the Talmud are eternal – like all of Torah – if much of it doesn’t apply to us today.
Chassidic Insights on the Talmud
Inspirational Explanations on Gemara
Chassidic interpretations of selected teachings of tractate Brachot from the Talmud, which provides new levels of understanding to the text.
Shylock
Video | 35:03
Shylock
A Talmudic Perspective
An introduction to Talmudic study by way of analyzing how Jewish law would handle the scenario contrived by Shakespeare in The Merchant of Venice.
Interpreting Talmudic Debate
How the Sages Derived Torah Law
An explanation of how the Talmud operates and how halachic decisions are derived from the debates of the Sages. Presented by Dr. Kenneth M. Ehrenberg, Professor of Philosophy, University of Buffalo. Recorded at Chabad of Oxford University.
Exemptions of Women in Jewish Law
Gender Differences in Halacha
An examination of the Jewish legal axiom that exempts women from positive time-bound commandments. Presented by Freida Brackman, Co-Director of Chabad of Oxford. Recorded at Chabad of Oxford University.
Is There One Right Answer?
Resolving matters of halachic dispute
Is the Torah’s process for determining halachah an attempt to arrive at the one true answer, or are there multiple truths?
Transitivity and the Talmud
The Economics of Inconsistency
The "transitive property" states that whenever A > B and B > C, then A > C. Does Jewish law always uphold "transitivity" or does it allow for a "nontransitive cycles" as well?
Unintentional Transgression in Jewish Law
A Talmudic Discussion of the Parameters of Intent
An intellectually stimulating analysis of the Talmudic principal of exemption in cases of unintentional transgression (“davar she’eino mitkavein”). Rabbi Wallberg explores the parameters of this principle vis-à-vis the qualifying rule of inevitability (“p’sik reisha”).
Hillel’s Golden Rule
An Interpretation of Rashi’s View
Hillel famously said "That which is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow. That is the whole Torah." While most understand this to refer to the relationship between man and man, Rashi interpreted it to refer to the relationship between man and G-d.
Intention and
In a discussion ranging across the Talmud, medieval and modern commentators have struggled to understand the rationale governing action, intention and culpability.
The Value of a Debt
Video | 36:54
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The Value of a Debt
Analyses of Talmud Tractate Kiddushin
What is the real value of a promissory note? What happens if one hands over an IOU in order to effect a kiddushin (betrothal) transaction? Is the transfer of a debt equivalent to the transfer of funds for this purpose? What about for a pidyon haben (redeeming the firstborn)?
Studies in Tractate Pesachim
Video | 59:26
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Studies in Tractate Pesachim
Talmudic Interpretations of the Destruction of Chametz
A scholarly analysis of the Talmud's definition of the destruction of chametz before Pesach. Based on Pesachim 4b and the commentaries of Rashi and Tosafos.
Chanukah and the Nature of Rabbinical Commandments
Analyzing the Talmudic Source for Chanukah
How rabbinical commandments -- like lighting the Chanukah menorah -- derive their power from the Biblical injunction (Deuteronomy 17:11) "According to the law they [the Sages] instruct you... you shall not divert... either right or left."
The Talmud on Lighting the Chanukah Menorah
Learn the text of the Gemara and its nuanced reasoning