Intermediate Talmud: Stories of Tragic Destruction

This Gemara class takes you back in time to the beginning of the common era, as we revisit the narratives and events that ultimately caused the complete collapse of the Second Jewish Commonwealth and tragic destruction of the thriving Judean society which once flourished in Eretz Yisrael, even after the Holy Temple’s destruction by the Roman Empire. Annually commemorated in the saddest Three Weeks of the Jewish calendar (called Bein-Hametzarim), these fascinating yet sobering Talmudic records and reflections are found in Tractate Gittin (57a).

Inspiring remarkable Talmudic tales about Kfar Sachnaya; a righteous, merry municipality that flourished in Eretz Yisrael after the tragic destruction of the Second Beit HaMikdash. Sadly, in the end they too, were brutally massacred by the vicious Roman armies. Be amazed at the heroes’ and villains who come to life off these pages; a simple man’s chastity that transcends the biblical Joseph, a sudden dip in commodities leads to the apprehension and execution of two rapists, and a Sage’s wisdom saves an innocent woman from defamation. You’ll also garner valuable knowledge about the Jewish marriage and the Ketubah. It ends on a stirring note about our loyalty and undying love for Jerusalem!

This class conveys chilling details of the Roman massacre that ensued upon the defeat of the stronghold Judean city Beitar, causing the countryside to literally run red in Jewish blood. We then turn back centuries earlier to a shocking narrative of horrific carnage in Jerusalem wrought by the infamous Babylonian butcher Nevuzradon, during the destruction of the first Beit HaMikdash. Some 252 years after the Prophet Zachariah was tragically murdered by fellow Jews, his boiling blood still bubbled; becoming a pretext for insatiable Babylonian brutality and bloodshed.

The Talmud relates shocking stories about some of the world’s worst anti-Semites and mass murderers who went on to become righteous converts! The chilling details of bloody massacres perpetuated against our ancestors are juxtaposed with historic details about some of the strangest conversions in history, and the Talmudic narratives about the tragic destruction of our noble homeland.

This class continues with further analysis of the meaning behind “the voice of Jacob vs. the hands of Esau”. Then a shocking story about a ship filled with hundreds of beautiful young Jewish girls and boys who chose self-inflicted death rather than lives of coerced-immorality; followed by a haunting tale of a holy woman and her seven sons who chose death over abandonment of their Jewish faith. We’ll delve into the gut-wrenching dilemma of death by choice, and how far one is permitted to go to avoid sinking into the depths of spiritual depravity. These Talmudic narratives of martyrdom and loyalty to faith under the harshest of conditions will inspire even as they touch a very sad cord.

Continuing our investigation into the verse, “Because for your sake we are killed all the time,” which literally speaks about martyrdom out of loyalty to our divinely inspired faith. Now, this offering provides fascinating homiletic insights as we explore three non-literal interpretations: euphemistically applying this to the mitzvah of Brit Milah, expert scholars who demonstrate the laws of ritual slaughter on themselves, and a final illustration demarking the meaning of true devotion to Torah study. The class concludes with shocking findings of mounds of Tefillin in the aftermath of the horrific Roman massacres perpetrated at Beitar. (Gittin 57b - 58a)

This Talmudic tapestry of testimony to the brutal murder and psychological trauma and torture inflicted upon young Jewish children may be the earliest historical record of child abuse by selfishly exposing them to raw sexuality! Study different narratives from different periods of Israel's destruction, masterfully sewn together in Perek HaNizakin, Masechet Gittin pg 58a.

In this class the Talmud tells tragic tales of sexual exploitation and slavery. Chilling incidents of psychosomatic torture, emotional trauma, total loss of dignity and related forms of sexual abuse are conveyed. The concluding narrative illustrates a sin of grave immorality coupled with callous indifference to the emotional and mental damage inflicted upon another, ultimately sealed our fate and triggered the Divine decree to destroy the Temple and catalyze our exile.