For more than three years, Rabbi Yehoshua B. Gordon has been teaching the world’s largest daily Torah study class. And he’s not letting up.
The California-based director of Chabad-Lubavitch of the Valley is tackling the monumental digest of Jewish law known as the Mishneh Torah, committing to teaching one chapter a day from the landmark work authored by Maimonides, known in religious circles as the Rambam. The classes, which can be viewed online from the Chabad.org multimedia portal Jewish.TV, will take three years to complete.
“This is of course a major undertaking,” says Gordon, whose classes on the weekly Torah portion and the foundational work of Chasidic thought known as the Tanya have earned a following of thousands of students across the globe. “But I feel it’s a wonderful opportunity to promote the learning of Rambam on a daily basis.”
The project officially began two weeks ago, when Jewish communities throughout the world celebrated the close of the nearly three-year cycle of daily study of the Mishneh Torah, and the beginning of the next.
In 1984, when the Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory, first called for the near-annual study of the 12th century legal code, he stressed the unity achieved by the entire Jewish People studying the same subject in Torah at the same time. He suggested three different study tracks for all Jews, everywhere: A three-chapter-a-day cycle that completes the 14-volume code in just less than a year, a one-chapter cycle that completes the work in just less than three years, and for children and those whose backgrounds preclude rigorous in-depth study, a daily examination of the pertinent topics in Sefer Hamitzvot, a companion work of Maimonides’ that lists all of the 613 commandments in the Torah.
(To join a study cycle and for more information about the various study opportunities available, click here.)
The last dozen or so lessons in the one-chapter cycle have focused on Maimonides’ lengthy introduction. In-depth study begins in earnest on Thursday, with the first chapter of the Mishneh Torah’s section on the foundations of Jewish belief.
Chabad.org has made Gordon’s class compatible for iPads, iPhones and iPods so that users can listen on the go. To date, more than 542,000 visitors have joined his daily Torah portion and Tanya class on Jewish.TV.
“I find that the Mishneh Torah, due to the Rambam’s style and clarity, is something that is attractive to people of all walks of life, both by those with a solid Jewish background and those just beginning to study,” states Gordon. “If I can bring out this love of Judaism in just one person, this project will be worth it. How much more so, many people?”
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