We started a new tractate yesterday. At a meeting today, I found out that two HUC students in the class of '12 have been doing Daf Yomi since the end of school. That brings the total up to 4 (with others who have done it on and off for other periods during the past two years). I'm excited about these two student. They are both very smart and I will try to convince them to write for this blog.
I've been thinking a lot about why this Daf Yomi movement has taken off. I think if you play your cards right at school it's possible to take plenty of text classes. However, Daf Yomi is a completely different experience. It's the daily grind of Talmud.
I'm struck by a passage in the Hadran prayer (the prayer one says when one finishes a tractate of Talmud). In it we state that we labor (in study) and receive reward. The word labor (amal) is telling. Daf Yomi and other such fixed regimens of study are hard. There's never enough time in the day. Finding 45 minutes a day for anything is nearly impossible. Why make time for essoteric Jewish study?
However, I think there is a deep need for the regimen. That's why I think we're seeing liberal rabbinic students engaging in Daf Yomi study (and other regimented activities like Daniel's Haftarah study). Studying when we have leisure is nice and it may be religious, but it's not religion. Rather it's a vacation from the secular world. Studying when we don't have time, that's sacrifice. And its in the grind that religion is made.
I would be happy to help anyone find a regimen that works for them. I have found it really rewarding.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
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ReplyDeleteAnother plug- I'm delighted to be joining this blog. Alas, being in transit for 30 hours means that I have neglected to begin the next Masechet, I will write about my catch-up efforts, or at least a finding from them, in the next few days. One of the real beauties of this endeavour is diving into a text that really encompasses the entire body of the Jewish tradition up to its own time. When you study Talmud, you're also studying Tanakh, Midrash, and ancient Jewish/Greco-Roman life. G'marrah is a window into so many worlds--after starting, I couldn't imagine a life of Jewish study without it.
ReplyDeleteI was going to ask who this was, but the Canadian spelling of endeavor tipped me off. Welcome to the blog!
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