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National College Credit Recommendation Service

Board of Regents  |  University of the State of New York

Maalot Educational Network | Evaluated Learning Experience

Talmud Survey: Bava Metzia (TAL217)

Length: 

Classroom: 78 hours (13 weeks); Distance/Hybrid: Varies. 

Location: 
Traditional classroom-based offered at Maalot, Jerusalem, and other authorized locations. Distance learning and hybrid options available.
Dates: 

September 2020 - Present.

Instructional delivery format: 
Traditional classroom model
Online/distance learning
Learner Outcomes: 

Upon successful completion of the course, students will be able to: dissect and explain classic Gemara structure; define concepts of Tractate Bava Metzia*; identify the nature of a text, e.g., legal or supra-legal, identify primary and supplemental material through analysis of the Talmudic discussion; find the axiological concepts around which the discussion revolves through analysis of its structure; define and apply the concepts of Talmudic research; decipher Talmudic texts and their cryptic dialog; reconstruct the give-and-take that is the backbone of independent Talmud study. In contradistinction to study-in-depth courses, the focus of the Talmudic survey courses is broad, comprehensive study, which enables Talmudic students to access the concepts necessary to be conversant in a variety of areas of Talmudic discipline.

Instruction: 

Major topics include objects, yiush shelo mida-at, an item that the owners can rescue with huge exertion, an object lost to a river, identifying marks, how to recognize when the owner has given up hope, returning an object based on the owner’s eyesight, the areas where one is permitted to lie, when an object is considered irretrievably lost, beyond the letter of the law, finding a slaughtered animal, items placed deliberately, when one finds money, when one should not pick up a lost object, an object found in the trash, a coin that certainly belongs to one of two or three people, the sins of stealing a lost object, a lost object found in a store, an object worth less than a prutah, announcing finding a lost object, treatment of lost animals, status of one guarding a lost object, treatment of lost items, the prohibition against cruelty to animals, property confiscated to pay off a debt, a borrower who rented out the item, with permission, a guard who gave the item he was guarding to a different guard, without permission, negligence that led to the animal escaping, and going into the marshland and dying. Topics and sources may vary.  The course allows for a cross-section of different texts, giving the student a broad range of topics to which to apply numerous research techniques. Methods of instruction include lecture, discussion and textual preparations. Prerequisite: Introductory courses in Talmud, fundamental familiarity with the main topics of the tractate.

Credit recommendation: 

In the lower division baccalaureate/associate degree category OR in the upper division baccalaureate degree category, 6 semester hours in Talmud, Judaic Studies, Religious Studies or Theology (3/21).

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