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National College Credit Recommendation Service

Board of Regents  |  University of the State of New York

Talmud Courses - Maalot Educational Network

Descriptions and credit recommendations for all evaluated learning experiences

Length:

Classroom: 104 hours (13 weeks); Distance/Hybrid: Varies. 

Dates:

September 2020 - Present. 

Objectives:

Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to: describe and analyze Talmudic disputes in Bava Basra; demonstrate mastery of the intricate and detailed arguments of the Talmudic glosses and a wide range of commentaries; distill the various opinions that constitute the legal discussion; and appraise the relationship between them and conceptualize the abstract principles at the core of the discussion.

Instruction:

Major topics taught in this course include: Chazaka, shor hamuad, self-interested witnesses, machzik, amount of time needed to establish ownership, intentionally false witnesses, and migu. Topics and sources may vary. Methods of instruction include lecture, discussion and textual preparations. Prerequisite: Three previous Talmud courses, basic familiarity with the topics dealt with in the Tractate.

Credit recommendation:

In the upper division baccalaureate degree category, 8 semester hours in Talmud, Judaic Studies, Religious Studies or Theology (3/21). 

Length:

Classroom: 104 hours (13 weeks); Distance/Hybrid: Varies. 

Dates:

September 2020 - Present.

Objectives:

Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to: describe and analyze Talmudic disputes in Bava Kama; demonstrate mastery of the intricate and detailed arguments of the Talmudic glosses and a wide range of commentaries; distill the various opinions that constitute the legal discussion; and appraise the relationship between them and conceptualize the abstract principles at the core of the discussion.

Instruction:

Major topics include payment for theft, double payment, merubah, land theft, false oaths, effects of changes on repayment of stolen objects, repayment for a broken object, comparing stolen objects and lost objects, and yiush. Topics and sources may vary.  Methods of instruction include lecture, discussion and textual preparations. Prerequisite: Three previous Talmud courses, basic familiarity with the topics dealt with in the Tractate.

Credit recommendation:

In the upper division baccalaureate degree category, 8 semester hours in Talmud, Judaic Studies, Religious Studies or Theology (3/21). 

Length:

Classroom: 104 hours (13 weeks ); Distance/Hybrid: Varies. 

Dates:

September 2020 - Present.

Objectives:

Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to describe and analyze Talmudic disputes in Bava Metzia; demonstrate mastery of the intricate and detailed arguments of the Talmudic glosses and a wide range of commentaries; distill the various opinions that constitute the legal discussion; and appraise the relationship between them and conceptualize the abstract principles at the core of the discussion.

Instruction:

Major topics include: oaths, uncertainty, one witness, when we know there is a liar, modeh bemiktzos, return of a lost object, migu, heilech, who cannot take an oath, false claims, delayed protest, when one party seized the object, tokfo Kohen, and two who are holding onto a document. Topics and sources may vary. Methods of instruction include lecture, discussion and textual preparations. Prerequisite: Three previous Talmud courses, basic familiarity with the topics dealt with in the Tractate.

Credit recommendation:

In the upper division baccalaureate degree category, 8 semester hours in Talmud, Judaic Studies, Religious Studies or Theology (3/21).

Length:

Classroom: 104 hours (13 weeks); Distance/Hybrid: Varies. 

Dates:

September 2020 - Present.

Objectives:

Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to: describe and analyze Talmudic disputes in Gitti; demonstrate mastery of the intricate and detailed arguments of the Talmudic glosses and a wide range of commentaries; distill various opinions that constitute the legal discussion; and appraise the relationship between them and conceptualize the abstract principles at the core of the discussion.

Instruction:

Major topics include languages of gittin and shtarot, migu, Medians HaYam, messenger of mishnah, borders of Eretz Yisrael, holiness of Eretz Yisrael, bringing a Get to Eretz Yisrael, arguments of beis din on behalf of others, arguments of the husband, verifying documents, Rabbah and Ravah’s argument, not fluent in Gittin, brought by two messengers, rules of one witness, martial matters require two witnesses, the fact that they could have caused it, witnesses of support and validation, power of signed witnesses, language of “Before me,” Rabbi Meir and Rabbi Elazar’s disagreement, a Get without a date, a Get connected to the ground, signed witnesses according to Rabbi Elazar, witnesses of delivery according to Rabbi Meir, land surrounded by Eretz Yisrael, delivering gittin inside Eretz Yisrael, a messenger who became invalid, a mute messenger, delivering gittin in our times, a witness becoming a judge, when “Before me” was omitted, and a blind messenger. Topics and sources may vary. Methods of instruction include lecture, discussion and textual preparations. Prerequisite: Three previous Talmud courses, basic familiarity with the topics dealt with in the Tractate.

Credit recommendation:

In the upper division baccalaureate degree category, 8 semester hours in Talmud, Judaic Studies, Religious Studies or Theology (3/21). 

Length:

Classroom: 104 hours (13 weeks); Distance/Hybrid: Varies. 

Dates:

September 2020 - Present.

Objectives:

Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to: describe and analyze Talmudic disputes in Kesuvos; demonstrate mastery of the intricate and detailed arguments of the Talmudic glosses and a wide range of commentaries; distill the various opinions that constitute the legal discussion:  and appraise the relationship between them and conceptualize the abstract principles at the core of the discussion.

Instruction:

Major topics include Sfeik sfeikah, a widow’s marriage, Ezra’s takanah, delays due to illness, niddah, a forced get, conditions of gittin, oness, tznuos and prutzos, marriage on Shabbos, the takanah of shakdu, better to be killed than transgress, karka olam, a time of shmad, prutzos and Cohanos, laws of mourning, deaths of various relatives, gollel and dofek, misasek, and destructive acts. Topics and sources may vary. Methods of instruction include lecture, discussion and textual preparations. Prerequisite: Three previous Talmud courses, basic familiarity with the topics dealt with in the Tractate.

Credit recommendation:

In the upper division baccalaureate degree category, 8 semester hours in Talmud, Judaic Studies, Religious Studies or Theology (3/21).

Length:

Classroom: 104 hours (13 weeks); Distance/Hybrid: Varies. 

Dates:

September 2020 - Present.

Objectives:

Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to: describe and analyze Talmudic disputes in Kiddushin; demonstrate mastery of the intricate and detailed arguments of the Talmudic glosses and a wide range of commentaries; distill the various opinions that constitute the legal discussion;  and appraise the relationship between them and conceptualize the abstract principles at the core of the discussion.

Instruction:

Major topics include conditions and differences of a sale, how kiddushin work, the effect of becoming forbidden to others, differences between kiddushin/nisuin/yibum, chalitza, definitions of money and monetary equivalents, effect of husband’s death on wife’s status, halachic status of sefichim, chalipin, father’s privileges, leaving her father’s possession, eilonit, and sefer kraisus. Topics and sources may vary. Methods of instruction include lecture, discussion and textual preparations. Prerequisite: Three previous Talmud courses, basic familiarity with the topics dealt with in the Tractate.

Credit recommendation:

In the upper division baccalaureate degree category, 8 semester hours in Talmud, Judaic Studies, Religious Studies or Theology (3/21).

Length:

Classroom: 104 hours (13 weeks); Distance/Hybrid: Varies.

Dates:

September 2020 - Present. 

Objectives:

Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to: describe and analyze Talmudic disputes in Makkos: demonstrate mastery of the intricate and detailed arguments of the Talmudic glosses and a wide range of commentaries; distill the various opinions that constitute the legal discussion: and appraise the relationship between them and conceptualize the abstract principles at the core of the discussion.

Instruction:

Major include conspiring witnesses, difference between chalalus and mamzerus, the death sentence for conspiring witnesses, other punishments, effects of confession by conspiring witnesses, when the false testimony turned out to be true, shmittah and the annulment of debts, pruzbul, muzzling animals while they work, and punishment for transgressions that don’t involve physical action. Topics and sources may vary. Methods of instruction include lecture, discussion and textual preparations. Prerequisite: Three previous Talmud courses, basic familiarity with the topics dealt with in the Tractate.

Credit recommendation:

In the upper division baccalaureate degree category, 8 semester hours in Talmud, Judaic Studies, Religious Studies or Theology (3/21).

Length:

Classroom: 104 hours (13 weeks); Distance/Hybrid: Varies. 

Dates:

September 2020 - Present.

Objectives:

Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to: describe and analyze Talmudic disputes in Sukkah; demonstrate mastery of the intricate and detailed arguments of the Talmudic glosses and a wide range of commentaries; distill the various opinions that constitute the legal discussion; and appraise the relationship between them and conceptualize the abstract principles at the core of the discussion.

Instruction:

Major topics include:  measurements of a sukkah—minimum and maximum, laws of schach, purpose of a sukkah, bitul, hanging decorations, bent sukkah walls, a platform inside a sukkah, hollowing out a sukkah, gud askik, a pit inside a sukkah, the tzitz—its writing, measurements, and placement, kdei achilas pras, laws of nazir, tzuras hapesach, and lavud. Topics and sources may vary. Methods of instruction include lecture, discussion and textual preparations. Prerequisite: Three previous Talmud courses, basic familiarity with the topics dealt with in the Tractate.

Credit recommendation:

In the upper division baccalaureate degree category, 8 semester hours in Talmud, Judaic Studies, Religious Studies or Theology (3/21).

Length:

Classroom: 104 hours (13 weeks); Distance/Hybrid: Varies. 

Dates:

September 2020 - Present.

Objectives:

Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to: describe and analyze Talmudic disputes in Yevamos; demonstrate mastery of the intricate and detailed arguments of the Talmudic glosses and a wide range of commentaries; distill the various opinions that constitute the legal discussion; and appraise the relationship between them and conceptualize the abstract principles at the core of the discussion.

Instruction:

Major topics include explaining yibum, cases where yibum does not apply (arayos), the co-wife of an ervah, a co-wife’s co-wife, when yibum cannot be done immediately, a nidddah that falls to yibum, cases where being unable to do yibum also means no requirement of chalitza, cases where chalitza is still required, the prohibition to have marital relations with his daughter, the mitzvah of chalitza, a sotah and her tzara, the source for yibum not applying by arayos, a positive commandment overrides a negative commandment, smuchim, kalayim and tzitzit, prohibition on shaving and commandments to shave, a positive commandment against a negative commandment that contains kares, and honoring your parents. Topics and sources may vary. Methods of instruction include lecture, discussion and textual preparations. Prerequisite: Three previous Talmud courses, basic familiarity with the topics dealt with in the Tractate.

Credit recommendation:

In the upper division baccalaureate degree category, 8 semester hours in Talmud, Judaic Studies, Religious Studies or Theology (3/21).

Length:

Classroom: 104 hours (13 weeks); Distance/Hybrid: Varies. 

Dates:

September 2020 - Present.

Objectives:

Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to: demonstrate broad substantive proficiency with the abstract concepts of the Talmud; analyze the content and structure of increasingly complex subtleties of Talmudic argumentation; apply abstract concepts to a variety of new situations of legal complexity, and support their positions with  the clearly mapped thread of Talmudic logic, and present their own novel insights. Students will also demonstrate fluency in Aramaic, in independent Talmudic study and in tracing and reconstructing Talmudic legal dialogues.

Instruction:

Major topics include explaining yibum, cases where yibum does not apply (arayos), the co-wife of an ervah, a co-wife’s co-wife, when yibum cannot be done immediately, a nidddah that falls to yibum, cases where being unable to do yibum also means no requirement of chalitza, cases where chalitza is still required, the prohibition to have marital relations with his daughter, the mitzvah of chalitza, a sotah and her tzara, the source for yibum not applying by arayos, a positive commandment overrides a negative commandment, smuchim, kalayim and tzitzit, prohibition on shaving and commandments to shave, a positive commandment against a negative commandment that contains kares, and honoring parents. This course requires students to master the concepts and assignments of advanced Talmudic research, display comprehension of all the commentaries treated in class and assigned for self-preparation and conceptualize the Talmudic texts and commentaries at an advanced level by way of preparation for the students’ presentations of their own, novel insights into the tractate. This is a generic, skill-based course and tractate and topics may vary. The above topics serve as an example of topics which would be covered if the study was centered on the tractate of Yevamos.  Methods of instruction include lecture, discussion and textual preparations. Prerequisite: Three advanced courses in Talmud, fundamental familiarity with the laws dissected in the Tractate.

Credit recommendation:

In the upper division baccalaureate degree category, 8 semester hours in Talmud, Judaic Studies, Religious Studies or Theology (3/21).

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