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National College Credit Recommendation Service

Board of Regents  |  University of the State of New York

Yeshiva Shaarei Torah of Rockland | Evaluated Learning Experience

Talmud: Baba Mezia Survey (TS113, TS313)

Formerly Talmud: Baba Mezia Survey (T213)
Length: 
65 hours (13 weeks); in addition, 162.5 hours of supervised peer study.
Location: 
Yeshiva Shaarei Torah of Rockland, 91 West Carlton Road, Suffern, New York.
Dates: 
September 1998 - July 2003.
Instructional delivery format: 
Traditional classroom model
Learner Outcomes: 
Prepare a textual, linguistic, and legal analysis of the applicable Talmudic material; discuss the underlying principles to derive halachic conclusions; follow the dynamics of Talmudic argumentation leading to halachic resolutions; develop a comparative study of the various opinions raised.
Instruction: 

The eighth chapter of Tractate Baba Mezia discusses the legal responsibility of a borrower for the object borrowed. Questions of doubt in ownership arising during an exchange of property are discussed, as well as the rights and responsibilities of renters. Students prepare the applicable Talmudic texts as well as the major halachic opinions of the rishonim and acharonim, and the opinions of various other commentaries and decisors. The instructor guides students in understanding the issues raised and assists them to deduce the crux of these issues. Topics include: discussion of the norm when using a borrowed object together with the owner; prohibition against cursing one's parents; various responsibilities of watchmen; linguistic analysis of added letters in the Torah; purchasing land rights to produce; responsibilities of a husband toward a wife's property; exemption of a borrower for responsibility for the borrowed object; settlement of objects in dispute; using the property of the Holy Temple; case method of deciding Jewish law; eviction of tenants; requirements of mezuzah; payments of rentals; disputes between landlords and tenants; redemption of the first born; responsibility of landlord versus tenant for structural damage of a rental house. NOTE: This tractate is studied by all students in a given trimester. While the scope of instruction is the same, the depth of study depends upon what level the student is in.

Credit recommendation: 

First Level Students (TS113): In the lower division baccalaureate/associate degree category, 2 semester hours in Judaic Studies, Jurisprudence, Near Eastern Studies, or Religion; or Second Level Students and beyond (TS313): In the upper division baccalaureate degree category, 2 semester hours in Judaic Studies, Jurisprudence, Near Eastern Studies, or Religion (6/99). NOTE: Credit can be awarded for this course, the two other Survey courses of the same title, and the three Intensive Study courses of the same title.

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