Our Minyan Brunches are off to a good start this Fall 2014 and now we’re happy to share that we had our first Sunday Talmud study group after the Brunch, which will hopefully continue as a weekly tradition.
In this week’s picture of the Minyan Brunch you can see Larry holding the Shofar about to blow it for Elul and in the upper right corner you can see the “Sunday Talmud” sign as this was the first brunch to start this Sunday Talmud class.
We’re studying the 4th chapter of Talmud tractate Brachos because it speaks about the morning prayer (so its an appropriate fit) and also because this chapter is short enough – only 5 double-pages – which makes it feasible to finish by studying a segment each Sunday.
Rabbi Mendel prepared a worksheet/review sheet, which students worked in pairs to complete, to help ensure that everyone “gets” the Talmud, and as Eliran put it, “it helps reinforce the material we just studied.”
Initially, we weren’t sure how students would appreciate a worksheet for a voluntary informal class, but the eagerness and enthusiasm was very rewarding. People asked great questions, were invested and interested and engaged.
While our weekly Torah-Tuesday classes changes the topic weekly, asks for no commitment and has no such worksheets,as we try to be as open and welcoming and barrier-free as possible, the nature of continuous Talmud study neccesitates more consistency for this type of class. We still don’t take attendance, everyone is certainly welcome, but those who come on a weekly basis are most likely to understand what’s going on and get the most out of it.