Rambam Bekius

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This afternoon (11/18/21), in our Rambam Bekius chavurah, we analyzed the halacha about learning at night. I think we did a decent job, even though we didn't answer all our questions. It should be noted that the shiur was cut short because we had a long pre-shiur discussion about striking the right life/work/learning balance and guard...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This afternoon (11/17/21), in our Rambam Bekius chavurah, we tied up a bunch of loose ends from a bunch of different topics in Hilchos Talmud Torah Chaptesr 1-3. We began by reading excerpts from R' Yehuda Henkin's psak about women learning Torah she'baal Peh and Talmud, which shed some light on our analysis of that topic in...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This afternoon (11/16/21), in our Rambam Bekius chavurah, we ACTUALLY DID BEKIUS! Our goal was to get an overview of what a Beis ha'Kneses is, in an effort to understand the Rambam's Hilchos Talmud Torah 3:12 about the virtue of learning Torah in a Beis ha'Kneses. We didn't end up circling back to that halacha, but we&a...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This afternoon (11/15/21), in our Rambam Bekius chavurah, we attempted to understand the Rambam's three directives: (1) learn in shul and you won't quickly forget, as per the special divine covenant, (2) learn with modesty and you'll become wise, and (3) learn audibly and you won't quickly forget. But first, at the begi...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This afternoon (11/11/21), in our Rambam Bekius chavurah, we analyzed every single component of Halacha 12a-b. We came up with a unified theory for 12a, answering all five (or six?) of our questions in the process and explaining how a coddled learner's learning will suffer. We also did a decent job explaining the components of 12b, ab...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This afternoon (11/10/21), in our Rambam Bekius chavurah, we covered a number of topics, all of which revolved around achieving the proper balance between Torah, work, and pleasure, spending the most time trying to understand the nuances of how a person ought to relate to work. Even though we spent a week on halachos 10-11 in October, we w...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This afternoon (11/9/21) in our Rambam Bekius chavurah we continued learning the Rambam's guidelines for how to acquire the Crown of Torah. We began with a general question on this entire section: Why do WE need to know this? I understand why this is necessary for someone who aspires to obtain the Crown of Torah, but what about ordina...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This afternoon (11/8/21) in our Rambam Bekius chavurah we continued learning the Rambam's guidelines for how to acquire the Crown of Torah. We began by refining some of the loose ends from last week, then moved on to the next couple of clauses. The central topic of today had to do with prioritizing the Crown of Torah over all other pu...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This afternoon (11/4/21) in our Rambam Bekius chavurah we began our investigation of how to acquire the Crown of Torah, beginning with the question, "What is the Crown of Torah?" After looking at all the sources in which the Rambam mentions "crown," we decided that we'd figure out what it is we are acquiring by lea...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This afternoon (11/3/21) in our Rambam Bekius chavurah we set out to answer the questions we raised last time. While we didn't answer every single part of every question, we definitely gained significant clarity in our understanding of the subject - and we even picked up some practical tips on how to facilitate the transition from she...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This afternoon (11/1/21) in our Rambam Bekius chavurah we began with the first mention of lishmah and she'lo lishmah in the Mishneh Torah. The context in which the Rambam presented it was unusual, to say the least, and raised a bunch of questions which we were able to mostly answer. We then read through the Rambam's primary disco...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This afternoon (10/28/21) in our Rambam Bekius chavurah we covered two topics, one minor and one major. The minor topic was leftover from yesterday: What happens when you're confronted with a choice between kibud av v'eim and another mitzvah? Likewise, what happens when you're confronted with a choice between Talmud Torah an...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This afternoon (10/27/21) in our Rambam Bekius chavurah we began learning what is sure to be an exciting perek, since it contains the principles necessary to master Torah. Today we focused on two topics: the Crown of Torah, and the precedence of talmud over action. We didn't quite get the full pshat in either of them, but we definitel...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This afternoon (10/26/21) in our Rambam Bekius chavurah we began by tying up some loose ends from yesterday's learning of Hilchos Talmud Torah Chapter 2, regarding the historical context of the educational system described therein. After that we took up the topic of early childhood METAPHYSICAL education, which the Rambam doesn't...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This afternoon (10/25/21) in our Rambam Bekius chavurah we started AND finished the chapter about tinokos shel beis rabban (early childhood education). We answered some of the questions we raised but not others, and felt that we were missing some important historical context. I'm going to try to find more info in that area for tomorro...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! Rambam: On Women Learning Torah - Part 2 (Hilchos Talmud Torah 3:13) This afternoon (10/21/21) in our Rambam Bekius chavurah we continued in our attempt to understand the Rambam's shitah on teaching Torah to women. I say "attempt" because the tasked proved to be quite difficult. I can't say we really arrived at a firm u...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This afternoon (10/20/21), in our Rambam Bekius chavurah, we took up the "hot topic" of women learning Torah. We began by reviewing an unrelated side-question: "What's the deal wth the paragraph breaks in the various editions of the Mishneh Torah?" We then read the two halachos in the Rambam about women learning To...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This afternoon (10/19/21), in our Rambam Bekius chavurah, we continued our sidequest to understand the Rambam's view of learning talmud, on the one hand, and learning Talmud, on the other (and if that distinction is lost on you, then you REALLY need to listen to part 1). After reviewing what we learned yesterday, we set out to underst...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This afternoon (10/18/21), in our Rambam Bekius chavurah, we went on a little bit of a sidequest. Last week we read the Rambam's tripartite talmud Torah curriculum: a third Torah she'bi'Chsav, a third Torah she'baal Peh, and a third the ACTIVITY of Talmud. Today we delved into the questions of: What, exactly, does the R...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This afternoon (10/14/21), in our Rambam Bekius chavurah, we FINALLY found a satisfactory answer (or answers) to the question of how the Rambam could be supported by his brother while he learned Torah, thanks to R' Shelat's footnotes on several of the Rambam's letters - plus a halacha we missed in Hilchos Sanhedrin. The firs...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This afternoon (10/13/21), in our Rambam Bekius chavurah, we devoted one more day to analyzing the Rambam's statements about being paid for Torah. We decided to pursue a tangent that came up about avodah zarah and Chazal's approach to non-prohibited superstitious practices. We then went back and attempted to understand the Rambam...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This afternoon (10/12/21), in our Rambam Bekius chavurah, we analyzed the Rambam's fivefold enumeration of why it's bad to treat Torah as a job. Although we didn't complete our analysis, we did come up with a unified approach which I'm happy with. Tomorrow (God willing) we'll take another stab at it, and continue o...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This afternoon (10/11/21), in our Rambam Bekius chavurah, we continued our exploration of the Rambam's view on the permissibility of being paid to learn, teach, or adjudicate Torah. We began with his (vehement) codification of his view in the Mishneh Torah. We then read and discussed the foonotes of R' Makbili (the editor of the...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This afternoon (10/7/21) we took a brief detour from Hilchos Talmud Torah to read through the Rambam's famous diatribe against "profiting" from Torah, in his commentary to Avos 4:7 (or 4:5, depending on your edition). We began with the Aruch ha'Shulchan's concise summary of the heter that the world relies on, just...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This afternoon (10/6/21) in our Rambam Bekius chavurah we finished the initial halachos about teaching Torah in Chapter 1. We covered three topics: (1) If botha  father and son need a basic Torah education, who takes precedence? (2) What comes first: learning Torah or marriage? and (3) Is it permissible to pay or charge Torah teachers? Bef...