Rambam Bekius

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This afternoon (1/13/21), in our Rambam Bekius chavurah, we continued with more halachos of kavod ha'rav. The difficulty today wasn't in understanding the sense of the halachos, but in understanding the Rambam's categorization. We couldn't quite figure out why he grouped these clusters of halachos as he did. If you have...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This afternoon (1/12/21), in our Rambam Bekius chavurah, we began by clearing up a point about the prohibitions against being in the bathhouse with various individuals. We then returned to Hilchos Talmud Torah where we discussed the prohibition to sit in your rav's place, to be "machria" his words, and to contradict his word...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This afternoon (1/11/21), in our Rambam Bekius chavurah, we continued in Hilchos Talmud Torah with the laws pertaining to kavod ha'rav conduct. Today we covered the halachos about how one's rav (and parents) should and should not be addressed, as well as some other laws regarding what one does with one's body in the presence...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This afternoon (1/10/21), in our Rambam Bekius chavurah, we wrapped up our tangential exploration of the topic of Mosaic semichah. We began with the Rambam's idea for how to restore Mosaic semichah. Suffice it to say, we experienced more confusion than clarity - some of which stemmed from our lack of familiarity with earlier chapters...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This afternoon (1/3/21), in our Rambam Bekius chavurah, we continued with the topics we took up last week. We began with an excerpt from the writings of Rabbi Maroof in which he differentiates between horaah and peskias din. We then read the Aruch ha'Shulchan's definition of contemporary semichah. We spent the rest of the time le...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This afternoon (12/30/21), in our Rambam Bekius chavurah, we spent the majority of the time discussing questions that were raised on what we learned yesterday. We touched upon a number of fundamental issues, some of which might be considered "hot topics." At the very end we began a new but related topic: Mosaic semichah. That&apo...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This afternoon (12/29/21), in our Rambam Bekius chavurah, we completed R' Moshe's hakdamah to Iggros Moshe, in which he expanded upon the concepts he introduced yesterday, then used these concepts to explain why he felt qualified (and obligated) to answer the halachic questions posed to him, and why he chose to publish what he wr...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! The introduction to R' Moshe Feinstein's Iggros Moshe is something I firmly believe that every serious student of halacha must read at least once in their lives. Even if you don't typically listen to the Rambam Bekius shiurim, you can listen to this one as a standalone ... well, plus Part 2 tomorrow. This afternoon (12/28/21...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This afternoon (12/27/21), in our Rambam Bekius chavurah, we began by reviewing the halachos of "choleik al rabo" (undermining your rav's authority) and answered the remaining questions we left off with last week. We then learned through the halachos pertaining to "higiah l'horaah" (being qualified to give psa...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This afternoon (12/23/21), in our Rambam Bekius chavurah (the second of the day!), we began by briefly recapping the conclusions of yesterdays shiur. We then explored Chazal equation of honoring and revering one's rav with honoring and revering the shechinah. This led us to delve into the question, "According to the Rambam, what...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This morning (12/23/21), during our usual Mishlei time, we had a session of Rambam Bekius! Since the last two pesukim we learned were about how to relate and how not to relate to the poor, and since Mishlei was written to make Torah more accessible, we thought it would be appropriate to familiarize ourselves with some basic halachos of tze...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This afternoon (12/22/21), in our Rambam Bekius chavurah, we learned through the Rambam's main halachos of pidyon shevuyim (the redemption of captives). Why did we learn about this topic? (And why does the YouTube thumbnail indicate that this is about honoring and revering one's rav?) Because we were led there by the Rambam'...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This afternoon (12/21/21), in our Rambam Bekius chavurah, we began Hilchos Talmud Torah Chapter 5. As is our practice, we began by reading the Rambam's four formulations of this mitzvah: #1 - in the Sefer ha'Mitzvos, #2 - in the Reshimas Mitzvos Aseh in the Mishneh Torah, #3 - in the Koseres to Hilchos Talmud Torah, and #4 - in t...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This afternoon (12/20/21), in our Rambam Bekius chavurah, we finished Chapter 4 of Hilchos Talmud Torah. After reviewing the halachos about the etiquette for talmid asking questions of his rav, we learned the etiquette of a rav answering the questions he's asked. The final halacha covers assorted etiquette guidelines for learning in t...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This afternoon (12/16/21), in our Rambam Bekius chavurah, we revisited the halachos we started working on in the last session and answered some lingering questions. We then began the halachos of etiquette which govern the learning interactions between a rav and his talmidim. We got some nice ideas, but the rest of the halachos will have to...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This afternoon (12/14/21), in our Rambam Bekius chavurah, we read the Rambam's halachos about the responsibility of a teacher to be patient with students and the responsibility of students to notify the teacher when they don't understand what's being taught. This raised a BUNCH of practical and theoretical questions which we...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This afternoon (12/13/21), in our Rambam Bekius chavurah, we began by answering two leftover questions from last week. We then moved on to the halachos for how the rav and talmidim should sit during shiur, and how the turgaman (a.k.a. the human microphone) should facilitate in-shiur communication. We made some nice progress in the first ne...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This afternoon (12/9/21), in our Rambam Bekius chavurah, we tried once more to answer our questions on the Rambam's halacha that you should only learn from a Rav who is "proper." Led by R' Qafih, we learned through some Gemaras to clarify the Rambam's shitah. We then THOUGHT we were going to take up a side topic -...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This afternoon (12/8/21), in our Rambam Bekius chavurah, we attempted to answer all the questions we raised yesterday. We did manage to answer all the questions about the Beis Midrash entry requirements for talmidim, but we didn't finish answering our questions about the high standards of perfection for a rav. We'll attempt once...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This afternoon (12/7/21), in our Rambam Bekius chavurah, we began Hilchos Talmud Torah Chapter 4, which is about the procedural regulations and guidelines of teaching and learning. Our focus today was on the middos requirements of both talmidim and their rav. We raised a bunch of questions which we hope to be able to answer tomorrow. -----...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This afternoon (12/2/21), in our Rambam Bekius chavurah, we continued with our learning of assorted Chanukah-related topics in the Rambam. We began by wrapping up our discussion of the Menorah. We then attempted to understand the implications of the Rambam's description of the the mitzvah of ner chanukah as "chavivah." After...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This afternoon (12/1/21), in our Rambam Bekius chavurah, we continued learning through the halachos of the Menorah in the Mishneh Torah. When we finished with those, we began learning through R' Avraham ben ha'Rambam's commentary on Shemos 25:31-39, with the very helpful footnotes in Moshe Maimon's new edition. I can&ap...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This afternoon (11/30/21), in our Rambam Bekius chavurah, we decided to spend the rest of the week taking up assorted Chanukah-related topics in the writings of the Rambam. We began with the Rambam's presentation of the events of Chanukah and its founding, just for the sake of review. We didn't exactly break new ground, but revie...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This afternoon (11/23/21), in our Rambam Bekius chavurah, we took a break from Hilchos Talmud Torah. Seeing as how my 21st geriversary is coming up this Thursday, we decided to review the Rambam's halachos about converting to Judaism. Since we only spent one session on this topic, we didn't have time to go through ALL the halacho...

Have any questions, insights, or feedback? Send me a text! This afternoon (11/22/21), in our Rambam Bekius chavurah, we began by reviewing and finishing up the halachos we did last week on learning at night. After that, we learned the last couple halachos in the perek about acquiring the Crown of Torah. The major question we faced was: What does this have to do with acquiring the Crown of Torah? T...