Learning to Read Talmud: What It Looks Like and How It Happens

by Jane L Kanarek (Editor), Marjorie Lehman (Editor)

Learning to Read Talmud is the first book-length study of how teachers teach and how students learn to read Talmud.  Through a series of studies conducted by scholars of Talmud in classrooms that range from seminaries to secular universities and with students from novice to advanced, this book elucidates a broad range of ideas about what it means to learn to read Talmud and tools for how to achieve that goal. Bridging the study of Talmud and the study of pedagogy, this book is an essential resource for scholars, curriculum writers, and classroom teachers of Talmud.

Genres: Judaism

258 pages, Hardcover

Published October 31, 2016

Reviews

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

With classes in Talmud being offered to students beyond yeshivot, rabbinical schools and other Jewish religious educational institutes, talmudic scholars have realized that more traditional approaches to teaching the text will not work in these secular settings. That’s particularly true when the students taking the course have no experience with the Talmud and little experience with Judaism. In “Learning to Read Talmud: What It Looks Like and How It Happens” (Academic Studies Press), editors Jane L. Kanarek and Marjorie Lehman offer insights from eight different instructors, each of whom focuses on a different approach to teaching Talmud. While the essays are aimed more at how to teach – rather than actually teaching readers about the talmudic text – some also offer interesting material for those looking to discover more about the Talmud.
See the rest of my review at http://www.thereportergroup.org/Artic...

[Lisa Feld · Rating 5 out of 5]

I so appreciated seeing multiple pedagogical models for teaching Talmud, from using it as a way to understand that period in Jewish history to training people to master the Talmud for its own sake to viewing these texts through various lenses of literary criticism and concern for/uplifting voices of marginalized people. And it was helpful to see how a range of students responded to each method for better or for worse. I’m glad to have more tools on my toolbox from such varied and brilliant teachers.