The goal of the course is not to teach you the gemara, but to provide you with the skills to do it on your own.
It is for men only and will be located at the TORCH Centre. Members of all Jewish communities in Houston are welcome (indeed, in our last session we had participants that represented six different shuls).
All learning backgrounds are welcome, and this course is designed to accommodate even little-to-no background whatsoever. Intermediate/advanced students will be accommodated as well.
Please read the following disclaimer carefully before registering:
1. This course is not for the wishy washy. If you commit to this course, you are committed. In order for this to work, there can be no "I can't make it this week, sorry." If you're in, you're in with devotion. Having said that, I understand that people may have pre-existing conflicts over the next few months. If you can, please send dates that you know you will be unavailable. Emergencies are also understandable. What is unacceptable is that you had a long day, you're tired and just aren't feeling up to it. You come anyway. If that's too intense for you, that's fine, but it just means you're not ready for this course just yet - no judgement.
2. Related to the previous note, we will start on time at 9 PM sharp and we will officially end at 10 PM. I will stick around after if you have questions or want to continue on your own (or with your chavrusa - see note 4), but everyone is free to go at 10 PM.
3. We will be learning from ברכות. I have 5 extra copies that some of you could use to borrow, but I highly recommend you buy/bring your own so that you can take it home, look it over, write in it, have it next to your pillow when you sleep, etc.
ABSOLUTELY NO ARTSCROLL (or any other translated print). A large portion of the work we'll be doing in class is struggling with accurate translation. I will provide vocab sheets for each class that will contain the words you'll need for that day's section, as well as a cumulative list of key terms. Figuring out how those words fit together in a coherent way will be your pain to enjoy. Having an ArtScroll on hand will only be to your detriment. Of course, I will be available for help and questions.
4. You will have a chavrusa for the duration of the course. During class, there will be time where you will work together with your chavrusa. Since you will be expected to memorize every vocab word we encounter, as well as the meaning of the text we've covered, you will almost certainly need to study regularly throughout the week, outside of class. It would be ideal if you become friends with your chavrusa and set up times to review together. If you have a preference for a chavrusa, you can set it up on your own or let me know. Otherwise, we'll figure it out on Sunday.
5. In the context of this course, you will address me as "Rebbi." It doesn't matter if you're older than me, smarter than me, more of a tzaddik than me or my best bud. I am here to give you access to Torah.
6. One of my rabbis used to say, "The oilam that shteigs together gets smashed together." Class time will be serious, no-nonsense hard work. After all is said and done, we will party hard.
