Kesher Talk

Daf Yomi, Berachot 2a. Introductory Daf Yomi post here, which explains the whole thing for those of you who didn't read KT before.

Naomi Chana - who along with articles in the Forward and Jewish Week inspired me to do this - says that studying Talmud is helping her get rid of her cold, and also makes a lovely analogy (as only she can) between various cold remedies and various Talmud translations.

I ordered the first four Artscroll Daf Yomi books = $99 + shipping. I figure if I can stick it out through those, then I'll buy as needed. (And by then other volumes will start turning up used on Amazon. Heh heh.) I have read many of the discussions of Artscroll (see my previous post on this topic, and Naomi links to a few additional ones). My need was for a cheap decent translation, which I could not find on the internet. (This one is okay, but I also want to see the Hebrew and a bit more elucidation.) What I can find on the net is contemporary commentary up the wazoo, so I doubt Artscroll will lead me astray. (About the Daf Yomi controversy: I think it's valuable for someone like me who did not have a day school education to become acquainted with the whole Talmud, even superficially. Even if I just read through the English it would be a mind and soul-expanding learning experience about Judaism. And believe me, I can tell how superficial a page a day is - it's very clear that I could spend months on each page, and one would have to be extremely obtuse to think otherwise.)

I am going to call a few more places about women's or mixed classes, but I'm not hopeful. I'm going to study on my own while continuing to try to find a class, because certainly any teacher is going to know way more than I do, I like the give and take of discussion, and that's how you're supposed to learn anyway.

So today I went to the JCC Beit Midrash and sat with the full-size Artscroll Berachot I volume, plus all my internet printouts. I read each Hebrew phrase to myself (with the vowels) before reading the English, and I marked where it was in the actual Talmud page (which is reproduced on the facing page), so I wouldn't be "just learning in English." (My Hebrew comprehension isn't great, but I do recognize some words and grammatical structure.) The Artscroll doesn't translate the commentaries, and although the voluminous notes quote them a lot, you don't know where a given comment is on the page unless you can read the original. Not sure what I'm going to do about that - any suggestions for sites or books that have complete translation of Rashi and the other guys?

In my sporadic previous Talmud study I had never internalized all the personalities or terminology, so at the same time I am learning the content I am (re) learning how to navigate the page, and the rabbinic periods, and the rules of argument. Which is fine; I can learn them in parallel.

I was there for about 4 hours, but as I feel more at ease I expect that will shorten, and depending on my schedule it will have to. I know there will be days when I just read through the English right before I go to bed, there will be days I skip and other days when I try to make up.

So what about Berachot 2a? First of all, I was pleased that the first masechet is about making blessings, about davening, actually. I already daven. I struggle with doing it regularly, with the meaning of the liturgy, with my Hebrew comprehension, whether or not to speed-daven, with kavannah: the usual host of challenges. So I could relate better than to customs or practices that aren't part of my life. And to some extent the text is about those challenges: They discuss how late in the evening you can say the Shma, say, if you're really busy, or a procrastinator, or come home late from a party. so - among other things - this daf is about how you juggle worldly and spiritual responsibilities.

And I daven the same prayers as these rabbis 1400 years ago: It's the same Shma. Now I find the entire Shma very challenging, because right after the essential "Listen, Yisrael . . . " verse, there are three chunky repetitive paragraphs. The "V'ahavta" I know, because in many shuls it is chanted out loud in trop by the congregation. The other two make my eyes go out of focus. I can't summon any kavannah for these things; I have never read the middle one all the way through, not only because of its density, but because it's another anxiety-producing speed-davening situation: Will I make it all the way through before "Adonai Eloheykem emet?" And if not, what do I do?

Now, the sages don't address speed-davening in Berachot 2a (but I bet they will, sooner or later), but how cool is it that my intro to Daf Yomi is about how to make time for a long difficult prayer I should be saying three times a day? Talk about making education relevent to the student! Oy, those guys were so smart. . . .

Looking at the Daf Yomi calendar, I guess a "daf" is both a and b pages. I did go partway into the 2b page, so I can finish reading that before I call it a night.

PS. Don't expect a report like this every day.

UPDATE: Some commenters on why the Shas starts with the Shma. (I read this after I posted.)

posted by Judith @ 3/02/2005 08:54:00 PM