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 tzedakah. This was not intended to be a comprehensive practical halacha shiur; rather, it was intended ...
Dec 23, 2021•45 min•Season 6Ep. 46
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's discussion of when a person should redeem his rav before his father and vice versa. We spent almost the entire se...
Dec 22, 2021•57 min•Season 6Ep. 45
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 the opening halachos of the perek. We noted some questions about his formulations and the order of his presenta...
Dec 21, 2021•1 hr 1 min•Season 6Ep. 44
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 the Beis Midrash. Tomorrow (בג"ה) we begin Chapter 5! ---------- מקורות: רמב"ם - משנה תורה: ספר המדע, הלכו...
Dec 20, 2021•1 hr•Season 6Ep. 43
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 wait until next week. ---------- מקורות: רמב"ם - משנה תורה: ספר המדע, הלכות תלמוד תורה ד:ד-ח תלמוד ...
Dec 16, 2021•1 hr 1 min•Season 6Ep. 42
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 began to address, and plan to revisit tomorrow. Many of these questions had to do with the extent to which these g...
Dec 14, 2021•48 min•Season 6Ep. 41
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 new topic, but felt we understood less in the second. We'll make another pass tomorrow and then move o...
Dec 13, 2021•55 min•Season 6Ep. 40
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 - the mishnah about the four types of people vis a vis the beis midrash - but this turned out to shed more light on our main qu...
Dec 09, 2021•54 min•Season 6Ep. 39
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 more tomorrow, then move on. ---------- מקורות: רמב"ם - משנה תורה: ספר המדע, הלכות תלמוד תורה ד:א-ב כסף משנה ו...
Dec 08, 2021•55 min•Season 6Ep. 38
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. ---------- מקורות: רמב"ם - משנה תורה: ספר המדע, הלכות תלמוד תורה ד:א-ב רמב"ם - משנה תורה: ספר המדע, הלכות...
Dec 07, 2021•56 min•Season 6Ep. 37
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 that we did an overview of the first chapter of Hilchos Melachim u'Milchamos in an effort to figure out what the R...
Dec 02, 2021•49 min•Season 6Ep. 36
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't say we understood everything, but I definitely feel like I have a better grasp of the Menorah than I did two days ago. N...
Dec 01, 2021•56 min•Season 6Ep. 35
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 review is always good. We then started learning the halachos pertaining to the Menorah in Hilchos Beis ha'Bechirah....
Nov 30, 2021•58 min•Season 6Ep. 34
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 halachos, but at least we covered the halachos about the conversion process itself - in addition to taking a detour t...
Nov 23, 2021•58 min•Season 6Ep. 33
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? These halachos sound like they belong in the first perek, or at least earlier in this perek. We didn'...
Nov 22, 2021•1 hr•Season 6Ep. 32
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 guarding against burnout. You can hear traces of that topic in the shiur itself. Next week we plan to continue...
Nov 18, 2021•43 min•Season 6Ep. 31
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 the Rambam. We then read an excerpt from Seneca's Letter #53 which poetically depicted the type of devotion one ha...
Nov 17, 2021•51 min•Season 6Ep. 30
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'll give it one more try tomorrow. ---------- מקורות: Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik, "Blessings and Thanksgiving: Reflectio...
Nov 16, 2021•1 hr 1 min•Season 6Ep. 29
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 beginning of the shiur, I shared a new Rambam tool I happened upon: the Friedberg Jewish Manuscript Society. This led to me ...
Nov 15, 2021•1 hr 1 min•Season 6Ep. 28
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, about "killing yourself" in your learning and learning "in anger." ---------- מקורות: רמב"ם - משנה תורה: ספ...
Nov 11, 2021•54 min•Season 6Ep. 27
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 went through them again in hopes that learning them in context would make a difference. Turns out tha...
Nov 10, 2021•59 min•Season 6Ep. 26
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 ordinary people who are content to fulfill the mitzvah of talmud Torah on a basic level? After answering that q...
Nov 09, 2021•58 min•Season 6Ep. 25
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 pursuits. ---------- מקורות: רמב"ם - משנה תורה: ספר המדע, הלכות תלמוד תורה א:י; ג:ו-ז דונש אבן לברט רמב"ם -...
Nov 08, 2021•58 min•Season 6Ep. 24
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 learning how to acquire it. The Rambam quotes a series of Chazal's statements, which we began analyzing one by one. Looks like w...
Nov 04, 2021•1 hr 3 min•Season 6Ep. 23
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'lo lishmah to lishmah! This is yet another confirmation that the Rambam was right when he said: "If your...
Nov 03, 2021•59 min•Season 6Ep. 22
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 discourse on lishmah and she'lo lishmah in his Introduction to Perek Chelek, raising some major questions. Our task...
Nov 01, 2021•1 hr•Season 6Ep. 20
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 and another mitzvah? The major topic was: What is the meaning of, "Torah study is equal to all the mitzvos"? The seco...
Oct 28, 2021•59 min•Season 6Ep. 19
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 definitely walked away with what to think about. ---------- מקורות: רמב"ם - משנה תורה: ספר המדע, הלכות תלמוד תורה ...
Oct 27, 2021•55 min•Season 6Ep. 18
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 discuss in the Mishneh Torah. We learned through the chapter in the Moreh ha'Nevuchim in which he outlines wh...
Oct 26, 2021•54 min•Season 6Ep. 17
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 tomorrow's shiur. ---------- מקורות: רמב"ם - משנה תורה, ספר המדע, הלכות תלמוד תורה פרק ב רמב"ם - משנה תורה, ספר ...
Oct 25, 2021•59 min•Season 6Ep. 16
