Talking Talmud

YEAR 3! The potential for heresy... from blessing God for everything, including the bad to see ding away the mother bird. And the decrees to protect shul, basically. Also, the texts that are read and not translated, or surprisingly read AND translated, or neither. What texts are considered inappropriate for a public reading?

The translator! And the experience of Torah reading in shul, back in the day. Noting that skipping text in a Torah reading was iffy... Plus, how the person who will lead the prayer connects to the person reading Haftarah. And what is the etiquette for reading the Torah, for leading prayer, for duchening (if a kohen). And what about a blind man? Also, the prohibition against a kohen with blemishes, especially, but not only, on his hands, going up to bless the congregation. Plus, other impediments blocking participation in various ways. Also, the danger of round tefillin.

Women and aliyot. Not what you think it's going to be... until then it is. Naming Kavod Tzibur. Plus, the Maftir aliyah. Naming Kavod Torah. Also, a new mishnah on those elements of liturgy that we don't do without a minyan. Plus, how we learn that a minyan is made of 10 men, and the controversy in that learning.

Dividing the Torah's text into aliyot, including very technical parameters of 3 verses in a particular section of the text, as a minimum - and what happens when those parameters cannot be met. Specifically, the Torah reading for Rosh Chodesh. Also, the story of Rav and the question of his prostrating (or not) on a stone floor in prayer, and the fact of his prominence in the community.

Chapter 3! Details pertaining to reading the Megillah... And reading the Torah. Including the original system of aliyot to the Torah. Also, how those aliyot are established within the Torah's text itself. Plus, the 10 batlanim (again).

Another 2 mishnayot. First, mitzvot that need to be performed during the day... cannot be done prior to Netz HaChamah, the sunrise (after the earliest daybreak). Also, the mitzvot that need to be done during the day on specific days, and throughout the day.

The Megillah cannot be read out loud by heart and fulfill the reading of the megillah, but why not? What are we accomplishing by making sure we read the written words? And what about the Written Torah? Can it be read or written without a text in front of the reader or writer? What are the parameters for engaging with the Bible by heart?

2 mishnayot - when do mitzvot need to take place, from Megillah to a whole host of other mitzvot? What about a walled-city resident who goes to an unwalled town, or the reverse? Which leads into the nature of what we do that season, remembering Amalek and so on. Also, who can read the Megillah, and who cannot. And why "deaf" means something different from the expected "deaf-mute" who so often appears in rabbinic literature.

The Megillah cannot be read out loud by heart and fulfill the reading of the megillah, but why not? What are we accomplishing by making sure we read the written words? And what about the Written Torah? Can it be read or written without a text in front of the reader or writer? What are the parameters for engaging with the Bible by heart?

Chapter 2! Reading Megilat Esther out of order and other ways to not fulfill your obligation of hearing the megillah on Purim. And some ways to make sure you have fulfilled it. Including the materials used for a megillah via which one fulfills one's obligation (or not). Also, the blessings of the Amidah - out of order? Which brings us to a conversation about how the Amidah was established. [Who's Who: Shimon HaPekoli]