Welcome to new students, and welcome back to returning students!
After our extended “bein hazemanim” break since Rosh Hodesh Nisan, we are returning, and I am excited to be learning gemara with you! You may have noticed (and this is for the first time in WebYeshiva history) that my gemara shiur and Rabbi Brovender’s are not learning the same masechet. This means that in theory a student can study in both classes without experiencing overlapping material. It is part of our effort to adapt to the needs of the online learning community and the demand for variety.
This semester we will be continuing to study Masechet Avodah Zarah. We will begin initially where we stopped, on Avodah Zarah 6b , because I felt that we needed to close the subject matter that we studied intensively in the previous semester and did not complete, namely the gemara’s discussion of the prohibitions listed in the first mishna. (I ask any new students who might be hesitating to bear with us; we will explain any needed background as we complete this sugya.) Essentially we need to finish the gemara from about halfway down the page to near the very bottom, and learn Rashi and Tosafot on the relevant parts.
After we complete this material (which will be a matter of a couple of shiurim only), the plan is to move forward to chapter 2, where the gemara discusses certain prohibitions of food produced by עובדי עבודה זרה. This material is actually part of the large body of halacha that has to do with kashrut, what we call “issur ve-heter”.
As usual, we will emphasize a methodological approach to the text of the gemara itself, and look for insights into the approaches of the rishonim printed on the page, namely Rashi and Tosafot.
Looking forward to studying with you!
Yitzhak Zuriel