Maharal's Understanding of Churban
Some two thousand years ago the Temple was destroyed. In this series with Rabbi Dr. Stuart Fischman examine the works of two of our greatest leaders, Maharal of Prague and Rav Kook to see how they understand the cataclysmic destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple and what lessons we may derive from this calamity.
Timezone
Time of Class
June 22, 2026 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Maharal's Understanding of Churban: Maharal’s Understanding of Churban
Maharal's Understanding of Churban: Maharal’s Understanding of Churban
Class description
The “Churban” the “Destruction” refers to the destruction of the two Temples. The destruction of the Temples is of course discussed in the Gemara. In this this series of meetings we will see how the Maharal of Prague (who unfortunately is more well known because of silly legends than he is for his profound writings) explains these passages from the Talmud. The stories of the Talmud concerning the Churban are at the same time both colorful and enigmatic. The stories are fascinating but it takes the genius of Maharal to find the moral lessons concealed in the stories that we need to learn .
June 29, 2026 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Maharal's Understanding of Churban: Maharal’s Understanding of Churban
Maharal's Understanding of Churban: Maharal’s Understanding of Churban
Class description
Hello Everyone,
The title of this series of sessions is “Maharal’s Understanding of the Churban.” Today I want to focus on the words “Understanding of the Churban.”
The destruction of the Beit Hamikdash, the destruction of Jerusalem, the catastrophic death of hundreds of thousands of people in the failed rebellion against Rome is an historical fact. The question that we all ask ourselves is whether there is a lesson to be learned from history. The philosopher George Santayana said, “Those who cannot remember the past are doomed to repeat it.”
In today’s session , instead of studying the Maharal’s understanding of the חורבן we will be talking about history in general. More specifically we will talk about how the Torah instructs us to learn lessons from our history.
July 6, 2026 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Maharal's Understanding of Churban: Maharal’s Understanding of Churban
Maharal's Understanding of Churban: Maharal’s Understanding of Churban
Class description
Hello Everyone,
In today’s session we will begin to learn the writings of Maharal of Prague on the Churban. We will be studying the Maharal’s commentary to the stories of the Churban told in masechet Gittin.
We saw last week the comments of Rav Weiberg zt”l who compared the writings of Josephus to the writings of our sages. Josephus may have told the facts of the actual war and ultimate destruction of Jerusalem. But the sages were concerned with true cause of the disaster, and the true cause was the moral failure of the people of that era.
Maharal in his commentary explores what the Sages taught concerning the moral failure of our ancestors at the time of the Churban.
July 13, 2026 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Maharal's Understanding of Churban: Maharal’s Understanding of Churban
Maharal's Understanding of Churban: Maharal’s Understanding of Churban
Class description
Hello Everyone,
Today we will see the Gemara’s story of what happened to the Roman emperor Titus. It was Titus wh destroyed the Temple and the Gemara tells a fantastic story of what Titus did when he entered the Temple and how he was ultimately punished.
I mentioned in earlier sessions that Maharal took it upon himself to explain that the Gemara’s stories need to be understood as metaphorical. They are fantastic, but they are describing historical events of fantastic consequence and we need to to understand the meaning of these stories. This is the great contribution of Maharal to the study of the Gemara.
July 20, 2026 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Maharal's Understanding of Churban: Maharal’s Understanding of Churban
Maharal's Understanding of Churban: Maharal’s Understanding of Churban
Class description
Rabbi Dr. Stuart Fischman graduated from Yeshiva University in 1980 and the dental school of Columbia University in 1985. In 1989 he began studying and teaching at Yeshivat Hamivtar and now studies and teaches at Yeshivat Machanaim in Efrat. He has rabbinic ordination from Rav Zalman Nechemia Goldberg.