Welcome to the gorgeous, centuries-old experiment of investing in deep, intentional chevruta study during the month of Elul!
Studying Talmud is a spiritual practice done in “chevruta”—in accountable partnership. Like all relationships, learning in chevruta requires care, attention, and work. The Rabbis designated the month of Elul to prepare for the Days of Awe (Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur), and it’s a prime time to tend to our chevruta dynamics. We invite y’all to take the opportunity to notice what aspects of our learning help us grow, become more self-aware, and become more empathetic.
On this portal, you will find all the materials you and your chevruta need to learn together, including where to start, Hint Sheets, Kra Sheets, and other goodies. Get ready to pair this learning with lots of support from SVARA along the way, including:
A dedicated Fairy and lots of attention in Fairy Hours
Four optional live sessions (Zoom Link; Meeting ID: 883 1913 9737), including:
A joyful Kick-Off and deep dive into chevruta learning
Open Bet Midrash sessions for you to learn with your chevruta with live support
A Siyum to MAJORLY clap you up!
We are so grateful that you are joining us on this collective journey of learning and reflection.
Where Do I Start?
To learn in chevruta outside the structure of regular shiurim, you’ll need to make some adjustments to the SVARA method you’re used to. Follow the steps below to get on the same page as your chevruta and kickstart your independent learning journey.
A) Start with a check-in: We believe that chevruta learning starts with a check-in. Take some time to share why you’re here, what you’ve experienced in chevruta in the past, and what parts of your learning you want to pay special attention to this zman.
If you’re a new chevruta pair, some questions might include:
Who are you? What brings you joy?
What’s a great chevruta experience you’ve had in the past?
What do you love about learning Talmud?
Which types of learning materials are most helpful when you learn?
If you have learned together in chevruta before, some questions might include:
What are your favorite parts of your chevruta relationship?
What parts of your learning, or parts of your chevruta relationship, do you want to pay special attention to this zman?
What parts of learning Talmud make you feel most energized? Where do you feel like you are being stretched in your learning?
For new and existing chevruta, you might also want to dive into the following questions:
What are you reflecting on this Elul and how might it show up in your learning?
How do you define chevruta? Do any of the following definitions of chevruta resonate with you?
A framework for intimate connection with another human being, with the text and with the tradition (“chevruta” refers to both the partnership and the people in the partnership!)
A spiritual technology for developing radical empathy and interdependence
An interactive, engaging, busy, and immersive process, with both chevrutas feeling totally present in the relationship and the learning
A profoundly meditative and empowering experience which depends on rigorous and clear expectations of owning the text inside and out
B) Set some shared learning goals with your chevruta: Now that you’ve each shared a little bit about your learning dreams, it’s time to create a plan for learning together. Some questions you might ask yourselves include:
How often and how long would you like to learn for? When and how will you do it? Take some time to schedule out your sessions for the rest of Elul!
How much text do you want to learn?
What pace would you like to take with your learning, and what amount of time do you want to spend focusing on the trees or the forest?
What skills or parts of Talmud learning do you want to pay special attention to?
How will you check in with each other about how things are going?
C) Choose your Sugya: Look through the “Choose your Sugya” materials and determine what text(s) you want to learn.
D) Start learning! Take a look at “The Four Steps of the SVARA Method: Elul Chevruta Lovefest Edition” as a reminder and consider how these familiar steps must be adapted when you are learning outside the structure of a regular shiur.
Choose Your Sugya
For the 2022 Elul Chevruta Lovefest, SVARA is offering learning materials for three sugyot from the Eighth Chapter of Masechet Yoma—the tractate about how the Rabbis re-imagined Yom Kippur in a world without the Temple. You can choose to learn one, two, or all three. You’ll find Hint Sheets, Kra Sheets, and other goodies for each sugya on that sugya’s page.
Sugya 1: Teshuva Mekhaperet (Yoma 85b)
Length: 3-5 sessions
The first sugya, Teshuva Mekhaperet, is drawn from the very last mishnah in Masechet Yoma. Witness how the Rabbis invent “teshuva” (relational repair) out of a sacrificial system. Track this journey and explore their understanding of who the Jewish tradition wants us to be and who we want to be.
This sugya might be a good fit for you if: you are hoping to deepen your experience learning mishnah, work through a kra proof, and explore how the Rabbis bring a new spiritual technology into practice. This sugya is in Hebrew only.
Sugya 2: Gedola Teshuva (Yoma 86a/b)
Length: 1–2 sessions or 8–10 sessions (two options for learning this sugya)
The second sugya, Gedola Teshuva, asks the question “What makes teshuva so great?” Seven sages weigh in with their answers in an epic Rabbinic drash-a-thon. We’re suggesting two options for how to learn this text: one shorter option (1-2 sessions) and one longer option (8-10 sessions). Learn how the Rabbis dealt with the messy reality of human relationships and the complexity of repair.
This sugya might be a good fit for you if: you are dreaming of new ways to understand the power of teshuva, and are interested in learning how the Rabbis use their tradition by reaching for Torah concepts and verses to deepen the practice they’re creating.
Sugya 3: Rabbinic Rebuke (Yoma 87a)
Length: 1-2 sections or 3-4 sections (two options for learning this sugya)
The third sugya, Rabbinic Rebuke, is a deep-dive into “tochecha,” or compassionate critique. ”Tochecha” is the act of inviting others to do teshuva for harm they’ve caused you, and is a practice that asks us to, at times, engage in direct communication when we’ve been hurt. In this text you’ll find two tales of Rabbis who exemplify what to do (or what not to do!) after experiencing harm.
This sugya might be a good fit for you if: you want to dive into some Aramaic and learn about tochecha and its relation to teshuva.
The Method
1 | Prep Your Text
Start with a check-in. Take turns and tell your chevruta how you are, what’s on your mind, and share whatever you need them to know about you right now so that you can become fully present.
Dedicate: In the Jewish tradition, learning is believed to carry within it the power to repair, to heal, and to transform. It is our custom at SVARA, as it has been the custom in many yeshivas in the world for thousands of years, to begin our learning by directing that power to someone or something in need of healing, strength, or encouragement. Or you might dedicate your learning to someone in whose honor or memory you would like to learn, perhaps someone whom you think would be very proud to know that you’re learning in this moment. Hold the person, people, or community you’d like to dedicate your learning to in your mind and heart, and then say “I’d like to dedicate my learning today to _______.” Feel free to explain to your chevruta or your learning comrades why this dedication is on your mind.
Bless: The blessing for Torah study closes dedications and elevates learning into the realm of mitzvah, the language that the Rabbis used for what mattered most to them.
Learn: Now you’re ready to start learning!
Pick a “driver”: You and your chevruta are going to be working through the text, word by word. It helps to have one of you be the “vocalizer”–the person saying out each word or phrase (making just a rough guess at the proper pronunciation), just to make sure you both know which word you’re both working on at any given moment and are always both looking up the same word at the same time. You can periodically switch who’s being the “driver.”
Look up every word! Oftentimes we think we know what a word means based on previous learning or experience. At SVARA, everyone looks up every word to uncover hidden meanings, nuances, suggestive resonances, connections, and etymologies that are present in the words of the text and help us go deeper in our learning.
Look up every word…together! Don’t “split up the work”: You take this word, I’ll take the next word! You and your chevruta should always be working on the same word at the same time. You may be looking that word up in different dictionaries, but you’re always working on the same word at the same time. Whoever finds the entry first should direct their chevruta to it. For example, if you’re both learning from printed Jastrows, call out the dictionary name, page number, and area of the page, as in: “Found it! Jastrow, page 24, left-hand side, right near the top!”
Keep it collaborative. Learning is not a race or a competition! Talmud study—and all learning—should be a collaboration between learners who understand that they’re on the same team. Remember: You are responsible for your chevruta’s learning, and your chevruta is responsible for your learning.
Take your time! Don’t worry if other learners are ahead of you in the text, behind you, or anywhere else! Wherever you and your chevruta are is just plain perfect.
2 | Unpack the Text
Now that you’ve prepped the text in chevruta, let’s unpack the text! Take your best guess at your “inside translation” and “outside translation,” check your understanding in comparison to the SVARA recordings of inside/outside translations (found on each sugya’s portal page), and use this as a launching point for the big questions that surface from the text.
HOW DO WE UNPACK THE TEXT?
Inside translation: After looking up every word, go back and make your best guess as to the “inside” translation, i.e., the hyper-literal translation, of each word, in the order in which the words appear, following the syntax of the original. When you’re giving an inside translation, it will sound quite choppy and not flow in a smooth, colloquial translation. Every single prefix and suffix should be represented in an inside translation (i.e., החובל בחברו would be translated as “the one who injures in his friend”). Nothing that isn’t represented in the letters of each word should appear in one’s inside translation. For example, rabbinic literature often implies an “if” at the beginning of a case: “if one injures his friend.” But that implied “if” should not appear in the inside translation.
Outside translation: After giving your inside translation of each phrase, go back and give your best guess at the “outside” translation—a colloquial translation that flows smoothly in modern English and sounds like something you’d actually say, in the way you’d actually say it. Then, if necessary, explain what the phrase means, adding any additional background information that would be necessary to help an uninitiated imaginary listener understand what’s going on in that phrase.
Check your understanding: When you have your outside translation or if you are feeling stuck, head to your sugya’s page on this portal and listen to a recording of a faculty member reading and translating each section. If your translation differs from the recording, chase down those differences! Come to our live Open Bet Midrash to learn with Fairy support, reach out to your Fairy over email, or sign up for Fairy Hours.
Unpacking: Along the way, ask yourselves: What does the text say? What does the text mean? And what might the Rabbis have been trying to tell us in saying what they said in the way in which they said it? Beyond the surface content of the text, what might the text be conveying on a meta level about how you, as the learner, are being taught to witness the tradition and how it works? How does the text affect how you witness yourself as a leader and your role vis-à-vis the received tradition and the future of Judaism? How is your process of learning this text helping you gain insight into yourself and the world around you?
3 | Chazara
It’s all about chazara! This is where the magic happens.
Read Inside/Outside: While looking at the text, the chevruta with a stronger grip on the text—let’s call them chevruta (a)—goes first, reading out loud through the text, phrase by phrase, with proper phrasing and pronunciation, and translating both “inside” and “outside,” talking out any necessary explanatory or background information as if teaching the material to an uninitiated listener. Partner (b) should monitor and check very carefully and correct any mistakes immediately.
Switch roles: Now chevruta (b) does the same thing while chevruta (a) monitors and corrects. At the end of this step, both (a) and (b) should understand every individual word, inside and outside, and as many details about each word and phrase as their Hebrew level will allow.
Talk it out: Chevruta (a) should close their masechet (or their daf window or tab) and talk out the text, in English, from memory (without looking at the text at all), in a good, colloquial outside translation, but staying fairly close to the inside translation, moving through the text phrase by phrase, sentence by sentence, to make sure they’re not missing any nuance of the text’s “moves.” The translation should follow the original words of the text closely enough that your chevruta should be able to know, at every point, where you are in the text. Chevruta (b) should be careful to monitor whether they think chevruta (a) really gets it or may not, at every given point. If chevruta (b) suspects there may be a gap or misunderstanding in chevruta (a)’s understanding, they should ask for clarification from chevruta (a). Remember: You are responsible for your chevruta’s learning! And they are responsible for yours.
Switch roles. Now chevruta (b) does the same thing, while chevruta (a) monitors.
4 | Recitation
Recite from memory: Chevruta (a) starts the memorization/internalization part of chazara, reciting the text out, in the original Hebrew/Aramaic, still without looking at the text. You are now producing the text, from within yourself, from your deep understanding of it. This is not a rote recitation. The text should be naturally emerging from inside of you! As soon as a mistake is made, even the most minor, chevruta (b) should correct you by simply saying correctly the word which was mispronounced or missed, and return you “Back to the top!” to begin reciting again, from the beginning. This “Back to the top!” step is very important in the internalization process. Student (a) is not finished until they can recite the entire section without error. Remember: memorization is primarily a means to an end (deep, integrated understanding), not an end in itself (the ability to rattle off a lot of words).
Switch roles. Now chevruta (b) goes through the same process of recitation from memory with (a) monitoring.
The Full Resource Binder
If you want to download or print the full Elul Chevruta Lovefest resource binder, it’s available as a 13pt font PDF (embedded below) and as a 20pt font large print PDF!
Zoom Recordings
Watch (or rewatch) the Zoom recordings for our 1st and 4th live sessions! These videos will be available through October 20(-ish).
Note: The open bet midrash in sessions 2 and 3 will not be recorded.
Teshuva Mekhaperet
The first sugya, Teshuva Mekhaperet, is drawn from the very last mishnah in Masechet Yoma. Witness how the Rabbis invent “teshuva” (relational repair) out of a sacrificial system. Track this journey and explore their understanding of who the Jewish tradition wants us to be and who we want to be.
This sugya might be a good fit for you if: you are hoping to deepen your experience learning mishnah, work through a kra proof, and explore how the Rabbis bring a new spiritual technology into practice. This sugya is in Hebrew only.
If you didn’t request a binder (or you left it at home), you can download all the learning resources for Teshuva Mekhaperet! You’ll also need your masechet or downloadable daf (this includes all dapim for all sugyot).
For the enlarged version of Teshuva Mekhaperet: download the 20pt font PDF for this sugya and download the Supplemental Resources separately. (The Supplemental Resources are not formatted in large print, but you can zoom in or print an enlarged copy on 11×17 paper.)
Find Your Sugya
You’ll find this sugya on Yoma 85b (:פה), starting with the first words of the mishnah: “מתני׳ חטאת ואשם ודאי מכפרין.” The sugya ends with the phrase “עד שירצה את חבירו.” Note that this phrase appears twice—you want to learn through the second appearance!
Text Breakdown & Recordings
We have divided this sugya into five sections, and we recommend learning it in 3-5 sessions with your chevruta. (You might combine sections 1 & 2 and/or 4 & 5 if you want to learn in fewer sessions.)
Once you’ve prepped the text in chevruta and taken your best guess at your “inside translation” and “outside translation,” compare your understanding to the recordings of inside/outside translations found below, and use this as a launching point for the big questions that surface from the text.
2. תשובה מכפרת על עבירות קלות על עשה ועל לא תעשה ועל החמורות הוא תולה עד שיבא יום הכפורים ויכפר
3. האומר אחטא ואשוב אחטא ואשוב אין מספיקין בידו לעשות תשובה אחטא ויום הכפורים מכפר אין יום הכפורים מכפר
4. עבירות שבין אדם למקום יום הכפורים מכפר עבירות שבין אדם לחבירו אין יום הכפורים מכפר עד שירצה את חבירו
5. דרש רבי אלעזר בן עזריה מכל חטאתיכם לפני ה׳ תטהרו עבירות שבין אדם למקום יום הכפורים מכפר עבירות שבין אדם לחבירו אין יום הכפורים מכפר עד שירצה את חבירו
What’s Next?
Once you make it through this sugya, consider exploring some supplemental texts.
The Sifra is a tannaitic midrash which emerged in the same period as the composition of the mishnah. In the Sifra’s midrash on Leviticus 16:30, we find a passage that directly parallels our mishnah. Compare these texts and notice if the differences reveal any new insights.
The Mishneh Torah, Rambam’s 12th C. legal code, lays out the “official rules” of teshuva (as Rambam knows them!) in a section aptly titled “Hilchot Teshuva.” Halachot 1:3, 2:9, and 4:1 directly draw from and expand upon the ideas in this mishnah.
Gedola Teshuva – Short Version
The second sugya, Gedola Teshuva, asks the question “What makes teshuva so great?” Seven sages weigh in with their answers in an epic Rabbinic drash-a-thon. We’re suggesting two options for how to learn this text: the shorter 1-2 session version on this page and a longer version (8-10 sessions) on the next tab. Learn how the Rabbis dealt with the messy reality of human relationships and the complexity of repair.
This sugya might be a good fit for you if: you are dreaming of new ways to understand the power of teshuva, and are interested in learning how the Rabbis use their tradition by reaching for Torah concepts and verses to deepen the practice they’re creating.
If you didn’t request a binder (or you left it at home), you can download all the learning resources for the short version of Gedola Teshuva in a 13pt font PDF or 20pt font PDF! You’ll also need your masechet or downloadable daf (this includes all dapim for all sugyot).
Find Your Sugya
You’ll find the Short Version of this sugya on Yoma 86b (:פו), beginning with the words “אמר ריש לקיש”, about one fifth of the way down the daf. It ends with the words “כאן מאהבה כאן מיראה.”
Text Breakdown & Recordings
We have divided this sugya in two sections, and we recommend learning it in 1-2 sessions with your chevruta.
Once you’ve prepped a section of the sugya in chevruta and taken your best guess at your “inside translation” and “outside translation,” compare your understanding to the recordings of inside/outside translations found below, and use this as a launching point for the big questions that surface from the text.
1. אמר ריש לקיש גדולה תשובה שזדונות נעשות לו כשגגות שנאמר שובה ישראל עד ה׳ אלהיך כי כשלת בעונך הא עון מזיד הוא וקא קרי ליה מכשול
2. איני והאמר ריש לקיש גדולה תשובה שזדונות נעשות לו כזכיות שנאמר ובשוב רשע מרשעתו ועשה משפט וצדקה עליהם (חיה) יחיה לא קשיא כאן מאהבה כאן מיראה
What’s Next?
If you make it through this sugya and are hungry for more, jump into the longer version of this sugya under “Gedola Teshuva – Long Version.” You might want to focus on sections 1-3 and 10.
Gedola Teshuva – Long Version
The second sugya, Gedola Teshuva, asks the question “What makes teshuva so great?” Seven sages weigh in with their answers in an epic Rabbinic drash-a-thon. We’re suggesting two options for how to learn this text: the longer 8-10 session version on this page and a shorter version (1-2 sessions) on the previous tab on the menu. Learn how the Rabbis dealt with the messy reality of human relationships and the complexity of repair.
This sugya might be a good fit for you if: you are dreaming of new ways to understand the power of teshuva, and are interested in learning how the Rabbis use their tradition by reaching for Torah concepts and verses to deepen the practice they’re creating.
If you didn’t request a binder (or you left it at home), you can download all the learning resources for the long version of Gedola Teshuva in a 13pt font PDF or 20pt font PDF! You’ll also need your masechet or downloadable daf (this includes all dapim for all sugyot).
Find Your Sugya
The Long Version begins on Yoma 86a (.פו) with the words “אמר רבי חמא (בר) חנינא גדולה תשובה”, approximately seven lines from the bottom of the daf. The sugya continues onto 86b (:פו) through the statement attributed to Shmuel bar Nachmani, ending with the words “ובשוב רשע מרשעתו (חיו) יחיה.” From there, skip forward six lines and pick up with the words “תניא היה רבי מאיר.” Complete the sugya with the words “אלא ממנו.”
Text Breakdown & Recordings
We have divided this sugya into ten sections, and we recommend learning it in 8-10 sessions with your chevruta. Each section could be learned on its own (except for 7 and 8, which build on each other). Feel free to pick just a few (and if you want a much shorter sugya, check out Gedola Teshuva – Short Version).
Once you’ve prepped the text in chevruta and taken your best guess at your “inside translation” and “outside translation,” compare your understanding to the recordings of inside/outside translations found below, and use this as a launching point for the big questions that surface from the text.
1. אמר רבי חמא (בר) חנינא גדולה תשובה שמביאה רפאות לעולם שנאמר ארפא משובתם אוהבם נדבה
2. רבי חמא (בר) חנינא רמי כתיב שובו בנים שובבים דמעיקרא שובבים אתם וכתיב ארפא משובותיכם לא קשיא כאן מאהבה כאן מיראה
3. רב יהודה רמי כתיב שובו בנים שובבים ארפא משובותיכם וכתיב (הנה) אנכי בעלתי בכם ולקחתי אתכם אחד מעיר ושנים ממשפחה לא קשיא כאן מאהבה או מיראה כאן על ידי יסורין
4. אמר רבי לוי גדולה תשובה שמגעת עד כסא הכבוד שנאמר שובה ישראל עד ה׳ אלהיך
Continue onto daf 86b:
5. אמר רבי יוחנן גדולה תשובה שדוחה את לא תעשה שבתורה שנאמר לאמר הן ישלח איש את אשתו והלכה מאתו והיתה לאיש אחר הישוב אליה עוד הלא חנוף תחנף הארץ ההיא ואת זנית רעים רבים ושוב אלי נאם ה׳
6. אמר רבי יונתן גדולה תשובה (שמקרבת) את הגאולה שנאמר ובא לציון גואל ולשבי פשע ביעקב מה טעם ובא לציון גואל משום דשבי פשע ביעקב
7. אמר ריש לקיש גדולה תשובה שזדונות נעשות לו כשגגות שנאמר שובה ישראל עד ה׳ אלהיך כי כשלת בעונך הא עון מזיד הוא וקא קרי ליה מכשול
8. איני והאמר ריש לקיש גדולה תשובה שזדונות נעשות לו כזכיות שנאמר ובשוב רשע מרשעתו ועשה משפט וצדקה עליהם (חיה) יחיה לא קשיא כאן מאהבה כאן מיראה
9. אמר רבי שמואל בר נחמני אמר רבי יונתן גדולה תשובה שמארכת שנותיו של אדם שנאמר ובשוב רשע מרשעתו (חיו) יחיה
Skip ahead 6 lines:
10. תניא היה רבי מאיר אומר גדולה תשובה שבשביל יחיד שעשה תשובה מוחלין לכל העולם כולו שנאמר ארפא משובתם אוהבם נדבה כי שב אפי ממנו מהם לא נאמר אלא ממנו
Rabbinic Rebuke
The third sugya, Rabbinic Rebuke, is a deep-dive into “tochecha,” or compassionate critique. ”Tochecha” is the act of inviting others to do teshuva for harm they’ve caused you, and is a practice that asks us to, at times, engage in direct communication when we’ve been hurt. In this text you’ll find two tales of Rabbis who exemplify what to do (or what not to do!) after experiencing harm.
This sugya might be a good fit for you if: you want to dive into some Aramaic and learn about tochecha and its relation to teshuva.
If you didn’t request a binder (or you left it at home), you can download all the Rabbinic Rebuke learning resources in a 13pt font PDF or 20pt font PDF! You’ll also need your masechet or downloadable daf (this includes all dapim for all sugyot).
Find Your Sugya
These stories appear in the last lines of Yoma 87a (.פז). Start with the words “רבי זירא כי הוה ליה” and continue through “ומחייה בקועיה וקטליה.”
Text Breakdown & Recordings
We have divided this sugya into four sections, and we recommend learning it in 3-4 sessions with your chevruta. If you are looking for just a taste of Talmud, section 1 stands on its own.
Once you’ve prepped a section of the sugya in chevruta and taken your best guess at your “inside translation” and “outside translation,” compare your understanding to the recordings of inside/outside translations found below, and use this as a launching point for the big questions that surface from the text.
2. רב הוה ליה מילתא בהדי ההוא טבחא לא אתא לקמיה במעלי יומא דכפורי אמר איהו איזיל אנא לפיוסי ליה
3.פגע ביה רב הונא אמר ליה להיכא קא אזיל מר אמר ליה לפיוסי לפלניא אמר אזיל אבא למיקטל נפשא
Our original breakdown included the first four words of section three in the previous section, but as we made recordings, we realized that they fit better here.
4. אזל וקם עילויה הוה יתיב וקא פלי רישא דלי עיניה וחזייה אמר ליה אבא את זיל לית לי מילתא בהדך בהדי דקא פלי רישא אישתמיט גרמא ומחייה בקועיה וקטליה
Elul Dapim
Yoma 85a-87b:
Blessings for Torah Study
Making a blessing before Torah study elevates learning into the realm of mitzvah, the language that the Rabbis used for what mattered most to them. Below are a variety of blessings you might choose. You can also download a PDF of these blessings (large print version).
Brukhah at Ya Elohateinu ruach ha’olam asher keir’vat’nu la’avodatah v’tziv’tavnu la’asok b’divrei torah
Bet Midrash Reference Guide
Hints for Finding the Root
Fairy Hours
Fairies are a beautiful part of the SVARA bet midrash. These folks are here to support the teaching and learning within our community and serve as wisdom-givers and text-wranglers.
If you have a question or need some encouragement, grab some one-on-one (or two-on-one) time with a fairy or faculty member from the list below! Let them help you (and your chevruta) get unstuck in a text, talk Talmud, or just chat about whatever is coming up in your learning.
Zoom Tips
How to change your name
Hover your mouse over your own video feed and click the ⋯ button in the top right corner. Select ‘rename’ and type your name as you would like it to appear. Add your pronouns if you’d like after your name.
Gallery and speaker view
There are two views available in every zoom meeting and you can toggle between them whenever you want. Speaker view enlarges the video of whoever is speaking at the time and switches between speakers as new people begin speaking. (If you want to stick with one person’s feed, even when new people start speaking, see the next tip.) Gallery view shows up to 25 meeting participants in a grid of video feeds. If more than 25 people are in the session, you can scroll between different subsets of participants.
When in speaker view you can switch to gallery view by clicking the speaker view button in the top right corner of the zoom window. When in gallery view you can switch to speaker view by clicking the gallery view button in the top right corner of the zoom window.
Pin a video
The faculty will sometimes use physical whiteboards to present ideas in shiur. If you would like to stay with their video feeds even when other participants are speaking, you can pin their video by hovering your mouse over their video feed, click the ⋯ button in the top right corner, and select ‘pin video’.
Hide your own video
If you want to stop seeing your own video feed, hover your mouse over your own video feed, click the ⋯ button in the top right corner, and select ‘Hide Self View’. Note well: Hiding self-view keeps your camera on and other participants will still be able to see you. If you want to turn your video feed off for everyone, turn off your video.
Turn off your video
In the toolbar at the bottom of the screen, click ‘stop video’.
Turning on closed captioning
Closed captioning will be available throughout our shiurim. To turn on captioning, select the CC button from the toolbar at the bottom of the window.
Unfortunately, chat notifications interfere visually with the closed captioning. To avoid this challenge, click the chat button in the toolbar to open the chat feed in a side panel, and thereby shut off the notifications.
Increase the size of the chat and captions
Step 1: Log into zoom and hit your profile icon in the top right corner
Step 2: From the drop down menu that will pop up, select ‘Settings.’
Step 3: Select the “Accessibility” settings at the end of the list
Step 4: Move the slider to adjust the closed captions size. Below the sample closed captions, you can choose how big you’d like your chat to be.
Bonus: While on a zoom call, click the chat box as if you were going to write a message. If on a mac: hold down the “command” key and then hit the “+” key to increase the chat font size or “-” to decrease! If on a PC: hold down the “ctrl” key and then hit the “+” key to increase the chat font size or “-” to decrease.
Controlling the size of a screen share
Facilitators will periodically use ‘screen share’ to share important information with you in writing. Screen share produces a split-screen effect in which you will see the shared content on the left pane and the speaker’s video feed on the right. You can control the size of these two panes by clicking the center of the bar separating the two panes and dragging left or right.
Community Norms
SVARA envisions a future in which liberatory expressions of Judaism equip individuals and communities to realize a just and healed world. As a learning community, we hold ourselves to a set of cultural norms to help shape a bet midrash experience that enables each person to be fully present, supported, and nurtured.
We know that building a culture that is responsive, healing, and connective is not static work. And just as we approach our time in the bet midrash as a space to practice liberatory learning, we know the work of creating a community that is growthful takes time and practice. We hold the wisdom of bell hooks in our commitment to keep striving:
“The classroom, with all its limitations, remains a location of possibility. In that field of possibility we have the opportunity to labor for freedom, to demand of ourselves and our comrades, an openness of mind and heart that allows us to face reality even as we collectively imagine ways to move beyond boundaries, to transgress. This is education as the practice of freedom.”
Thank you for your partnership in growing this incredible movement, for holding us accountable to our actions, and for your commitment to holding these community norms as they evolve over time.
We understand our project as queer in our effort to move towards a more just, inclusive and accessible world in which all people are able to live out their most fully human lives by allowing the insights of those on the margins to be brought to bear on the world.
Queerness is about thinking, living, and learning in radical ways. It is about challenging society’s norms not only related to gender and sexuality, but also more broadly challenging the silences and injustices around us, while creating subversive, brave, joyful culture that celebrates who we are. Like Jewish insight, queer insight is drawn from the experience of being on the margins and the wisdom gained from it. We believe that in their creativity, resilience, and radicalism, the Rabbis of the Talmud were queer. The innovators of the Jewish future will be queer. To be deeply Jewish is to be queer.
There are folks in our batei midrash with many different identities, and we are committed to making sure that everyone feels comfortable bringing their most dazzling, embodied, fabulous queer selves into the room. We invite you to bring the full range of your experiences and identities to the learning, something queer folks are rarely invited to do in Jewish community. We also welcome allies, and are grateful for their self-awareness and humility while engaging with queer culture and participating in queer-normative space. We ask that you:
share your pronouns and take care to respect the pronouns of everyone in the space
don’t ask someone about their identity and experience without their consent
honor the names that folks use no matter what
share what you’re comfortable with about your identity and honor others’ self-determination as well.
changes to names and/or pronouns, for any reason, are welcomed and respected.
Throughout history, the Talmud has been accessible to just 1% of Jews. We believe in expanding the Talmud’s teaching to the other 99%, and we commit to ensuring accessibility in the bet midrash for all people who are seeking to learn.
All of our online programming includes:
live captioning
ample breaks to help reduce screen fatigue
low teacher-student ratios
materials that are compatible with screen readers
When we are in person, we utilize venues that meet or exceed ADA requirements and allow full access to folks who use scooters, wheelchairs, and other mobility tools, and we seek out locations that are easily accessible by public transportation.
We invite participants to share specific access needs with us in all of our registration processes and do our best to support our learners by designing an environment that works for them. Identities and access needs shared privately with the staff will never be shared outside of SVARA’s administrative team and immediate teaching team, and anything shared internally is on a need-to-know basis. All participants are expected to show the same level of discretion when their peers share personal information.
As a general rule, we invite each person to reflect on the ways in which we occupy positions of privilege, as opposed to asking those who are in a marginalized group to explain their oppression. These kinds of inquiries may be experienced as intrusive, insensitive, misguided, or hurtful – so be mindful before asking questions.
If you feel uncomfortable with the way another participant is engaging in the space, please reach out to a staff person privately to let them know. The SVARA bet midrash is, in its most powerful moments, a healing space and we ask everyone to treat each other with kindness and love.
We stive to be an anti-racist space, which we understand to mean one that is actively working to dismantle white supremacy culture and lift up the voices and insights of Black people, Indigenous people, and People of Color in our community. Guided by SVARA’s Justice & Equity committee we are committed to:
donating 1% of our earned income each year to organizations and projects that lift up and center BIPOC identities
building and deepening relationships with BIPOC SVARA-niks and members of the broader queer Jewish community to develop a pipeline of folks joining our learning community, the Teaching Kollel, and SVARA’s board
creating a protocol for addressing racist acts and speech if and when they arise in our programs or through interpersonal interactions in our spaces
creating a safety and security plan with built-in alternatives to policing that we will put into action when we gather again in person
reviewing and updating our hiring practices to ensure that they are anti-racist and liberatory
ongoing assessment and advanvancements to SVARA’s culture, policies, and programming
SVARA is a home for queer and radical Torah, and we are committed to building a culture where we are all students and teachers to each other. We strive to create an environment of mutual respect, where a myriad of voices and perspectives are welcome. We believe that words create worlds, and we commit to thoughtful speech with integrity. We invite you to play an active role in manifesting this commitment by:
holding a posture of curiosity when encountering something new or uncomfortable
listening to understand rather than listening to respond
using a “yes, and” framework to add to conversation & learning
noticing when you’re talking more than others and thoughtfully choosing where you might offer your voice (take space / make space)
showing respect for the person sharing while challenging the idea being shared
striving not to deliberately or inadvertently undermine, disrespect, or dehumanize another person’s identity or experience
reaching out to a staff member when in need of resources about unfamiliar identities and experiences
Inevitably, there are moments where we let one another down, misstep, misspeak, hurt others, or get hurt ourselves. This is part of the deal when building community (not to mention when just being human!), and it can get messy. Harm can happen on multiple levels and we are here to nurture a community where it’s okay to own mistakes and work towards repairing them. While we always strive to reach resolutions that lead to an ongoing relationship with SVARA, we reserve the right to restrict people from learning with us for a given period of time or, in some cases, indefinitely, as they move through a teshuva process.
Harm from Surfacing Past Events
We welcome you to the bet midrash in your current context, as the person you are today. And we also recognize that each of us brings a personal history to SVARA—some aspects that we’re proud of and some aspects that we wish we could have done differently. Even as we attempt to make SVARA as safe a space as possible, there may be times that the struggles someone else brings to the table will be difficult for you or create an issue for you. If you are triggered by something in another participant’s past, we invite you to reach out to a staff member for support.
Harm Between Participants in the Present Moment
If you experience harm or are concerned you may have harmed someone else, please reach out to a staff member for support. We’re here to listen, to support processes of transformative repair whenever possible, and to remind you all that you’re human and humans make mistakes. We might invite you to engage in a process of teshuva, the Jewish spiritual practice of acknowledging and repairing harm and asking for forgiveness (invented by our oh-so-queer talmudic ancestors!), and are happy to talk you through how that could work.
Harm Between Participants and SVARA’s Staff, Faculty, or Fairies
Our team is committed to embodying the steps of transformative repair that we ask of our community and we take your feedback and trust seriously. We are always open to direct feedback about any ways in which we may have caused or perpetuated harm in our learning spaces. If you experience harm in the bet midrash from a staff member or teacher, and feel that it’s too challenging for whatever reason to engage the person directly, please reach out to Ayana or Becky (our executive director and board chair, respectively) who can help guide you through next steps. Your feedback to Ayana or Becky will remain confidential unless you request otherwise, and you are welcome to request that your feedback be offered to a staff person or teacher anonymously.
Accessibility
Throughout history, the Talmud has been accessible to just 1% of Jews. We believe in expanding the Talmud’s teaching to the other 99%, and we commit to ensuring accessibility in the bet midrash for all people who are seeking to learn.
We invite you to share specific access needs with us in all of our registration processes, and we’ll do our best to incorporate your requests as much as possible to ensure that the bet midrash is an environment that supports your learning.
Below, you will find the latest accessibility systems we are using to support our online learning. We know that systems don’t always work, or fail to live up to their greatest dreamiest potential. If something isn’t going right for you in a learning space, please be in touch with your fairies, your facilitator, Elaina, or Olivia, SVARA’s point people for supporting access needs.
Access Information for Online Shiurim
In Shiur
We learn for 1.5-2 hours at a time on Zoom. There is a break scheduled for all learners during 2-hour shiurim. At all times, you are welcome to sit, stand, lay down, stretch, get a snack, drink some water, and take breaks according to your own needs. Please do what you need to do to take care of your body and yourself!
Feel free to turn your video on/off as needed throughout the session. While you are encouraged to have your video on during shiur, we honor that at times learners may need to have their cameras off. You always have the option of declining to read when you’re called on, and teachers will not call on you if you have your video off unless you have previously notified the teacher otherwise.
All full-group learning will be live-captioned by our captioning team, and all Zoom rooms support automatic integrated live-captioning. At various moments throughout our sessions, we may make use of breakout groups for chevruta (one-on-one learning) and smaller group discussion spaces of 3-6 people. Upon registration, you will be asked if you would like your chevruta and breakout groups to be captioned by one of the members of our captioning team.
All shiurim provide instructions for using Zoom, as well as options for increasing contrast and font size on your screen.
Learning Materials
We have large-print copies of materials available to send along with printed materials. If you would like enlarged printed materials, please indicate this on your registration form and we will send them to you. Many students also choose to use a magnifying glass to read small print texts—we recommend the Magnabrite Magnifier.
Each shiur session will have an online learning portal with all bet midrash materials available digitally. Materials will be available in 13-point font, 20-point font, and in Google Doc formats compatible with screen reader technology and other formatting options.
After each session, we will upload recordings of the session, along with the Hebrew/Aramaic pronunciation of the text covered and inside/outside translations of the text onto the Class Portal.
There are two dictionaries that you will use when learning Talmud in the original at SVARA (or anywhere else!): a “Jastrow,” and a “Frank.” Below you will find descriptions for how to access these dictionaries.
A “Jastrow”—Dictionary of the Targumim, Talmud Bavli, Talmud Yerushalmi and Midrashic Literature, by Marcus Jastrow
You can access this dictionary in a printed bound book, or online. Only you know what you need in order to learn best! We encourage when possible to use printed and paper materials and recommend, if accessible to you, a paper copy of the Jastrow dictionary.
About the printed Jastrow Dictionary:
The typeface in printed editions of the Jastrow Dictionary is quite small. Many of our learners and teachers use a Magnabrite magnifying glass to help increase the size and clarity of the printing. You can find these magnifiers here!
Some folks find the online versions of the dictionary more accessible for various reasons. Below is information about the various online editions:
About the online Jastrow Dictionary:
The Jastrow dictionary is available online in several forms. We recommend the following two options:
Option #1 is the Tyndale Archive Jastrow Dictionary. This is a complete scan of the printed dictionary. You can find your dictionary entry by the first letter of the word you are looking up and then selecting the first word on the page that will contain your entry. You can enlarge the scanned pages of this dictionary by using the interface’s built-in enlargement tools which are available in the page header. Some benefits of using this option include that it feels more like the book – if your chevruta is using a printed dictionary, you will be looking at the exact same thing and can share page numbers, and you will reinforce learning the order of the alef bet.
Option #2 is the Jastrow Dictionary on Sefaria. With this option you can type the root or word you are looking for into a search box (via the onscreen Hebrew keyboard) and jump directly to an entry. You may need to scroll backward and forward from there because there can be multiple entries for the same term. Sefaria includes a built-in function to adjust the font size which you can access by selecting the “Aא” button on the upper right side of the page. Some benefits of using this option are that the digitized text is clearer than the Tyndale Archive’s scans and Sefaria is compatible with screen reader technology. Some challenges are that it is harder to get on the “same page” as your chevruta (there are no page numbers), and sometimes the search function takes you to unexpected places.
A “Frank”—Practical Talmud Dictionary, by Yitzhak Frank
A note about the “Frank”: It has come to our attention that this dictionary is currently not in print and finding a copy of a Frank might be difficult. We will ensure that any entries that are relevant to your learning will be scanned and placed on the portal for you to use during this class.
If purchasing dictionaries or a magnifying glass is beyond your means, please be in touch with Olivia.
Financial Access
No one will be turned away for lack of funds: during the registration process, you will be asked to identify the tuition amount that you would like to pay. All classes have a sliding scale tuition structure. If the tuition scale remains prohibitive, you will be offered the opportunity to make a meaningful contribution that is right-sized for your budget. You will be asked to choose a tuition or contribution amount in step two of SVARA’s two-step enrollment process.
Payment options include the opportunity to pay all at once or in a 2- or 3-installment pay plan.
If you have any other needs for making your learning experience with SVARA accessible, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us. We’re learning more each day about how to make online learning more accessible, and we’re grateful to everyone who shares feedback and ideas!
