Learn how to learn, and discover what the Talmud is all about.
Instructors: Ari L. Monts/Emet and Kendra Watkins
Schedule: Tuesdays, 8–10 pm ET, March 10–May 19 (skipping April 7 for Pesach)
Prerequisites: All are welcome, regardless of previous learning experiences
Queer Talmud for Beginners Mind is a beginner’s bet midrash (learning space). We’ll discover how to learn in chevruta (accountable paired learning) while building the skills to read and translate rabbinic text in the original Hebrew. This spring, we will be learning a well-known sugya from Bava Kama, paying close attention to its structure and common devices of talmudic argumentation. While on the surface this text deals with the laws of bodily injuries, a deeper analysis of it reveals much about how the Rabbis dealt with biblical concepts and aspects of their received tradition that they could no longer morally live with. We will expand our Talmud learning toolkit and develop our own analyses and relationships to sacred text in light of the ethical dilemmas of our time. Whether this is your first time, your first time in a long time, or your first time learning in the SVARA method, we’re excited to learn with you!
Who is this space for?
New SVARA-niks and new Talmud learners who know the alef-bet (you may have just learned it!)
Structure:
- We’ll meet once a week on Tuesdays from 8–10pm ET
- There are ten sessions and regular attendance is expected
- Chevruta and shiur are combined into each weekly session (Not sure what this means yet? That’s okay!)
- No “homework” required between sessions
- Learners may opt to receive a package from SVARA that includes the hard copies of our learning materials.
- Two dictionaries are required: Frank & Jastrow
- If you require captioning to access this learning, you can request it in our enrollment form!
More information
A timeline of what to expect once you apply.
Applications for Queer Talmud for Beginners Mind will be accepted on a rolling basis and reviewed by our faculty admissions team regularly. You can expect to hear back from us within two weeks of your submission.
SVARA is committed to financial accessibility for our students.
Tuition at SVARA is always pay-what-you-can, and no one will ever be turned away for lack of funds. We firmly believe that our learning spaces are made better by having participants from wide and varying socioeconomic backgrounds, and we never want learners to undergo financial tension to access learning. When we say ‘no one will ever be turned away for lack of funds’, we mean it.
SVARA uses your tuition to defray the costs related to accessibility, program tech, teaching, and administrative support. The bottom of our scale reflects the “hard cost” of our program, which covers the costs of accessibility, program tech, and materials. The top of our sliding scale reflects the “true cost” of our programs, which includes accessibility, program tech, and materials, as well as teaching and administrative support. The sliding scale for Queer Talmud for Beginners Mind is $275-$725.
We strive to make learning at SVARA empowering and comfortable for everyone. All of our learning spaces follow our accessibility protocols and aspire to our community norms.
We are committed to ensuring that learning at SVARA is broadly and specifically accessible for our students. The application forms we use include places to designate any access needs you may have, which are always held alongside the following accessibility norms:
Print and Digital Materials
We produce digital and print materials to support learning at SVARA, using a 13-point font size and 8.5 × 11” paper sizes. Enlarged SVARA materials use a 20-point font size. Materials that come from Hebrew texts or reference books are enlarged to 11 × 17. SVARA’s digital materials are designed to be accessible with screen readers.
Many of our learners and teachers use a Magnabrite magnifying glass to help increase the size and clarity of the printing. We also recommend this magnifier with two flat edges, which can fit in closer to the inner binding of a book.
Timing and Breaks
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.
Live Captions
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.
Video Settings
We ask that all students avoid using virtual backgrounds or blurred backgrounds, as these types of backgrounds can trigger migraines. If you need to make specific plans to be in a place where your background can be visible, please do so.