During Aaron's morning shiur, we returned as a group to many of the sections we had only sparsely read, and also worked our way through Rashi's long explanation of the story of Baya the tax-collector. I've finally found the place where I read this story, as a freshman or sophomore in high school -- the story went under the title "The Witches of Ashkelon," and appeared in Elijah's Violin and other Jewish Fairy Tales, a book that I had found downstairs on my parents' bookshelf. We discussed the debate between Rabbi Yehudah and the other Sages about what constitutes יפה מתה, which involved cross-referencing a seemingly contradictory debate in Mishnah Sotah. Although I can't be certain, I believe that we also discussed how preservation of the body's integrity became an important priority in the Rabbinic literature concerning capital punishment, and for this reason, the בית הסקילה was only the equivalent of three people's stature in height Monday afternoon, I had to leave class very abruptly to resolve a personal issue that I knew that I would need to address before leaving New York City. By the time I returned, I had missed Jon's afternoon class on Kavod Ha-Met, and I simply returned to New Jersey, arriving relatively early, shortly after 8:00 pm. Many of my fellow student gathered in Fiona's apartment that afternoon for a party, which I was sorry to miss. However, as those of you who read this blog are aware by now, I have a long commute, and sleep little enough as is. I had a distance chevruta with Josh that evening, and we read the first sugya of Makkot together. It was quite enjoyable, although I admit that I would have been in deep trouble had I not read the sugya beforehand in the ArtScroll Talmud that I had found on Shabbat in the Rabbi's house.
This week, I had my typical 4:45 am start to my Tuesday, and still needed to jog a bit to catch the 5:46 am train out of Millburn. I did, however, arrive at Drisha in time for my 7:30 am class, and even had time to pick up some figs from a street vendor. Esther was teaching that morning in place of Aaron, and we read some contemporary Israeli poetry, which I'm rather certain I understood less than anyone else in the room. I switched minyanim on Tuesday morning, which confused quite a few people, who know me to consistently attend one rather than the other. Regardless, Abbie and I worked very hard at learning our Gemara that morning. We ended up reading some sugyot from chapter seven of the Gemara (we're studying chapter 6) in order to understand the other forms of capital punishment proposed by the Rabbis, since our mishnah principally addresses סקילה. Aaron managed to bring some interesting comparative sources, in order to show us what kind of methods were being used by the nations among whom the Amoraim lived. Fiona, Ariel, Brenda, and a few other students have gotten in contact with me concerning the end-of-term spiel. It looks as if I'm going to need to try to be funny -- I wonder how that will turn out? Tuesday afternoon, in Yaffa's Mishnah class, Talia and I read the sixth and seventh chapters of Sanhedrin; Yaffa brought out a great argument with Halakhic Midrash and other Second Temple literature in order to explain the seeming invention of חנק by the Rabbis. The argument went that some of the earlier Tannaim (Rabbi Eliezer) probably assumed that the default means of execution was סקילה, and that it was Yehudah Ha-Nasi who definitively made חנק into the default. Quite a few Cornellians visited Drisha Tuesday afternoon during open learning night. Eli and Josefin were there, as usual, but Ezra also showed up, too, and spent Wednesday with us, too. Ilan appeared, too, although, as with last week, I didn't have much opportunity to speak with him. Josefin and I continued to study Hilchot Teshuvah, finishing the second chapter and beginning the third. Devorah gave her penultimate class on the Aggadah of Yavneh, discussing the narrative of the argument over the Oven of Achnai, and of the fight that breaks out between Rabbi Eliezer and the rest of the Sages. As always, Devorah tried extremely hard to explain the narrative in relation to the other narratives we've learned, and to make the readers drop their preconceived notions about the story's meaning. Now that I've studied the beginning of tractate Megillah with Rav Ami, I was struck by how Rabban Gamliel's statement to the wave is identical to that of Yonatan ben Uzziel response to the earthquake; both involve natural disasters and a bat kol. I have no idea how to account for this.
On Wednesday, I overslept an hour, and, were it not for Eduardo's sympathy for me, I would not have made it to Drisha on time. He drove me to the station, where I caught my 6:57 am train by less than a 60-second margin. I arrived at Drisha on time, and had an excellent morning shiur again. Abbie and I delved again into the Gemara, focusing on the obligation of תלויה, and to whom it applied. Aaron brought sources from the Dead Sea Scroll, the New Testament, and two Aramaic Targumim, in order to elucidate just how differently the same strangely-worded Biblical passage could be interpreted. We also looked a Sanhedrin Tosefta, told in the name of Rabbi Elazar Tzadok, in order to better understand just how שרפה was expected to be carried out, comparing it to a similar Baraita in our Gemara. I discussed the Spiel more with Ariel, and led Minchah, making mistakes as I always do: I become incredibly self-conscious, and trip over my own words, and unable to articulate anything correctly. In the afternoon, I had Jon's class again, picking up my chevruta with Ranana where I had left it off last week. We struggled through what was easily the most linguistically-challenging Aggada (from Berachot 18b-19a) I have ever seen, a trio of stories from the Bavli about the possibility of continued consciousness after death. Thank goodness we were using Koren's study-aid, and could look it up for the obscure words -- which was really all of them (how was I supposed to know the Aramaic word for "eye-shadow?"). I continued to study mishnayot by myself until 7:00 am. I finished Bava Batra, although I needed Ezra's help to understand the concluding mishnah about guarantors of loans. Rabbi Yishmael has a student who makes a very intelligent point, and Rabbi Yishmael goes on extensive praise of the student for his cleverness. The student's name is... בן ננס. Yes, if spoken quickly, it sounds like "bananas." Which inspired Ezra with the following joke: who is Sarah Sonenberg's favorite Tanna? בן ננס. Yes, bad, I know; bad enough for the KOACH weekend update. Later that evening were further installments on the series of Judaism as Art and Meta-Halakhah. In the former, we discussed intention in the Shemoneh Esrei, and in the second, the guest-speaker spoke about the uniqueness of each iteration of a repeating event, and about making the right decision when you know that your choice affects your entire community.
Today, I was up with lots of energy at 5:45 am, and had a great day. I had hagbah (again -- a repeating theme) in the morning. Aaron had told us all that he was going to be late, and so the class did its best to function well until he arrived. The theme of the day was Rabbi Meir's understanding of תלויה, and why the victim needs to be taken down. This is all a very puzzling mitzvah, because the Rabbis make it clear that they do not want תלויה to be a public spectacle. Denise and I continued to discuss this after class -- she didn't understand why the Rabbis insisted on interpreting תלויה as an obligation, but then refusing to perform it in any sort of serious way, very much contrary to the way that they seem to want people to observe most mitzvot. In the afternoon, Talia and I read chapters 8 and 9 of Mishnah Sanhedrin. I was getting quite tired, and the discussion afterwards with the rest of Yaffa's class, about a teaching in the name of Rabbi Yehudah that originated in Israel, but was brought to Bavel, corrupted, then brought back, rather confused me. I ended up getting in a low-animosity debate with Avi about the reason for five whole mishnayot devoted to the process of judging the בן סורר ומורה. There are five mishnayot on the situation, which together make the entire situation entirely impossible. Avi and I differed mostly in our willingness to offer explanations for why there are (relatively) so many mishnayot to a negated mitzvah. Uncharacteristically, I was the less skeptical, and was ready with several explanations. I think that I'm both less sensitive to criticism in Torah than in my secular studies, as well as more willing to admit that I'm wrong. I don't know what that is.
During evening seder today, after a good conversation with Julie, I read about half of Mishnah Sanhedrin by myself before the Thursday night Tish, that lasted until around 9:00 pm. There's a utilities problem back at the CJL, I need to finish suit-shopping for Andrew's wedding, my laundry is in the dryer, it looks as if I'll be getting under four hours' sleep tonight (again), and I'm trying to get in touch with Sam about the wedding. I'm really, really looking forward to Shabbat, though. After completing a Top Secret mission with the awesome Isaac Choua on behalf of Devorah, I'll be participating in Drisha's second Shabbaton of June term. I need to prepare a Devar Torah for tomorrow night. Uh, oh. Regardless, I'd like to express my gratitude to Ranana for getting me a place to stay, as well as to Neesa and Danielle, who made certain that I would have a place to sleep, and to Aaron Levy and Lazar Polevoy, who were willing to allow me to stay in their apartment, if I couldn't find anywhere else to stay.
Have a Shabbat Shalom, cool people! Again, I apologize for typos and misremembered events!
~JD
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