The NLE Thinking Gemara series introduces the depth and breadth of Gemara study to students with limited Jewish background.
Audience
The shiurim are especially geared for college students, young professionals and adults in outreach frameworks, but they can also serve as the basis for shiurim for motivated high school students. You can use the shiurim in a formal class setting or as source material for chavrutah learning.
Content
The shiurim are topic driven, addressing a series of contemporary cases through relevant sources in Torah, Mishnah, gemara, rishonim and achronim. These shiurim are designed to be an educational and inspirational gateway to Talmudic thought and logic. Each gemara shiur provides enough content for an educator to be prepared to teach a given sugiya based on carefully selected Hebrew (menukad) – English maarey makomot.
Format
Each shiur features Teacher’s and Student’s Guides. The classes appear in both Word and graphically enhanced PDF formats to either print out the shiurim in their entirety or to copy and paste to build a class according to your specifications. We want to provide each educator with the greatest possible flexibility.
How much material to teach per session is left up to each rabbi. The shiurim were not designed to fit into a specific amount of teaching time. Each shiur features several cases which can be taught over approximately one to three sessions, depending on how much of the material the rabbi wants to include in a given class, and how much of each session is dedicated to chavrutah learning and discussion.
Interactivity
Each rabbi can decide the best way to maximize the interactive potential of these shiurim. For example, you can teach all the students to engage them in group discussions and debate and / or divide the students into chavrutot for varying periods during each shiur to:
- discuss potential solutions to each case before analyzing the pertinent sources
- present a case and then analyze a selected number of maarey makomot or
- examine a specific question raised in the shiur
Classes Require Preparation and Personal Input
Each educator must invest the time to master the material so they become your classes. Moreover, integrating your own material and stories will add a personal touch, making the strongest impact on your students.