Teaching Talmud: Again and for the First Time

Every Monday morning this autumn, Rabbi Dvora Weisberg, Ph.D. arranged virtual chairs in a virtual circle and opened her Talmud to a page hand-picked for a very special group of students. The Zoom room fills with Hebrew Union College alumni—some who were ordained decades ago, others more recently, all gathering to discuss the finer points of a Talmudic argument, debate, or legal interpretation. Rabbi Weisberg, the Rabbi Aaron D. Panken Professor of Rabbinics, who has taught Talmud for more than twenty years, describes these sessions as unlike any class she’s led before. “There wasn’t an overarching theme,” says Weisberg. “Each week we did something completely different. These are Rabbis, professionals, and I wanted them to see Talmudic stories that I thought might be interesting to them and that raised questions about human interactions. What does it mean when rabbis treat people well? What does it mean when rabbis don’t treat people well? So, in a sense, it was a relational class.”

The class is the result of Hebrew Union College making strides toward teshuvah, and it exists because alumni asked for it. During listening circles and through conversations with alumni, a clear pattern emerged: many felt their education had been incomplete, cut off by the behavior of certain leaders and professors over the years. One specific recommendation? Talmud. Now, former students who once felt excluded from the beit midrash, and some who simply wanted more of a good thing, gathered weekly to master texts and skills they were searching for.

For many participants, this is a profound relief—they are finally receiving the engaging Talmud education they should have received as students but were denied due to the very circumstances the institution is now trying to address. Rabbi Eric Weiss was one of those former students. He raised his hand as soon as the College asked for alumni to weigh in on the harm caused, and he was intrigued when someone suggested that Talmud be reoffered. “I was ordained feeling like I did not have a brain for Talmud, and it felt like, what’s wrong with my brain? What’s wrong with me? One of the reasons why this was healing is because I discovered that I actually do have a brain for Talmud!”

The class is both an opportunity for continuing education and an act of institutional teshuvah, recognizing that repentance requires not just acknowledgment of harm but active repair. By specifically addressing the educational gaps caused by harassment and exclusion, the program attempts to restore some of what was taken. Participants study some of the same Talmudic texts about repentance, community, and justice that they might have learned years ago, bringing their life experiences to bear on ancient debates.

Rabbi Ariel Friedlander ’96, who currently serves the progressive Jewish community in Italy, expressed that after her initial brush with Talmud, she was left “incredibly insecure for the next 30 years in any situation with my peers where Talmud was discussed.” She contrasts this feeling with the six weeks with Rabbi Weisberg. “Dvora’s just amazing. She presented the material in a way that was accessible, and inclusive, and interesting, and entertaining.”

Rabbi Weisberg notes the honor of teaching this class. “I am a teacher of Jewish texts. My goal for this experience is to offer alumni, including those who had negative experiences in their Talmud classes, the opportunity to (re)engage with the Talmud in a positive and intellectually stimulating way.”

And there were many alumni who simply jumped at the opportunity to continue a study they love. Rabbi Andy Klein “fell in love with Talmud during my studies at Hebrew Union College with Rabbi Michael Chernick, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus of Rabbinic Literature. At the same time, I was studying Talmud Lishma with Rabbi Benay Lappe. I love that Talmud presents so many divergent opinions, letting the students decide answers for themselves. I enjoy the humor that the Talmud presents, and I like its flow from one subject to the next.”

There is one thing everyone can agree on. As Rabbi Weisberg put it, “policies don’t matter. What matters is how people behave. I think that whenever you educate, you have to remember that what you teach your students by your own behavior is probably twice as impactful as the material that you teach them.”

Rabbi Weiss echoes that sentiment. “In a million years, I would never have considered signing up for anything that had to do with Talmud. Not a lecture, not a… whatever. I just would delete it, I would get rid of it, I wouldn’t open it. And now, I cannot wait to get one of those invitations. And a big part of that wasn’t just the material, it was Dvora.”

Says Rabbi Friedlander, “The purpose is the process. I’m not necessarily trying to find the answer. I’m looking to add a perspective to how I look at relationships. Now Talmud seems less scary and it feels more possible that I could explore it some more. The class feels like a gift. Even if it’s a reparation, it’s a really good one.”