Classes will meet on Wednesdays 2/2, 2/9, 2/16, 2/23 from 10:00am-11:00am (on Zoom only).

Schmoozing will be from 11:00am-11:30am.

In the course of Jewish History, we’ve been blessed with some great minds: Moses, Samuel, Isaiah. Later, we were blessed with the minds of Rabbi Akiva, Rabbi Yishmael, Rabbi Yochanan (who is attributed the editing of the Jerusalem Talmud). Still later, we see the works of Maimonides, and the Gaon of Vilna. All of them had, what you might call, encyclopedic knowledge.

One individual who stands out is Rabbi Solomon son of Isaac, better known as “Rashi.” The sheer scope of his work includes commentaries on the Torah, most of the Bible, and most of the Babylonian Talmud. Another aspect that stands out is Rashi’s ability to encapsulate complicated topics in a succinct way.

Our course will examine, “from the inside,” Rashi’s commentary on the Torah. Students will be able to experience for themselves the way in which this intellectual giant deconstructs passages in the Torah serving a host of sources to us on a platter to allow us to “read between the lines.”