Thursday, July 22, 2010

Jerusalem Shiur: Tisha Be'Av & the Anvetanut of Zecharia Ben Avkulus

Rabbi Yochanan explains that the Temple was destroyed and the Jewish people exiled due to what he terms the Anvetanut or Rabbi Zecahria Ben Avkulus.

But what is Anvetanut, and what sort of person is Zecharia Ben Avkulus?


Is he too 'right wing' or too 'left wing'?

Too moderate or too conservative?

And what can the story teach us about dealing with contemporary issues?

Click here for the
audio recording. Click here for the source sheet.

Wednesday, July 07, 2010

Tuesday Tel Aviv Torah: Rabbinic 'Meekness' and the Destruction of the Temple

Why is the Second Temple ultimately destroyed? And how can we prevent further national disasters?

In this week's Shiur, we focused on the story describing the Roman siege of Jerusalem and the city's ultimate destruction. Despite the usual suspects who hold responsibility for the tragedy - the Romans, Bar Kamtza or the Jewish zealots who burned down the storehouses as Jerusalem was under siege - Rabbi Yochanan chooses to pin the blame on one of the Rabbis – Zecharia Ben Avkulus and his 'anvetanut', generally translated as 'meekness'.

Through studying the story in the Gemara in context, as well as looking at some recent articles on Zecharia Ben Avkulus, its possible to suggest an understanding of what 'anvetanut' could mean and its contemporary relevance for us today.

Click here for the
audio recording. Click here for the source sheet.

Thursday, July 01, 2010

Tuesday Tel Aviv Torah: Torah From Heaven (part 2)

Following on from last week's look at what Torah Min Hashamayim could mean, this week's shiur focused on certain problems regarding the Maximalist understanding of Torah Min Hashamayim (that all of the Torah was dictated by God to Moshe), and looked at other sources that suggest viewing the concept of Torah from Heaven in a different way.

Click here for the
audio recording. Click here for the source sheet.