Elements of This Teaching Guide

Aim:  To introduce (or reintroduce) students to the general page layout and key components of the Talmud. Students will become familiar with the location on the “daf”[1] of the Mishna, Gemara, and Talmudic commentaries. They will also come to better appreciate the historical setting in which the Talmud was composed, together with the personal histories of its primary contributors and later commentators.

Rationale: Talmud or Gemara forms one of the most fundamental aspects of our Judaic Studies curriculum. It serves as the basis of halachic[2] decisions, and provides us with the information, skills and direction to properly understand our distinct roles and obligations as Jews.

    While we as teachers frequently make basic assumptions about our students’ background knowledge pertaining to this vital subject, these notions oftentimes prove erroneous. Many students lack the basic knowledge and skills to effectively learn Gemara. Some never mastered the daf layout and become easily confused and disheartened when trying to locate the Mishna or Rashi’s commentary.

    Even more disturbing is the lack of awareness by our students about the personal lives behind the words that they are studying. Students often struggle to identify a sage as a Tanna, Amora, or Rishon. In addition, they lack the necessary background to appreciate the historical factors that contribute to halachic decisions. The Talmud is presented in narrative form largely to introduce the individuals and specific circumstances that influenced the suggestion or law. Without a proper appreciation of who these individuals were, what they accomplished, and the general world in which they lived, our students will receive an incomplete picture of the Torah that they are learning.

Goals and objectives:

Audience and pre-requisites: The project is designed for Jewish high school students with a limited background in Talmud. In addition to possessing basic web navigation skills,

students involved in this project should be able to use a prepared resource list to research information and engage in cooperative analysis and discussion.

Subject Matter: This webquest is specifically focused on the layout and historical background of the Talmud. Each pair will work collectively to create a mock daf layout to help synthesize their learning into one cohesive format.

Instructional plan:  The students will be paired into groups of two. Every group has the same task: To answer the related questions and create a mock daf layout. All of the responsibilities are divided equally.

    The students will begin work on this assignment independently, outside of class. Each will have five days to research and answer their respective questions. The students will then have an additional six days to synthesize their answers and create a cohesive mock daf layout, which applies the researched information to the Talmud “page”.

    During this process, the teacher will be available to facilitate the learning process by clarifying instructions when necessary, answering questions, and assisting students in their research. He will also explain any unclear areas of study.

Materials: This lesson is designed to be wholly web-based. All of the necessary information is included in the provided links. All hardware should be capable of handling extensive web navigation and the downloading of large files and images.

Assessment and evaluation: A scoring rubric will be utilized for assessment. The rubric contains a list of the required tasks to be completed and provides a sliding point system with which to assess each group’s fulfillment of its tasks.