Online Beit Midrash

Bring Nishmat’s Beit Midrash into your home! Join in-depth classes in Tanach, Talmud, Halacha and Tefilla with our experienced, brilliant teachers. Improve your knowledge and text-learning skills with women of all ages from all around the world. The full list of courses is below – now the only question is, which one(s) will you choose?

Spring Semester starts the week of February 2, 2025.

Have questions about which class is right for you? Please reach out to [email protected] 

*Tuesday morning classes take place simultaneously at Nishmat’s campus in Jerusalem and over Zoom.

SUNDAY

Beginners Talmud: Masechet Pesachim

Rabbanit Navit Tzadik

4:00-6:00pm (Israel)/ 9:00-11:00am (US East Coast)

In this course, we will embark on a journey of Talmudic study by exploring the profound discussions that take place in the Beit Midrash of the Sages. We will actively participate as members of the Beit Midrash, engaging with the text through chavruta (paired) learning at the start of each class.
This semester, our focus will be on selected sections of Tractate Pesachim. We will delve into the significance of the Pesach sacrifice and its laws, including why each person must be appointed to a specific sacrifice. The tractate also discusses additional topics such as varying customs in different places and what practices travelers should follow when arriving at a new location. Other topics include the prohibition against doing many mitzvot together, laws of Kiddush and Havdalah, the laws of the Seder night, and more. While a basic knowledge of Hebrew is encouraged, no prior knowledge of Hebrew or Talmud is required for this course.

 

16 sessions, NIS 1280/$365

Intermediate Talmud: Masechet Brachot, Chaper 4

Rav Hanan Schlesinger

4:00-6:00pm (Israel)/ 9:00-11:00am (US East Coast)

This class will focus on the fourth chapter of Tractate Brachot of the Babylonian Talmud. The chapter covers ten folios in the traditional Vilna Shas and we hope to complete at least the first five of them, from page 26a to page 28a during the first semester and to complete the chapter during the second semester.

The central theme of this chapter is the conceptual and spiritual foundation of the Shemonah Esra Prayer. Is it modeled upon the sacrificial service in the Beit haMikash or does it flow from lived human experience? The chapter delves into this question and into its many halachic ramifications.

The chapter also deals with Tefilat Aravit at the onset of Shabbat and the matter of accepting Shabbat early.

The chapter includes more Agadic material than most Talmudic chapters and this material is usually fully integrated into the halachic discussions. We will analyze it with as much attention and seriousness as the halachic material in the chapter.

The two-hour Zoom sessions will be divided between chavruta study of the texts on the one hand, and on the other hand, frontal presentation and class discussion. The frontal presentations will deal both with the skills of critical textual analysis and with – when possible – the philosophical and theological issues suggested by the texts.

This is in intermediate level class. It is for women who have already studied in-depth at least one full chapter of the Babylonian Talmud or one full tractate of Daf Yomi.

16 sessions, NIS 1280/$365

MONDAY

Praying With Heart, Mind and Soul: An Exploration of Tefilah

Rav Chaim Tabasky

4:00-5:00pm (Israel)/ 9:00-10:00am (US East Coast)

We will consider various cognitive, emotional and spiritual approaches to Jewish prayer, and see how they apply to an assortment of prayer texts. In the first semester we will first compare and contrast the approaches of Maharal and Rav Kook, and how they impact on halachot of tefilla. Then we will study some of the prayers with which we start the day (Modeh Ani, Birchot Hashachar, Ashrei, Shema Yisroel) and consider how our understanding of the text affects our emotional and spiritual devotion. Though all texts will be available in English, the course will include interpretations that should be of interest to those quite familiar with Jewish prayer.

17 sessions, NIS 510/$145

Milk and Meat

Rav Da’vid Sperling

7:15-8:15pm (Israel)/12:15-1:15pm (US East Coast)

This year we will learn the laws of Kashrut – Milk and Meat. We will focus our learning on an in depth understanding of the sources for the laws, and how they unfold through the Shulchan Aruch until present day application. By learning in such a way, we will not only understand them better, but come to a deeper appreciation for halacha in general, and how it is applied to our lives. 

16 sessions, NIS 480/$140

TUESDAY

After Eden: From Kayin to the Tower of Babel

Simi Peters

9:00-11:30am (Israel)

In this course we will explore how the Torah explains the history of humanity after Eden and before Avraham Avinu transforms the spiritual landscape, using sources from midrash and biblical commentary.

This course is available both in person and on Zoom.

18 sessions, NIS 1350/$385

Discounted price for both Tuesday morning classes, Simi Peters and Rav Da’vid Sperling – NIS 1800/ $515

Milk and Meat

Rav Da’vid Sperling

11:45am-12:45pm (Israel)

This year we will learn the laws of Kashrut – Milk and Meat. We will focus our learning on an in depth understanding of the sources for the laws, and how they unfold through the Shulchan Aruch until present day application. By learning in such a way, we will not only understand them better, but come to a deeper appreciation for halacha in general, and how it is applied to our lives. 

This course is available both in person and on Zoom.

17 sessions, NIS 510/$145

Discounted price for both Tuesday morning classes, Simi Peters and Rav Da’vid Sperling – NIS 1800/$515

Preparing to Enter the Land: Topics in Sefer Devarim

Simi Peters

8:00-9:00pm (Israel)/ 1:00-2:00pm (US East Coast)

Deuteronomy describes how Israel is prepared for the transition from the encampment in the desert to sovereignty in Eretz Yisrael.  Using sources from Hazal and the biblical commentators, we will explore topics such as the unique challenges of living in the land of Israel, the institution of the monarchy, the meaning of prophecy, the lessons of history, and the laws of war, among others.

17 sessions, NIS 510/$145

WEDNESDAY

מקדש, מלך ונביא: עיונים בספר מלכים (in Hebrew)

הרב דוד סבתו

2:00-4:00pm (Israel)/ 7:00-9:00am (US East Coast)

סיפורה המופלא של מלכות ישראל נפרש על פני תקופה ארוכה וסוערת של ארבע מאות שנים, ומקופל בין דפי ספר מלכים. סיפוריו נעים בין פסגות המקדש בירושלים – לתהומות עגלי זהב ופולחן הבעל, בין שגשוג כלכלי ופוליטי חסר תקדים, לפילוג, גלות וחורבן, ובין כוח פוליטי לאמת נבואית. בשיעור נעיין בפרקי ספר מלכים בשילוב של ניתוח פרשני-ספרותי, עם מבט היסטורי-רעיוני רחב על משמעויותיו ולקחיו

18 sessions, NIS 1080/$310

THURSDAY

Women and Halacha

Rabbanit Navit Tzadik

8:30-9:30pm (Israel)/ 1:30-2:30pm (US East Coast)

In the first semester of this course we focused on women and mitzvot. We learned why some poskim argue against women learning Talmud and why women do not have the same obligations as men in mitzvot. This semester we will focus on women and erva (tzniut) and family life. We will explain why women seem passive in the halachic ceremonies of marriage and divorce. Why only men are obligated in having kids and what halacha has to say about family planning. We will learn about kol isha and dress. Is halacha hypersensitive when it comes to women’s dress while hardly mentions men’s attire? What do the sources actually say.

 

16 sessions NIS 480/$140