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August 23, 2013
Learning Jewishly online
Chabad.org now streams local downtown classes.
JAN LEE
It used to be if you wanted to attend a class by a renowned Talmud scholar in Vancouver, you would have to physically travel to class. The intricacies of talmudic thinking and how it shapes current Jewish law, for example, was best learned in a classroom. Not anymore.
This August, the Jewish Academy, which serves as a hub for Chabad classes in downtown Vancouver, went virtual. Its series of classes called Liability for Damages, taught by Rabbi Binyomin Bitton, will now be available on Jewish.TV’s website (which is offered by Chabad.org and is not the same organization as the Jewish TV Network, or jtn.com) and viewable throughout the world. The academy’s on-site classes will continue to be offered at the downtown address (1260 Howe St.), as usual.
For individuals living outside of Vancouver, or those who are unable to travel to the downtown core, the online access will offer another means for enriching their knowledge of halachah and Jewish traditions.
“Whether you’re on vacation, at home or on business in China, you can follow the course and enjoy the live class atmosphere,” said Bitton, who also serves as dean of the downtown centre.
The Jewish Academy’s virtual classes will allow the distant learner to “sit in” with the class and observe the classroom discussion taking place, which is often a valuable component of attending classes in person. The class notes, which are available in PDF format on the website, make it easier for viewers to follow discussions that would normally seem technical or daunting. Bitton’s approach and the handouts, however, are designed for individuals who have little or no knowledge of Talmud.
According to Bitton, more than 200 students, many of whom come from diverse backgrounds, attend various classes at the downtown centre each month.
“Each student can find a course, a lesson of interest [and] relevance ... at his/her level. Our lessons will engage any student in a multidimensional way by challenging them intellectually, spiritually and emotionally. Each class is carefully designed to be both intellectually stimulating and highly accessible.” This provides “excellent opportunities for those who wish to further broaden their educational horizons,” he added.
“Rabbi Bitton has a great way of using his scholarly skills in taking a segment of the Talmud and making it come alive and relevant to the lives of those listening, and that is something that we’d like to make available to our viewers at Jewish.TV,” explained Rabbi Shmuel Lifshitz, who serves as the director of Jewish.TV.
“Based on feedback of viewers from previous courses at Jewish.TV, we know this course will be a major success, as we’ve seen tremendous interest in Talmud previously,” he told the Independent. Jewish.TV offers a wide range of online classes on the Torah and Talmud.
“Rabbi Bitton is well known as a teacher and scholar, and is somebody we want to give our millions of Chabad.org viewers access to, to enrich their knowledge and appreciation of our tradition,” Lifshitz continued. “[He] zeroes in on a specific subject and presents it in an easy-to-understand and well-illustrated fashion. He skilfully helps the student to think ‘talmudically’ and to gain the tools for studying Talmud.”
Added Lifshitz, “In each hour-long class, Rabbi Bitton … dissects a complex talmudic narrative and shows how it remains applicable in day-to-day life.” The first series of classes to be offered online from the Jewish Academy’s compendium of courses will be talmudic principles concerning liability.
One video from Jewish Academy’s Liability for Damages series will be released weekly at 4 p.m. The classes and handouts cover the following topics: The Majority Principle (released Aug. 8); Responsibility of Pedestrians (Aug. 15); Enforcing the Law Yourself (Aug. 22); The Talmud, Rashi and Tosafot (Aug. 29).
The courses will be syndicated around the world on 1,300 Jewish websites. According to the organization, Chabad.org’s 15,000 videos and online sources receive an estimated 1.8 million unique visitors each month from around the world.
Talmudic law won’t be the only topic offered, said Bitton.
“Other courses, [like] Kabbalah and Contemporary Issues, will normally include a 12-part series, and will change from semester to semester. Each semester will also include a series of classes based on the Jewish holidays of that [season].”
Viewers can access the Jewish Academy’s broadcast classes by logging on to jewishacademy.ca and then clicking on the link in the middle of the page for Jewish.TV. The handout links appear at the bottom of the screen.
Information about the Jewish Academy’s upcoming classes at the Chabad of Downtown centre with Bitton and other local instructors can be obtained by logging on to the above website, or by calling 778-688-1273.
Jan Lee’s articles have been published in B’nai B’rith Magazine, on DailyRabbi.com and cjvoices.org (Voices of Conservative and Masorti Judaism). She is also a regular contributor to the business and ecology publication TriplePundit.com, where she writes on sustainable business practices throughout the world. Her blogs can be found at MulticulturalJew.blogspot.ca and blogs.timesofisrael.com/author/jan-lee.
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