Gamirna/Savirna Rubric

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I. Gamirna

Talmud Reading & Decoding

  • Ability to read and translate a sugya independently (i.e. in chevruta) with bet midrash tools (without necessarily having complete understanding)
  • Know why, when, and how to use the following bet midrash tools with comfort, facility, and significant fluency:
    • Jastrow & Frank Dictionaries (know abbreviations, know how entries are constructed)
    • Grammar for Gemara
    • Steinsaltz Reference Guide
    • Who’s Who in the Talmud
    • Aiding Talmud Study
    • Principles of Jewish Law (1 vol. edition) & Jewish Law (4 vol. edition)
  • Attention to precision in Talmud reading & learning
    • Ability to read and analyze text with investment in reaching a clear and precise inside/outside translation
  • Ability to identify what you don’t know about a text and why you don’t know it
  • Ability to sight-read Rashi script
  • Ability to figure out Hebrew & Aramaic grammatical structures as you encounter them, and know the appropriate tools for further investigation
  • Ability to check your own understanding of a text using the “15 things to own about a word / 8 things to own about a sentence” framework (see Bet Midrash Reference Guide)
  • Strong practice of and familiarity with chevruta learning, both as a participant and a facilitator

Mechanics of a Sugya

  • Recognize FIVE SOURCES OF JEWISH LAW being used and how they’re being used
  • Identify the historical layers of a Talmudic text (respond to language shifts, signal words, and key phrases)
  • Ability to map out the structure of a sugya (give-and-take, clearly mapping out the moves)
    • Ability to figure out the agenda of the gemara using ACCeSS
    • Read with attention to surfacing Stamma’s agenda in a text
  • Ability to understand, identify, and explain a kra proof (3 steps of a kra proof, attention to subtle and creative wordplay)
  • Ability to identify themes and big questions that the text is opening up

Navigating the Masechet

  • Ability to identify core map of a daf (as outlined in Bet Midrash Reference Guide)
  • Hold a posture of curiosity and confidence about the known and unknown contents of a masechet
  • Ability to actively decode hyperlinks on the daf, including the ability to:
    • recognize and track the link
    • identify what the apparatus is and how it works
    • know why and how to use the apparatus

Beyond the Daf

  • Ability to independently identify supplemental sources / research independent questions that emerge while learning a sugya
  • Ability to chase down and read the following texts within the broader genres of rabbinic literature and ask “What is the relationship between this text and our sugya?”
    • Tannaitic (Mishnah, Midrash Halakha)
    • Amoraic (Midrash Aggadah, Yerushalmi)
  • Ability to track the “halakhic conversation,” and ask “What is the relationship between this halakhic text and our sugya?”
  • Regarding Rashi, Tosafot & Rishonim:
    • Who is X?
    • How do I use this?
    • Why?
  • Develop a personal relationship with Rashi, Tosafot & Rishonim as relevant
  • Ability to identify & find new SVARA-itic teachable texts (& know what makes a text teachable in SVARA’s method in form and content)
  • Hold a posture of curiosity and confidence about known and unknown aspects of rabbinic history and broader historical context for rabbinic literature
  • Basic knowledge of the rabbinic timeline that includes: destruction of the Temple, editing of the Mishnah, closing of the Yerushalmi, closing of the Bavli, border dates of rabbinic categories
  • Basic familiarity with rabbinic historical geography & political context (including: What empires did the rabbis live under? Where did they live? What do we know about what their world was like?)
  • Ability to answer questions: What is the Talmud? Why did it emerge? What purpose does it serve? Why should we learn it?
    • Ability to answer these questions from SVARA’s perspective and from your own, with the ability to notice overlap and distinctions

II. Savirna

Self-Awareness & Groundedness

  • Committed to cultivating a genuine sense of self-awareness, groundedness, and humility
  • Demonstrates personal maturity, depth, thoughtfulness, wisdom, and warmth
  • Committed to sensitively and attentively acknowledging and interrogating mechanisms of power and inequality in the world
  • Maintains a commitment to personal growth through spiritual practice

Posture of Inquiry & Curiosity

  • Holds a lovingly curious approach to text, learners, and self
  • Holds a posture of curiosity and confidence when approaching new people and ideas
    • Ability to relate to questions/challenges, new information, new ideas with a feeling of opportunity
  • Demonstrates enthusiastic commitment to lifelong learning

Queer

  • Holds a high fluency with SVARA’s queer orientation (i.e. are queer in terms of identity, power analysis, and values) and ability to articulate your own queerness and the queerness of SVARA
  • Ability to articulate queer-headed, critical, creative readings
    • Ability to recognize injustice and systemic inequality both in the world and in the text and offer framing and wisdom for students to engage with it (including awareness of what it going on in abd beyond the bet midrash for learners)
    • Ability to recognize and articulate rabbinic innovation in the Talmud and broad corpus of rabbinic literature
    • Ability to ask critical questions when learning that enforce and uncover queer readings
Teaching Kollel Portal 2020 Cohort 2 »