Semikha 1.1: Tanakh and the Halakhic Mindset

**To receive Rabbi Ovadia's daily email, please email [email protected] w/ name, location & intro.**The focus of the program will be on the development and methodology of Halakha, and providing participants with tools of critical thinking and analysis, so they will be able to decide Halakha in their own, whether for personal or communal purposes. With that goal in mind, courses will cover the full spectrum of rabbinic literature including: Tanakh, Mishna, Talmud, Midrash, the writings of the Geonim and Rishonim, the Shulhan Arukh and its commentaries, and finally modern Halakhic decisors. Also covered in course work will be the place of philosophical, psychological and Kabbalistic thought on the Halakhic process.Each subject will be examined with its relationship to the Halakhic process and with its context within the Jewish world at the time of its creation or publication. Thus, for example, we will deal with the question of the role of Midrash in Halakha, or with the question of the status of the Shulhan Arukh and whether it was globally accepted.In the first session of the first course we discuss the differences between the first two chapters of Beresheet and what they come to teach us. Also discussed is Rashi's commentary on the Torah and how authoritative it is.