Ohio Jewish Chronicle, 1992-12-31

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THE
The Ohio Jewish Chronicle
Serving Columbus and the Central Ohia
Jewish Community since 19zz
VOLUME 70
NUMBER 53
DECEMBER 31, 1992
7 TEVET 5753
DEVOTED TO AMERICAN AND JEWISH IDEALS
Israelis split over
recent expulsions
Resettlement effort
faces many changes
JNF sponsors seminar
to develop new leadership
COMMUNITY FEATURE
Group studies the Talmud — 'A page a day'
EARLY DEADLINES
Thursday, Jan. 7, issue
NOON, THURSDAY, DEC. 31
' 'The OJC office will be closed on
Friday, Jan. 1
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At The JCC ,.....».-,  11
Calendar .'. r  H
Community ... ......... 4
FederaUon „ ....A • »« 9
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Ufecycle '  7
Marketplace  «.»... ».«.r f 16
, flew Generation  ,..,..... ,..,,,;.. ,10
Synagogue*.......... ....A:...,.*,* - • 8
, Viewpoint ,„■;.„.„....,....,.,., • 3
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By Ina Horwitz
The Jewish people, throughout their history, have been
known for their analytical approaches to different situations, including the areas of
culture, law, philosophy, morals, ethics, psychology and sociology. By reading the Talmud, which, in Hebrew, means
"to study," brilliant minds are
continually being sharpened
in all these areas, according to
Schottenstein Chabad House
director, Rabbi Areyah Kaltmann.
Rabbi Kaltmann, who received the idea from one of his
students, Koby Solomon, haS
instituted a unique program at
the campus Chabad House.
Every day of the week, for
about one hour, he teaches a
page of the Talmud to OSU
students.
"Thousands of people
around the world do this every
day," said Shalom Nelson, 25,
a graduate student in aeronautical engineering.
The core group usually
numbers about six and includes Nelson, Solomoit, 20,
who just returned from Yeshiva University in Jerusalem
where daily study of the Talmud takes place, and Moshe
Villafuerte, originally from
Panama, but, also just back
from Yeshiva University in
Jerusalem.
At times, individuals from
all walks of life — an Olympic
contender in weightlifting, intellectuals, such as philosophy,
majors, who are challenged by
the many facets of the Talmud, as well as presidents of
campus fraternities and soror-
ites — join the group, Rabbi
Kaltmann noted.
'We would like to invite as
many people as possible to
come to the program," said
Solomon. "To study it is crucial; it is the essence of Judaism."
"It is for allJews," added
the rabbi.
"And besides the fact Jhat
.most Jewish beliefs are discussed in the Talmud, it's
fun," said Nelson.
By studying a page a day, it
would take a person seven
years to finish all 68 volumes
of the Talmud. Then what
happens?
Answered Solomon, "To
me, it's important to Jewish
tradition. Since the Talmud is
part of the Torah, it's important I master it. So after seven
years, you start all over again."
Rabbi Kaltmann said that
while it's a big task to understand it, a significant reason to
learn the Talmud is because it's
holy and inspiring. Solomon
added, "We have to use bur
skills or else they will rust too
fast. And Jews have been working on this law for hundreds of
years. We certainly can't stop
now. It must continue."
Rabbi Kaltmann said the
original program was begun in
1923 by Rabbi Meir Shapiro
of Poland, who headed the
first yeshiva with a dormitory.
Then his disciple* Rabbi Pi-
karskie from the same yeshiva, ordained Rabbi Kaltmann
and also taught him the Talmud study program.
Currently, the group is
studying the chapter on Ketu-
both (marital laws).
According to Rabbi Kaltmann, "The information is
never outdated. It is just used
for different experiences today. We must have the wisdomtovadapt logical Tahriu-
dic knowledge to modern
issues. An example would be
in the area of computers. The
data may change but the program is the same."
Nelson believes many hy-
potheticais found in the Talmud deal with everyday situations, including abortion and
artificial insemination. The
Talmud is everlasting and
eternal. And its topics are always timely, he said, adding
that if you want to find the
early definition of "pi," you
can look in the Talmud.
According to the rabbi, the
Talmud raises a contradiction; there is then found an
answer, but another question
may occur. "This is typical,"
said Rabbi Kaltmann. >'The
Talmud teaches us not to accept anything without examination.''
. Rabbi Kaltmann credits the
Columbus Jewish Foundation,
through its fafreaching educational grants, for becoming the
Talmud's first institutional
underwriter in its translation
from Aramaic and Hebrew
into English.
He also credits the Schottenstein family for making Columbus a leader in the study of
the Talmud. The family is
helping to fund the.publication of all 68 editions of the
Babylonian Talmud into English.
"It's the Schottensteins who
have helped break it down,"
he said.
"What they have done is
very monumental."
Ina Horwitz is a local freelance writer and frequent OJC
contributor.
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