Saturday, August 04, 2007

Flyer for 'tute

The final siyyum on the Encyclopaedia Judaica is next summer. What’s next?

Sefer Ha-Bloggadah

Next year, 2008, marks the 100th anniversary of the publication of Sefer Ha-Aggadah (published in English as The Book of Legends), a compilation of stories and folklore from the Talmud and throughout rabbinic literature, from the creation of the world to the world to come. At next summer’s Institute, people throughout the extended havurah network will begin studying Sefer Ha-Aggadah, reading a little bit each day for two years, and completing it at the 2010 Institute. When young Moses saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, who was the Egyptian and who was the Hebrew? Why is Israel compared to a sheep? Where does the sun go at night? We’ll read answers to all these questions and more. We’ll have an online discussion so that we can share our thoughts over the course of the project, and add our own interpretations to the chain of tradition. Sign up now to get more information!

Ok, so even though it's a year away, I'll open the voting on how to split this into 2 years. (These page counts are from the English version; I've already packed the Hebrew version into storage.)

Option A:
Year 1 = Parts I-II (329 pages)
Year 2 = Parts III-VI (486 pages)

Option B:
Year 1 = Parts I-III (500 pages)
Year 2 = Parts IV-VI (316 pages)

Option C:
Year 1 = beginning to Part III chapter 6 (400 pages)
Year 2 = Part III chapter 7 to end (416 pages)

Advantage of Options A and B: At the 2009 Institute, we can make a siyyum on a more coherent unit of text.
Advantage of Option C: The division between the two years is more equitable in length. (Also, the first year concludes with the messianic redemption, and the second year begins with Torah.)

Vote! Also, drop me an email if you'd like to get on the list.

9 comments:

  1. Hm, I don't see your e-mail address anywhere. But it's all good because I'm sure I'll pick up one of these flyers at the 'tute in person this week. I would vote for Option A... I always like to ease myself into things a little more slowly.

    Hineini

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  2. mahrabu at gmail. See you at 'tute!

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  3. I'm interested, but can you explain how this works (or link to somewhere if you've done so before-- it sounds familiar)?

    Is it daf yomi style, in which everyone is on the same pace? or people go at their own pace and meet up at the Institute for the siyyum?

    As for me, if I participate, I doubt I'd be that excited about a siyyum that is in the middle of something, even if it's at an official break. So I'd have a mild preference for the even pace of option C.

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  4. I'm interested, but can you explain how this works (or link to somewhere if you've done so before-- it sounds familiar)?

    Is it daf yomi style, in which everyone is on the same pace?


    This is the previous post on the topic, but it doesn't really contain any more information. Yes, the plan is to do daf yomi style, and there will be a crew of bloggers taking turns so that someone is blogging about it every day and everyone can discuss in the comments. (Anyone interested in committing to blogging once a week, start thinking about it now, though there's plenty of time before any kind of decision has to be made.)

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  5. I wonder how hard it is to set up an RSS aggregator for arbitrary multiple blogs, but only the posts on the day's daf. Maybe some sort of form where someone manually enters the day's URL and it gets added to the feed. I'll have to figure this out by next year, if someone else doesn't already know the answer.

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  6. Oh, you meant for everyone to blog in the same place. Nevermind!

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  7. Since I don't have your e-mail, I'll just give you this link here:

    http://hineini.wordpress.com/2007/08/10/a-dispatch-from-new-hampshire/

    More is forthcoming, no doubt, once I catch up on sleep.

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  8. Oh wait... I do have your e-mail. Doh! Obviously I am still catching up on the sleep lost in the last week

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