For our January chevruta learning, we're going to take a look at a Talmudic cultural phenomenon known as the "Yarchei Kallah", a massive gathering of people from across the early diaspora coming to the Sanhedrin (the ancient Jewish court) to learn Torah together twice a year. Side by side with sugyot of Talmud about the Kallah itself are some modern descriptions of the event, as well as excerpts from pedagogy books by educational thinkers bell hooks and Paulo Friere. Read through the sources and choose the discussion questions that resonate with you and your chevruta most!
The Yarchei Kallah: What Was It?
(ט) וְאַף הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא כָּרַת בְּרִית עִם יִשְׂרָאֵל, שֶׁלֹּא תִשָּׁכַח תּוֹרָה שֶׁבְּעַל פֶּה מִפִּיהֶם וּמִפִּי זַרְעָם עַד סוֹף כָּל הַדּוֹרוֹת
(י) וּלְפִיכָךְ קָבַע הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא שְׁתֵּי יְשִׁיבוֹת לְיִשְׂרָאֵל, שֶׁיִּהְיוּ הוֹגִין בַּתּוֹרָה יוֹמָם וָלַיְלָה וּמִתְקַבְּצִין שְׁתֵּי פְעָמִים בַּשָּׁנָה בַּאֲדָר וּבֶאֱלוּל מִכָּל הַמְּקוֹמוֹת וְנוֹשְׂאִין וְנוֹתְנִין בְּמִלְחַמְתָּהּ שֶׁל תּוֹרָה עַד שֶׁמַּעֲמִידִין דָּבָר עַל בֻּרְיוֹ וַהֲלָכָה לַאֲמִתָּהּ וּמְבִיאִין רְאָיָה מִן הַמִּקְרָא וּמִן הַמִּשְׁנָה וּמִן הַתַּלְמוּד, כְּדֵי שֶׁלֹּא יִכָּשְׁלוּ יִשְׂרָאֵל בְּדִבְרֵי תוֹרָה, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר: שָׁלוֹם רַב לְאוֹהֲבֵי תוֹרָתֶךָ וְאֵין לָמוֹ מִכְשׁוֹל (תהלים קיט, קסה). יהוה עֹז לְעַמּוֹ יִתֵּן יהוה יְבָרֵךְ אֶת עַמּוֹ בַשָּׁלוֹם (תהלים כט, יא). וְאוֹתָן שְׁתֵּי יְשִׁיבוֹת, לֹא רָאוּ שְׁבִי וְלֹא שְׁמַד וְלֹא שָׁלָל.
(9) The Holy One, blessed be He, made a covenant with the Israelites that neither they nor their descendants, unto the last generation, would forget the Oral Law.
(10) Therefore the Holy One, blessed be He, established two yeshivot (at Sura and Pumbeditha) for the Israelites where they studied the Torah day and night, and where they assembled from all parts of the world twice each year, in the months of Adar and Elul [in what was known as the Yarchei Kallah]. They came together to “battle” the problems encountered in the Torah until they had resolved them and reached a definitive decision concerning them. They would adduce arguments from the Torah, the Mishnah, and the Talmud so that the Israelites might not sin against the law, as it is said: Great peace have they that love Thy law; and there is no sinning for them (Ps. 119:165). Scripture informs us: The Lord will give strength unto His people, the Lord will bless His people with peace (Ps. 29:11). Hence, these two yeshivot experienced neither captivity, persecution, nor pillage; and neither Greece nor Rome ever conquered them.
אָמַר רָבָא: הַאי דּוּחְקָא דְּהָוֵי בְּכַלָּה — מִנַּיְיהוּ הָוֵי. הָנֵי בִּרְכֵי דְּשָׁלְהִי — מִנַּיְיהוּ. הָנֵי מָאנֵי דְרַבָּנַן דְּבָלוּ — מֵחוּפְיָא דִידְהוּ. הָנֵי כַּרְעֵי דְּמִנַּקְפָן — מִנַּיְיהוּ.
Summarizing the effects of the demons, Rava said: The crowding at the kalla, the gatherings for Torah study during Elul and Adar, is from the demons; those knees that are fatigued even though one did not exert himself is from the demons; those clothes of the Sages that wear out, despite the fact that they do not engage in physical labor, is from friction with the demons; those feet that are in pain is from the demons.
אָמַר אַבָּיֵי: אַגְרָא דְכַלָּה — דּוּחְקָא.
Similarly, Abaye said: The reward for attending the kalla is for the crowding. Due to the large crowd, study was difficult, so the primary reward was given for their effort to hear and understand some part of the lecture.
Hakham José Faur, The Horizontal Community, pg. 294-296
"The Babylonian Talmud was conceived in the compactness of mind and spirit of the Kalla. According to Geonic tradition, Rab Ashe served head of the Yeshiba for close to sixty years. Under his ministry one hundred and twenty Kalla conventions were organized. Each Kalla focused on a single tractate [of Talmud]. There meetings were divided into two thirty-year cycles, known as mahdora. There was "a primary" or original "mahdora" of the Talmud and "a final" or conclusive "mahdora." In this fashion, every tractate was studied once in the primary cycle, and then further revised thirty years in the final cycle....
The Babylonian Talmud was produced at these Kalla meetings. The study, final approval and revision of the text were conducted in the general assembly, with the participation of all the sages of Israel and their disciples....Its [the Talmud's] authority rests on a single fact: it represents national consensus."
"The Talmud was not created in a monastery, away from the laity, where better and superior men find shelter from the 'outside world.' The opposite was true. Not only was the Talmud conceived and born at the Kalla, but its purpose was to also transmit the temperament and personality of the Kalla society, in all its facets and modalities. Just as the Synagogue is a virtual experience of the Temple, and the liturgy of the sacramental services, so the Talmud is a virtual Kalla experience. Through the Babylonian Talmud, students and sages from fragmented Israel have unfettered access to the Kalla world and hear the voices of Jews from Tiberias and Caesarea, from Lydia and from Sippore, from Nehar De'a, Fum be-Dita and Sura, and countless other seats of learning. In concert and as one, pupil and teacher, learned and commoner, disciple and sage, brilliant and mediocre, share in their discussions, reflect on their ideas, and renew their bonds with an integral Jewish society. That is why the Talmud is much more than a book or a landscape of things lost: it is a virtual Kalla, a holistic experience. Upon entering the Talmud, one and all can sit at the feet of the sages, partake in their discussions, and join the men and women standing firmly at the berit Sinai-Moab, set and ready to carry on the Morasha of Israel; not in some dingy cloister, but amidst the sound and voices of the Kalla."
bell hooks, from "Teaching Community"
“Dominator culture has tried to keep us all afraid, to make us choose safety instead of risk, sameness instead of diversity. Moving through that fear, finding out what connects us, revelling in our differences; this is the process that brings us closer, that gives us a world of shared values, of meaningful community.”
Paulo Freire, from "Pedagogy of the Oppressed"
“The more radical the person is, the more fully he or she enters into reality so that, knowing it better, he or she can transform it. This individual is not afraid to confront, to listen, to see the world unveiled. This person is not afraid to meet the people or to enter into a dialogue with them. This person does not consider himself or herself the proprietor of history or of all people, or the liberator of the oppressed; but he or she does commit himself or herself, within history, to fight at their side.”
“Any situation in which some men prevent others from engaging in the process of inquiry is one of violence;… to alienate humans from their own decision making is to change them into objects.”
“How can I enter into dialogue if I always project ignorance onto others and never perceive my own?...How can I enter into dialogue if I am closed to - and even offended by - the contribution of others? At the point of encounter there are neither yet ignoramuses nor perfect sages; there are only people who are attempting, together, to learn more than they now know.”
Conversation Questions
(1) Are there any modern equivalents to the Yarchei Kallah today?
(2) Where does knowledge get made? Where does Jewish knowledge get made?
(3) What efforts do you see in the Jewish world today to democratize Jewish knowledge, law, and practice? What resistance are these efforts met with?
(4) Historically, there was a lot of "gatekeeping" in the rabbinic assembly of the Sanhedrin; so the Yarchei Kallah seems like a very radical move, to open up the study house to so many people. In spite of that, who wasn't there? Where is Jewish knowledge gatekept today? And by whom?
(5) One way to interpret the Talmud's description of demons within the Kallah is that there's a danger or cost of this kind of mass learning. What are the dangers of democratized knowledge? What are the dangers of consensus? Is one more dangerous than the other? Why else might the Talmud say there were demons at the Kallah?
(6) Hakham José Faur says, "Through the Babylonian Talmud, students and sages from fragmented Israel have unfettered access to the Kalla world and hear the voices of Jews from Tiberias and Caesarea, from Lydia and from Sippore, from Nehar De'a, Fum be-Dita and Sura, and countless other seats of learning." In what ways does the internet and digital Judaism serve or not serve a similar role?
(7) How do you see the mission of Unbound Judaism in conversation -- or not in conversation -- with the educational philosophies of bell hooks and Paulo Friere?
(8) As a self-governing minority, how might the Yarchei Kallah have served the survival of the early diaspora? Do you think democratized knowledge helped rabbinic Jews resist oppressive power structures, like the Roman or Greek empire? Do you see Jewish knowledges helping you resist oppressive power structures in your own life?
(9) What Jewish or not-Jewish or Kind-of-Jewish tools do we have today for democratizing knowledge? How might this inform your capstone project or other work you're doing inspired by your learning in the UnYeshiva?