A. As a Talmud teacher for 30 years at the Israeli Public School system, I reached the conclusion that there is no such thing that a "student does not fit to learn Gemarah", there are teachers who are not fit to teach Gemarah. Regarding the metaphor that learning Talmud in the 7th grade is "like exposing 7th grade students to advanced physics before they have learned Calculus", the analogy is really absurd. Are there no sugyot that 4th year students can comprehend if they are taught in a fit manner? Students can learn "Talmud Latalmid" - each child on his/her level. I used to teach special ed. students with brain damage. They would type the answers, after guided self-learning into cognitive maps, since that they could not write. They loved Talmud as other students loved Talmud. I agree with the fact that Talmud is part of our culture and heritage, and students should therefore at least be exposed to it.
B. I wrote an article how Talmud develops verbal thinking skills that appeared in "Studies in Jewish Education, Vol. 8 (2002) Teaching Classical Rabbinic Texts. pp.59-99. Article can be downloaded [
old.lifshiz.macam.ac.il]. Press on פיתוח ×ž×™×•×ž× ×•×™×•×ª חשיבה ב×מצעות לימוד תלמוד. In one of my research papers I showed that learners of Talmud are more advanced in verbal skills.
Dr. Tzvika Kanarek
Lifshitz-Herzog College
Jerusalem
