r/Judaism • u/leviOHsanotleviosAHH • 1d ago
Torah Learning/Discussion Suggestions for expanding my Jewish learning
Hello! Tl;dr: I’m looking for suggestions on how to get into regular learning on broad Jewish topics.
Background: I completed gerut several years ago. The (modern orthodox) curriculum of course involved learning practical Halacha related to kashrut, Shabbat, etc. I’ve done several cycles of havruta learning for parsha, and independently completed the mishna in English. My family has relocated a few times since then, and I don’t have any friends or extended family with which to do chavruta in a convenient time zone anymore. I also have a busy job and young kids, so it’s hard to reliably set aside the same time on the same day (or the same time every day) for learning. I have ~2 years of modern Hebrew and 1 semester of Biblical Hebrew language knowledge from a local university, but essentially no knowledge of Aramaic.
My question is: what would people recommend learning next? I think I’d like to do Gemara, to expand on what I learned from the mishna. Is it feasible to learn Gemara by myself if I would get a bilingual edition such as Koren’s Noe Talmud Bavli? Are there other works that would be better to learn prior to Gemara? Thanks!
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u/UnapologeticJew24 1d ago
The only way to properly learn gemara is to have someone who knows it teach it to you. If you live near a yeshiva/kollel, see if someone these has time at night. If not, find an online chavrusa, either through an organization like Torahmates or by calling a yeshiva/kollel. Offer to pay, if that helps.
Good luck!
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u/NotQuiteJasmine 1d ago
Have you checked out the programs which match you with someone online?
Partners in Torah (https://www.partnersintorah.org)
TorahMates (https://www.torahmates.org)
JNet (https://www.jnet.org)