This is the curriculum post for Nov. 20th

This is the curriculum post for Nov. 13th

This is the curriculum post for Nov. 6th

This is the curriculum post for Oct. 30th

This is the curriculum post for Oct. 23rd.

Session One for the week of October 18^th,  2009

Pre-Session Homework

Consider the following passages and question:

We’re going to begin with a discussion about Jewish Law, and yet even though we’ll be examining some details regarding the process of trying a person who is suspected of killing another, it’s likely we’ll learn a few interesting things about how to approach the study of Torah in general.

Sanhedrin Chapter 1:6

“You shall not follow a multitude to do evil” (Ex. 23:2), I hear that I am to be with them to do good.

As the inference makes clear, in matters of Jewish Law we follow the majority opinion of the court. This is straight forward, understandable, and consistent with the basic norms of court procedure throughout the world. However, there are some significant and striking differences in the protocols of a Jewish court. For instance:

Sanhedrin 17a

Rabbi Cahana said: In a case (capital crime) in which all members of a Sanhedrin vote guilty, they should release him.

One of these differences is in the circumstance of unanimity. If someone were tried for a capital case and unanimously declared guilty by a secular court of law, barring his appeals and other legal proceedings, he would eventually be put to death. In a Jewish Court, if every member found the defendant guilty, his life would be spared!

Q. How can it be that if he were declared guilty by a majority vote, he would be killed, but if the court was unanimous in viewing him guilty, he is spared?

Sample Curriculum

Pre-Session Homework

Consider the following passages and question:

We’re going to begin with a discussion about Jewish Law, and yet even though we’ll be examining some details regarding the process of trying a person who is suspected of killing another, it’s likely we’ll learn a few interesting things about how to approach the study of Torah in general.

Sanhedrin Chapter 1:6

“You shall not follow a multitude to do evil” (Ex. 23:2), I hear that I am to be with them to do good.

As the inference makes clear, in matters of Jewish Law we follow the majority opinion of the court. This is straight forward, understandable, and consistent with the basic norms of court procedure throughout the world. However, there are some significant and striking differences in the protocols of a Jewish court. For instance:

Sanhedrin 17a

Rabbi Cahana said: In a case (capital crime) in which all members of a Sanhedrin vote guilty, they should release him.

One of these differences is in the circumstance of unanimity. If someone were tried for a capital case and unanimously declared guilty by a secular court of law, barring his appeals and other legal proceedings, he would eventually be put to death. In a Jewish Court, if every member found the defendant guilty, his life would be spared!

Q. How can it be that if he were declared guilty by a majority vote, he would be killed, but if the court was unanimous in viewing him guilty, he is spared?