In the 1990s, when I was directing the Center for Jewish Studies at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, a most unusual PhD student walked into my office: a former yeshiva bocher (Orthodox seminary student) who could recite both complex Talmud passages and entire Seinfeld episodes from memory – in one and the same breath! Ron Reissberg completed his doctorate and went on to teach both rabbinic and high school students in several institutions. But his true calling, I suspected, but as his PhD supervisor couldn’t say, was as stand-up comic, if only there were a comedy club where rabbinic pilpul (nuanced hermeneutics) was the order of the day (or night).
In the last few years, Ron has been my hevruta or study partner with whom it’s a joy to try to unravel a Talmudic passage and to make jokes doing so. When we launched New Lehrhaus, I immediately asked Ron if he would teach for us. It took a little bit of effort to convince him that “Care to Make it Interesting? Seinfeld and the Talmud” would, indeed, be very interesting to an audience of people who love Seinfeld and would like to get their fingers on a page of Talmud. So here is your chance: click here to read more about the course and register to attend in-person: https://www.newlehrhaus.org/program/ron-reissberg-care-to-make-it-interesting-seinfeld-jewish-culture-and-the-talmud/2022-03-08/
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