Search Our Site

Become a Program Member!

JEWISH BIBLE ASSOCIATION

Talmud Proficiency Examinations

• Organization Directory Page
  (titles of all evaluated learning experiences, organization description, and source of official student records)

• Titles of all evaluated learning experiences in the Talmud Proficiency Examinations section

• Descriptions and credit recommendations

Titles, descriptions, and credit recommendations for all learning experiences recommended for college credit within the Talmud Proficiency Examinations section can be found below. To locate information on additional learning experiences, which have also been recommended for college credit, use the Organization Directory Page link above for a complete list of titles for all learning experiences or use the following links to go directly to other sections:

Bible Proficiency Examinations
Hebrew Proficiency Examinations
Jewish Law Proficiency Examinations
Jewish Music Proficiency Examinations

Titles of all evaluated learning experiences in the Talmud Proficiency Examinations section

Elementary Talmud
Intermediate Talmud
Advanced Talmud

Descriptions and credit recommendations

Elementary Talmud
Location: Jewish Bible Association, Jerusalem, Israel.
Length: Proficiency examination program administered at the offices of the Jewish Bible Association.
Dates: June 2004 - Present.
Objectives: To prepare for the examination, the candidate is expected to be able to read any unseen page of the Babylonian Talmud; understand the Aramaic grammar and vocabulary; comprehend talmudic legal expressions and terminology; understand types of statements (information statements, legal statements, explanatory statements, qualifying statements, and arguments), information questions (resolution of a legal issue, authorship of a citation, source of citation), attack questions (that statement is false or unnecessary), answers to attack questions (new explanation; qualification limiting the law; attack on the question), logical proofs, and laws presented in association with a case, and how they are linked to form the dynamics of talmudic logic and argumentation, and how to learn from basic commentaries such as Rashi; infer the underlying premise of the talmudic text, evaluate the relationship between parts of the legal discussion, restate in one’s own words, and support the different points of view; propose alternative suggestions; state what ideas justify conclusions and defend this position.
Instruction:  The proficiency examination process is intended to measure a body of knowledge that the candidate has acquired through other learning experiences. Each examination is administered under secure and proctored conditions. Content covered includes: Reading and translation; talmudic idiom; talmudic expressions and terminology; analysis of dynamics of talmudic logic and argumentation; and analysis of basic commentaries, such as Rashi. The candidate is expected to read and understand unseen Aramaic texts.
Credit recommendation: In the lower division baccalaureate/associate degree category, 8 semester hours in Judaic Studies, Jurisprudence, Near Eastern Studies, or Religion (8/04).

Intermediate Talmud
Location: Jewish Bible Association, Jerusalem, Israel.
Length: Proficiency examination program administered at the offices of the Jewish Bible Association.
Dates: June 2004 - Present.
Objectives:  In addition to learning objectives in Elementary Talmud, to prepare for the examination, the candidate is expected to be able to read and comprehend commentaries which have a plain answer buried among a mass of material; ferret out the one line interspersed between many paragraphs in the commentary that gives the legal codification; infer the underlying premise of the talmudic and commentary text; evaluate the relationship between parts of the legal discussion; restate in one’s own words and support the different points of view; propose alternative suggestions; state what ideas justify conclusions and defend this position, and suggest which commentary is more logical and appropriate to the topic.
Instruction:  The proficiency examination process is intended to measure a body of knowledge that the candidate has acquired through other learning experiences. Each examination is administered under secure and proctored conditions. Content covered includes: Advanced commentaries (Rashi, Tosaphot, Rosh), determining alternative interpretations, asking relevant logical questions, the talmudic argumentative and deductive process, and the methodology of early commentators and its effect on codification of Jewish law. The candidate is expected to read and understand more complex unseen Aramaic texts.
Credit recommendation: In the lower division baccalaureate/associate degree category, 8 semester hours in Judaic Studies, Jurisprudence, Near Eastern Studies, or Religion (8/04).

Advanced Talmud
Location: Jewish Bible Association, Jerusalem, Israel.
Length: Proficiency examination program administered at the offices of the Jewish Bible Association.
Dates: June 2004 - Present.
Objectives:  Self-preparation of text, emphasizing medieval and later commentaries, and development of the student's ability to prepare and collate studies in primary sources. The exam tests for proficiency in reading complex unseen texts; reading, understanding and extracting principles in early and later commentaries; ability to abstract a principle from a given argument; comparing instances of the principle in other areas; analytic skills in arguing a position when dealing with complex texts of early commentators, codifiers, and later commentators. The student will be expected to read through extensive commentaries where only concrete examples are given and be required to extract the underlying legal principle; be able to compare instances of the legal principle in other areas; and argue a position when dealing with these complex texts. The student will be able to infer the underlying premise of the talmudic and commentary text, evaluate the relationship between parts of the legal discussion, be able to restate in his own words and support the different points of view, be able to propose alternative suggestions, be able to suggest in which situation the commentator's premise does not hold; be able to state what ideas justify conclusions and defend this position, and be able to suggest which commentary is more logical and appropriate to the topic. The student will also be to analyze and conceptualize and apply it to structure of Jewish law.
Instruction:  The proficiency examination process is intended to measure a body of knowledge that the candidate has acquired through other learning experiences. Each examination is administered under secure and proctored conditions. Content covered includes: Self-preparation of text and advanced commentaries (Rashi, Tosaphot, Rosh, Ramban, Ran, Baal Hamaor), reading, understanding and extracting principles in early and later commentaries; determining alternative interpretations, asking relevant logical questions, the talmudic argumentative and deductive process, and the methodology of early commentators and its effect on codification of Jewish law. The candidate is expected to read and understand more complex unseen Aramaic texts and advanced commentaries.
Credit recommendation: In the upper division baccalaureate/associate degree category, 8 semester hours in Judaic Studies, Jurisprudence, Near Eastern Studies, or Religion (8/04).

Updated 9/08/04

Return to all CCR Online  listings