Meet Rabbi Akiva, Rabban Gamliel and Friends: Highlights of the Talmudic Portrait Gallery. This series, taught by Leah Rosenthal will focus on a close reading and discussion of a selection of literary portraits of central Rabbinic figures who produced the canonical Rabbinic texts that make up the foundations of Jewish tradition. In this episode, Leah Rosenthal will focus on Rabbi Elazar ben Arach – Described as an “overflowing fountain”, Rabbi Elazar ben Arach appears to represent the creative and dynamic impulse of the intellectual and spiritual world. How does Rabbinic narrative preserve the image of this man and what does his story tell us about him, and about the Rabbinic world narrating his story? What mark does his story leave on “mainstream” Rabbinic culture, perhaps to this very day?
Click here for the other episodes in this series.
Podcast: Download
Leah holds a B.A. in Talmud and Jewish Philosophy and an M.A. in Jewish Education, both from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. She has been teaching Talmud at Pardes for over twenty years and still enjoys doing so. She combines her teaching at Pardes with teaching at the nearby Pelech High School for Girls and raising, with her husband, their five children.
