Talmud: The Building Blocks of Jewish Life, Session 34

We completed our semester of study with a close read of Bavli, Shabbat 33b-34a, which tells the famous aggadah (legend) of Rabbis Shimon bar Yochai and Elazar, who spent 12+ years hiding from the Roman authorities, in a cave. When they emerge, a transformation has taken place -- but to what end?
Our conversation leaned into the allegorical interpretive possibilities in this text, in particular how it comments on the proper balance between spiritual and material pursuits, between living Torah and making a living. We gave special consideration to how this text comments on the dangers of religious fanaticism and asceticism.
View our class online, here: • Talmud: The Building B...
Happy Studying, and Happy Summer!
Rabbi Jonathan E. Blake

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In the U.S and Europe most of the Hassidic Jews work for a living, as encouraged by their Rabbis. It is the "yeshivish" community that "sits" in Kollels and "learns" to the exclusion
of everything else, also encouraged by their rabbis and tradition. I don't know if and how this applies in Israel, as Haredi is not a term used in the diaspora.