The skills he taught
Rabbi Morgan taught Gemara as skills you can carry to any page. In his words, the skills are transferable skills
. Each lesson below is drawn from his recorded classes: the skill in his words, a diagram, a worked example, and the moments where you can hear him teach it.
There is also a short 2014 video of him explaining his method: “Rabbi Morgan Gemara Teacher” on Vimeo (14 min).
1Foundations
The habits every class rests on. He starts every new student here.
- 1Read, translate, comprehend: three separate skillsEvery step of Gemara is three different jobs, and he never lets them blur together.274 moments · 256 classes
- 2Working step by step on the sheetNothing is written in the Gemara. Everything goes on the sheet, one step at a time, one word per number.441 moments · 419 classes
- 3Reading the words: vowels and the 'drag'The text has no vowels. First you put them in on the paper, then you take them away again.346 moments · 326 classes
- 4Translating word by wordEvery word gets its own English, in the original order. No paraphrase until the words are yours.456 moments · 437 classes
- 5Add-on letters and grammar cluesSmall letters carry whole words. Learn them once and they unlock every page.407 moments · 342 classes
- 6Review from the bare textEvery class starts by reading, translating and explaining the last step straight from the Gemara, papers away.483 moments · 472 classes
2Reading a step
Once the words are yours: making sense of one step of the give-and-take.
- 7Punctuating the English and reading it backAfter the words are translated, read only the English, mark where each phrase ends, and read it back.346 moments · 340 classes
- 8Aramaic key words and what they signalA handful of Aramaic words tell you what move the Gemara is making before you understand the details.309 moments · 281 classes
- 9Question, statement or answer: naming the stepThe Gemara doesn't lecture. Before explaining a step, name it: question, statement or answer.383 moments · 365 classes
- 10Who is speaking?Every line has a speaker. Before asking what it means, ask who is saying it, and where it comes from.293 moments · 284 classes
- 11The explanation sheet: in your own wordsAfter every step, write it in your own words, so clearly that someone who can't read a word of Aramaic would understand.324 moments · 313 classes
- 12Learning a MishnahRead it, translate it, then ask what the case is, who the people are, what it assumes, and where it comes from.50 moments · 49 classes
3Following the argument
How a sugya moves from case to case, and how to stay with it.
- 13Back to the base case: what changed?When the Gemara changes one variable, go back and state the original case in full before you touch the new one.42 moments · 41 classes
- 14A or B: which reason is the real one?Many Gemaras ask: is the rule because of reason A or reason B? New cases pull the two reasons apart.78 moments · 77 classes
- 15Following a Ta Shma back to the disputeA Ta Shma can take you far from where you started. Keep the dispute in view and find what the two cases share.259 moments · 220 classes
- 16Making the reasoning realHe makes the logic of a ruling real with everyday comparisons, then tests it against what most people do.481 moments · 416 classes
- 17Asking the Gemara's own questionIf you are learning it right, the questions that bother you will be the ones Rashi and Tosfos ask.237 moments · 231 classes
4The commentaries
Rashi, then Tosfos: 'when you're ready to move up, it's a feeling that you have'.
- 18Reading RashiRashi is a running commentary. Keep an eye on it and put it in at the first pause.283 moments · 236 classes
- 19Approaching TosfosFind where Tosfos' words come from, then work out what is bothering him, even when he doesn't say.108 moments · 88 classes
- 20Resolving a contradiction by distinguishing casesWhen two sources seem to clash, ask whether they are really talking about the same case.65 moments · 63 classes