Working step by step on the sheet

In his words

He divides the text into steps by the Gemara's own give-and-take: a step runs from where one move starts to where it ends, one word or forty. On the sheet, each number gets its own word 12:29, copied in a column down the right margin, with the English written beside each word. we try and translate every word by itself, unless it's a phrase that has to be put together 12:48.

The Gemara page itself stays clean: We're not going to write in the Gemara, nothing in the Gemara, only on this paper. 6:48 In the earlier classes you hear the vocabulary of the system: word sheets with numbered sides and steps, the explanation pages, and a master sheet 18:00.

Worked example from a class

He sets up a fresh sheet with a new group (Mercaz HaTorah, 7:37): punch holes on the right (the notebook opens the Hebrew way), "side number one" at the top, the masechta and perek as a heading, and for each step a heading of daf, Mishnah, the first word, and the line number. Then the nine words of the Mishnah go down the margin, numbered one to nine. In the Westwood beginners' class you can hear the same system years earlier: step 19, side 13, 52 words.

Hear him teach it

441 moments found so far in 419 transcribed classes; more appear as transcription continues. Tap one to play from that moment.

1. Westwood · Beginner class, Nov 21, 2011 · 46:44“That colon means that that's the end of a section of the tomorrow and you're about to start something new.”He reads the page layout: the colon marks a section break, and the word at the bottom is only the first word of the next page.
2. Westwood · Beginner class, Nov 28, 2011 · 27:43“So, that means on the first page there was 21 steps. And once we flip the page”Explains how steps are numbered, restarting at 1 on each new page of the sheet.
3. Westwood · Beginner class, Dec 5, 2011 · 10:22“Usually whenever there's a round parenthesis in the Gemara it means take it out.”Explains page conventions (parentheses and brackets, mnemonic letter groups) when deciding what goes on the word sheet.
4. Westwood · Advanced class, Dec 9, 2011 · 6:25“Next time, after we review, if this is as far as we go before we start the next one, that's when we put the underline.”Marking off a Gemara section on the word sheet only after review; writing the step's words up to a fixed end word.
5. Westwood · Beginner class, Dec 19, 2011 · 5:18“Let's take out the word sheet side number 26 and 27.”Organises word sheet sides and explanation pages before starting.
6. Westwood · Beginner class, Dec 21, 2011 · 9:30“So let's pull out side number 20, 27, 27, yes, 27 right at the bottom and number 28.”Organizes the word sheets by side number and step number before learning step 13.
7. Westwood · Advanced class, Dec 30, 2011 · 10:39“it's two words, and each one should be on a separate line, skipping a line between words”Setting up the word sheet: one word per line in a column, skipping lines.
8. Westwood · Advanced class, Jan 1, 2012 · 11:18“And we will make the double line after the word Atzmon. And we're gonna make the following heading over here. Rashi.”Sets up the word sheet: double line, a Rashi heading with the dibbur hamaschil, one word per line.
9. Westwood · Advanced class, Jan 6, 2012 · 31:27“Again, now these words are repeat words, so make sure that you click in with the words the second time”Sets the heading and the boundaries of the new step; copies the words carefully onto the word sheet.
10. Westwood · Beginner class, Jan 16, 2012 · 12:18“Okay, let's take out the word sheet for side number 32 and 33.”Works step by step from the numbered word sheets and the matching explanation sheet pages.