Q&A #40: Working Hours, Freud-Ego, Waving Leviim, Blind Obedience, Self-Help, Teaching, Archaeology

Length: 52 minutes
Synopsis: This morning (6/21/24) we had a surprise Q&A as our last shiur in yeshiva of the 2023-2024 year! We took up seven questions: (1) How do we reconcile/account for the differences in the average working hours today vs. in the time of Chazal and the Rishonim, insofar as our learning is concerned? (2) What is meant by the term "ego"? (3) What's up with the waving of the Leviim in Behaalosecha? (4) What benefit is there to a person blindly obeying halacha, and how does "gadol metzuveh ve'oseh etc." fit in? (5) What role should self-help books play alongside the self-help aspects of our Torah learning? (6) What is the key to being a good teacher? (7) How do we handle archaeological findings which seem to undermine the Torah's historicity?
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מקורות:
אבות ב:ה
מאירי - תהלים קיט:ח
תוספות קידושין דף לא עמוד א
תוספות עבודה זרה דף ג עמוד א
תלמוד בבלי שבת דף קיט עמוד א
probably more, but I'm writing this a few days later and can't remember

Content:
The Limits of she'Lo Lishmah
Adler: On Teaching and Learning
The Mabul vs. Science
Two Truths and a Bunch of Lies: Insights into Biblical Archaeology from a Conspiracy Theorist
Some Guidelines for Thinking About Biblical History vs. Archaeology Part 1 and Part 2
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The Torah content for this week has been sponsored by Meir Areman, l'zeicher nishmas Zelda bas Ziesel, his grandmother, whose yahrzeit is on the 21st of Sivan.
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