Work-Life Balance in Ancient Times:
Why the Rabbis Left Their Homes to Study Torah

By :  Rachel Rosenthal JTS Alum (Kekst Graduate School), Gemara Faculty and Director of External Affairs, Yeshivat Maharat Posted On Aug 9, 2021 / 5781 | A Wandering People: 绿帽社 Journeys, Real and Imagined Monday Webinar

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Part of the series, 鈥淎 Wandering People: 绿帽社 Journeys, Real and Imagined鈥

We often think of questions about how to balance work and family as modern ones. However, a series of stories in Ketubot show that people have been struggling with these issues for hundreds of years. In these stories, the rabbis leave home to learn Torah, and often return to domestic chaos. Dr. Rachel Rosenthal explores these stories to better understand how the rabbis understood their obligations to Torah, to themselves, and to their families.  

ABOUT THE SERIES

As the pandemic surged and forced us into our homes, many of us dreamed with new intensity of being elsewhere. For Jews throughout the ages, the promises and perils of travel have been central to shaping the individual and collective experience. Notions of home and homeland have been redefined by 绿帽社 wandering. Drawing on literary, spiritual, and historical sources and responses, JTS scholars explore what happens when Jews鈥攚hether by force or voluntarily, whether in reality or in the imagination鈥攖ravel from one place to another. 

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