A superb opportunity to hear Rabbi Jacobs deliver a shiur (traditional lecture) on Talmud. He reads through the aggadta (story) of Rabbi Pinchas ben Yair and his donkey, in tractate Hulin 7a-b, offering linear comments throughout. The emphasis is on the narrative structure of the sugya (passage) and the various literary devices used by the compilers of the Babylonian Talmud to convey their message. After concluding with this particular section, Rabbi Jacobs explores other sources, talmudic and midrashic, in which Rabbi Pinchas ben Yair and his donkey also appear, and continues his analysis by commenting on the intertextual connections which appear between each extract.
