Pirkei Avot—The Misunderstood Masterpiece Ep. 2: The Rise of the House of Hillel

A free, 6-part audio course

Traditionally studied each week between Passover and Shavuot, Avot may be the most beloved tractate in the rabbinic cannon; but its purpose and teachings may also be misunderstood. In this new audio course from the Tikvah Fund, Rabbi Dr. Meir Soloveichik provides learned insight into the unique lives and worldviews of the rabbinic sages featured in the tractate. He thereby shows how to understand Avot as what it really is: an intellectual history of Jewish minds that were often in debate, and who offered solutions to challenges in a post-Temple world that was in many ways not unlike our own.

Episode 2: In his second lecture, Rabbi Soloveichik unravels the significance of the most famous Talmudic rabbi, Hillel, who summarized the whole of the Torah while standing on one foot.