Pirkei Avot—The Misunderstood Masterpiece Ep. 6: The Excommunication of Rabbi Eliezer and the History of Rabbinic Judaism

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 6: The incredible story of the “Oven of Akhnai,” so rich in drama and meaning, sheds light on a jarring feature of Avot: Rabbi Eliezer’s critical comment against the sages. In his final lecture, Rabbi Soloveichik connects the dots, bringing together the themes of the previous lectures and highlighting Judaism’s “symposium of the generations.”