Frequently Asked Questions

There is no right way to begin.

• If you’d like to anchor your day in Judaism’s most fundamental text and be on the same page – literally – as Jews all over the globe, join Daf Yomi.
• If you want to take a personalized, self-paced trip through Talmud study, or to make a siyum for a special occasion, select a masechet (tractate) that matches your interests and available time.
• Hadran’s “The Complete Beginner’s Guide to Gemara” series is designed to help you understand more about the background and context of the Talmud. 
• Hadran’s Basic Gemara Tools courses help you to acquire foundational Gemara skills through the process of learning a selected Talmudic text. In each course, you will learn skills and then immediately put them into practice with worksheets and guided exercises.
• If you would like to explore relevant and thought-provoking topics with fresh weekly Beyond the Daf, you can follow and receive the newest shiurim as they are released!. Each Beyond the Daf channel has a different focus and flavor, all taught by remarkable women Talmud scholars.

If you’re new to Gemara study, there are two ways you can go: 
The first is to understand more about the background and context of the Talmud: the historical background, the different Talmudic personalities, the structure of the Gemara, common terms and more. To go that route, start with “The Complete Beginner’s Guide to Gemara” series. You can find Part 1 here.
The other way is to dive in and learn on the go, acquiring foundational Gemara skills through the process of learning a selected Talmudic text. If that speaks to you, start with our Basic Gemara Tools courses. We recommend you begin with this course.

In our Basic Gemara Tools courses, you gain Gemara study skills by learning them and then immediately putting them into practice. The PDF sheets that accompany the video lessons include exercises on punctuating a Talmudic text, identifying the structural parts of a Talmudic discussion, and more. We recommend you begin with this course.

In the Masechet Recommendations section above, you can choose the “For Beginners” tag to see our suggestions on masechet selections for those new to Gemara study. These selections typically deal with familiar topics (e.g. blessings, holidays) and/or are less complex from a logical standpoint.
If you are new to Talmud study, you might want to take a Hadran course to give you more background, context and skills. You can start with our “The Complete Beginner’s Guide to Gemara” series, which introduces the context and background of the Talmud – or one of our Basic Gemara Tools courses, which give you foundational Gemara skills through the process of learning a selected Talmudic text.

That’s up to you! Some people will want to learn several dapim a day, whereas others can spend months on just one daf! 

Each lesson you will find here was originally prepared as a Daf Yomi class, and so it will take about 45 minutes to cover most dapim with Hadran. If you want to delve deeper, you can check out the Beyond the Daf resources associated with the daf you are learning.

A siyum is a celebratory gathering customarily made when one completes the study of a masechet. It usually involves recital of the special Hadran text and Kaddish, sharing of divrei Torah and a festive meal. For more details, see the What is a Siyum page.

The Talmud is not organized in a linear manner, so you will always feel like you’re entering mid-conversation, no matter where you start. That’s natural and normal! The key is to keep going. Soon you’ll find yourself picking up terms and recognizing personalities.
Practically speaking, if you feel like a particular class or course is going too fast, you can slow the video down, or pause and watch a part again. You can also just let yourself absorb whatever you can, with the awareness that you are learning, and you will be prepared to understand more in the next class.

In the context of learning Torah, “chevruta” usually refers to independent study with a partner. When a Hadran course has “chevruta” time or materials, we’re referring to its guided self-study materials that can be learned with a partner or on your own. The goal is to take time to think through the text and arrive at questions and insights. This adds an important and valuable dimension to the learning process.

The first step is registering as a user on the Hadran website. You can register here. Once you’re logged in, just click the “Start the Course” button for any course and you’ll have instant free access to all the course materials.
How do I start learning a masechet on the Hadran site?
Just click “Start Now” within the main page for any masechet. You will be prompted to register as a Hadran user (it’s free!). After you register, you will be able to track your progress in the masechet by marking the dapim you have completed. You can also set notifications to remind you to learn at set times.
If you just want to browse through masechtot or look up specific dapim, you can do so without registering as a user.

Hadran was founded to make Talmud study accessible to Jewish women, with unique, practical, women-taught resources – but men are welcome to learn from all our online resources.

Yes! We believe that Talmud should be accessible to those who desire to learn it. 
Most of our resources are developed with the help of contributions from Hadran students, so we do appreciate when learners support Hadran’s efforts.