Our Mission
Gemara Boot Camp is committed to developing, building, and refining Gemara skills for learners
at all levels, from beginners to advanced students.
With over 600 alumni, our program fosters a deep and enduring understanding of Gemara,
empowering participants to grow and excel in their studies.
History of Gemara Boot Camp
About GBC
Many Jews spend a considerable part of their lives attending shiurim, participating in learning programs, studying with chavrusos, and even completing several cycles of Daf Yomi. Many learned in Jewish days schools and Israel yeshivos, but they still do not feel confident in their ability to learn Gemara without the assistance of an external resource like an online shiur, Steinsaltz, Artscroll, or Sefaria. Wouldn’t it be amazing to devote just a month or two developing and refining the skills to be able to open any daf in Shas and attain clarity without those external resources? Gemara Boot Camp provides skills to master any daf in Shas without an Artscroll!
Having consulted with master educators and carefully studying the Kumon Learning Method, Khan Academy,
and other skill-building programs, R’ Yitzchok Radner developed Gemara Boot Camp, a new approach to acquire Gemara learning skills. After several months of curriculum development and reviewing the course with RIETS Semicha Director, R’ Aryeh Lebowitz, GBC was launched in the summer of 2020.
Within just a couple of weeks of opening registration to the public, over 100 people from across the globe – ranging from high school bachurim to retired professionals – registered for the 4-week Gemara Boot Camp course. To accommodate the hectic schedule and plethora of responsibilities any adult Jewish male juggles, the class meets for 1 hr. and 15 minutes, only 2 times each week.
After running the course for two summers, the feedback from people enrolled in the course was heartwarming, inspiring, and encouraging. High school and Bais Medrash bachurim, college students, working and retired professionals were and are intrigued by R’ Radner’s contagious excitement and passion for Gemara, and deeply appreciate his engaging, stimulating, and crystal-clear teaching styles. People see their Gemara skills improve dramatically in a short time and are anxious to grow in Torah even more. As a result, participants requested that GBC be available throughout the year.
With Hashem’s help, the program will continue to have much success, and more members of Klal Yisroel will gain clarity and depth in the teachings of Chazal and in the holy words of the Torah.
The Gemara Boot Camp Curriculum
How It Works
There are 3 Steps to Gemara Boot Camp. Each step is comprised of 2 Levels (a total of 6 levels to complete GBC). Each level consists of approximately 10 classes taught over the course of 5 weeks. Students may attend the live classes or view the class video recordings.
GBC is predicated on the idea that there are 14 different essential skills for learning Gemara and that there are a finite number of styles of presentation employed by the Gemara. By mastering those 14 skills as well as the key styles of a Gemara’s presentation, students can navigate any daf in Shas. Thus, the course begins with a diagnostic that allows us to accurately identify each student’s areas of strength and weakness and then introduce carefully selected Gemaros from throughout Shas that help students develop, refine, and advance Shas skills.
In each level of the course, we introduce 5-10 selections of foundational Gemaros that we found to be most helpful for students to gain the confidence and independence for tackling hundreds of blatt in Shas. navigating hundreds of other Gemaros in Shas. As students advance from one level to another, we introduce progressively more challenging selections of Gemara.