Kallah Months

(Heb. yarhé kallah, "months of assembly"). Name (of uncertain origin) given in Babylonia to month-long "extension courses" in which Jews from near and far joined regular students in the Academies for the intensive study of a talmudic tractate. The custom lasted throughout the amoraic and geonic periods (3rd to 11th cent.). Courses were held twice a year, in Adar and Elul, since these were not busy agricultural months and were therefore a convenient time to be set aside by the working population for a period of study.At these gatherings the head of the Academy took his place in front of seven rows of sages, ten to a row, seated according to rank and seniority. Behind them sat the regular students, about 400 in number, and around them gathered thousands of auditors. One of the sages in the first rows would raise an issue from the tractate selected, this would be debated by his colleagues, and the head of the Academy would then provide his own comments and answers. Study leaders were appointed to work with the students in smaller groups. During the last week of the month, the head of the Academy would examine the students and those whose knowledge proved unsatisfactory would have their stipends reduced. Finally, the head of the Academy would announce the tractate to be discussed at the next course, in six months' time, until which time the students and the auditors would have a chance to prepare themselves.The kallah-month tradition has been revived by the rabbinical academies of modern Israel (see Yeshivah); the courses, held in the month of Elul prior to the New Year, last for three or four days.

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