Learning the Talmud Yerushalmi
Rabbi Yosef Gavriel Bechhofer is well known for teaching the Daf Yerushalmi — the daily-daf study of the Talmud Yerushalmi, the Jerusalem Talmud. Most daf learners follow the Bavli, so a steady, accessible shiur on the Yerushalmi fills a real gap. Its Aramaic is terser, its give-and-take more compressed, and its rulings sometimes differ from the Bavli, all of which reward a teacher willing to slow down and lay out the sugya clearly for those following along.
A shiur series is well suited to this material precisely because the Yerushalmi is less charted. Where a Bavli learner can lean on generations of familiar commentary and structure, the Yerushalmi often demands more orientation. Rabbi Bechhofer's recorded shiurim give a listener that footing daf by daf, so that keeping the Yerushalmi cycle becomes realistic rather than daunting for someone learning largely on their own.
Machshava and avodas hamiddos
Alongside the Yerushalmi, a strong current in these shiurim is machshava — Jewish thought and the work of building character. Titles like "What Is Bitachon," "Concept of Hishtadlut — Effort," and "Being Content" map out a familiar and important tension: how much a Jew is meant to trust in Hashem, how much effort he is nonetheless obligated to make, and how to arrive at genuine contentment between the two. These are questions every thinking person meets, treated here with care.
The shiur "Et Ratzon" — a favorable time, an opportune moment for tefilla — belongs to the same world of avodas Hashem. Rather than abstract philosophy for its own sake, this strand of the collection is aimed at how a person actually lives: what he relies on, how hard he pushes, and whether he can be at peace with his portion. Paired with the rigor of the Yerushalmi, it gives the library both a sharp mind and a settled heart.
The moadim and the Jewish year
The seasons of the year get their own attention. For Shavuos there is a shiur on the anniversary of Matan Torah, tied to the sefiras ha'omer theme of "Netzach of Hod" — reading the days we count toward Sinai as a ladder of middos to refine. It treats the festival not as a date to observe but as the culmination of a seven-week process of preparation the Torah itself lays out.
For the summer there is "The Fast of the 17th of Tammuz: Fixing Our Middot," which frames the beginning of the Three Weeks as a call to repair the flaws that our tradition connects to the churban. Taken together, the moadim shiurim carry the same double signature as the rest of the collection: a serious engagement with the sources and a steady push toward personal growth as the year turns.
Finding kosher Torah video for your family
FilteredTube is a kosher video service built for Jewish families — every single video is approved against one written standard before it can appear, with no open feed, no comments, and no surprises. It is a calm, safe place to look for the Torah and Jewish music you love.
If your family enjoys teachers like Rabbi Yosef Gavriel Bechhofer, search FilteredTube for the speakers and topics that matter most to you. With a daf yomi shelf, a weekly parsha shelf, topic shelves, audio-only listening for the car, and a kids mode with a PIN, kosher Jewish video is easy to reach — and the approved catalog keeps growing every day.
At a glance
Key takeaways
- A steady shiur on the Daf Yerushalmi — the Jerusalem Talmud — which most daf learners never reach.
- Machshava titles map bitachon, hishtadlus and contentment: how much to trust, how much to strive.
- "Et Ratzon" and other shiurim aim at avodas Hashem in practice, not philosophy for its own sake.
- Moadim shiurim tie Shavuos and the 17th of Tammuz to sefiras ha'omer and fixing one's middos.
- Search FilteredTube for kosher, approved Torah video — the catalog grows every day.