Today’s Talmud pages, Nedarim 26 and 27, ask a profound question: When arguing, shall we listen to the head or the heart? Author and editor Lisa Ann Sandell joins us to share stories of quibbling with Liel and preach the wisdom of thinking and processing rather than merely reacting. So, how should we conduct ourselves when having a good argument? Listen and find out. Take One is a Tablet Studios production. The show is hosted by Liel Leibovitz, and is produced and edited by Darone Ruskay and Qui...
Nov 21, 2022•9 min•Season 16Ep. 26
Today’s Talmud pages, Nedarim 24 and 25, raise a thorny question: Can you make a vow without fully understanding what it is you're vowing to do? Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin joins us to shed light on Judaism's eternal promise, and on why vows have to be general and all-encompassing to work. Why did Moses make the Jewish people take a vow in his name? Listen and find out. Take One is a Tablet Studios production. The show is hosted by Liel Leibovitz, and is produced and edited by Darone Ruskay and Quinn ...
Nov 18, 2022•9 min•Season 16Ep. 24
Today’s Talmud page, Nedarim 23, tells the story of Abaye and his wife and what happens when one does not do as they are expected to do. Tablet Magazine's Samantha Hacker, our marriage correspondent joins us to talk about the trust that is built between married people, and the ways that we can be disappointed when that trust is shaken. Can trust be rebuilt after a misstep? Listen and find out. Take One is a Tablet Studios production. The show is hosted by Liel Leibovitz, and is produced and edit...
Nov 17, 2022•9 min•Season 16Ep. 23
Today’s Talmud page, Nedarim 22, warns us against the destructive force of sheer anger. Poet and Buddhist monk Norman Fischer joins us to talk about why anger is a mighty and strangely embodied sensation, and what we can do to recognize it and stop it from taking over. How are the teachings of the rabbis about anger a lot like those of Buddhist teachers? Listen and find out. Take One is a Tablet Studios production. The show is hosted by Liel Leibovitz, and is produced and edited by Darone Ruskay...
Nov 16, 2022•9 min•Season 16Ep. 22
Today’s Talmud page, Nedarim 21, gives us a thrilling lesson in how to speak our minds. Is it ever okay to literally say things we don't literally mean? And what do we lose when we police each other's speech rather than really taking the time to open our ears and our hearts? Listen and find out. Take One is a Tablet Studios production. The show is hosted by Liel Leibovitz, and is produced and edited by Darone Ruskay and Quinn Waller. Our team also includes Stephanie Butnick, Josh Kross, Mark Opp...
Nov 15, 2022•7 min•Season 16Ep. 21
Today’s Talmud pages, Nedarim 19 and 20, suggest that nothing we do really has any meaning unless we do it explicitly, intentionally, and mindfully. The late Lord Rabbi Jonathan Sacks has a few moving thoughts about this very question, reminding us that life is about much more than happenstance. How does prayer give life meaning? Listen and find out. To join in on today's international day of learning in Rabbi Sacks's memory, click here. Take One is a Tablet Studios production. The show is hoste...
Nov 14, 2022•10 min•Season 16Ep. 19
Today’s Talmud pages, Nedarim 17 and 18, give us a peek beyond good and evil. Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin joins us for a taste of why vows and words continue to have meaning long after the people who spoke them are gone. What supremely optimistic lesson may we learn from today's page? Listen and find out. Take One is a Tablet Studios production. The show is hosted by Liel Leibovitz, and is produced and edited by Darone Ruskay and Quinn Waller. Our team also includes Stephanie Butnick, Josh Kross, Mark...
Nov 11, 2022•9 min•Season 16Ep. 17
Today’s Talmud page, Nedarim 16, raises one of Judaism's most central questions: Do we keep the Mitzvot, or commandments, because they're beneficial to us, or simply because we were told? Rabbi Lauren Tuchman joins us to offer an unorthodox and insightful perspective. How important is kavanah, or intentionality, when we do anything Jewish? Listen and find out. Take One is a Tablet Studios production. The show is hosted by Liel Leibovitz, and is produced and edited by Darone Ruskay and Quinn Wall...
Nov 10, 2022•10 min•Season 16Ep. 16
Today’s Talmud page, Nedarim 15, asks whether you can take a vow on something that is already prohibited to you. To discuss this further, we are joined by producer Quinn Waller who discusses the ways in which being Kosher brings her closer to God. Does abstaining from oysters and shrimp deepen her Jewish journey? Listen and find out. Take One is a Tablet Studios production. The show is hosted by Liel Leibovitz, and is produced and edited by Darone Ruskay and Quinn Waller. Our team also includes ...
Nov 09, 2022•12 min•Season 16Ep. 15
Today’s Talmud page, Nedarim 14, launches a meditation on vows, intentions, sleep, and speech. Commemorating the second yahrzeit of the late, great Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, we bring a sermon of his that addresses these very subjects. How can the things we say and don't say transform our reality? Listen and find out. To learn more about the annual Day of Learning in Rabbi Sacks's memory, click here. Take One is a Tablet Studios production. The show is hosted by Liel Leibovitz, and is produced and ed...
Nov 08, 2022•12 min•Season 16Ep. 14
Today’s Talmud pages, Nedarim 12 and 13, offer a moving meditation on the significance of anniversaries. Why do we bother with birthdays? Why light candles annually to commemorate the passing of a loved one? And what spiritual energy is unleashed on an anniversary that is not available on any other day of the year? Listen and find out. Take One is a Tablet Studios production. The show is hosted by Liel Leibovitz, and is produced and edited by Darone Ruskay and Quinn Waller. Our team also include...
Nov 07, 2022•9 min•Season 16Ep. 12
Today’s Talmud pages, Nedarim 10 and 11, warns us against taking unnecessary vows and practicing needless restraint. Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin joins us to talk about boundaries, and how different people struggle with different temptations in different ways. Is there a good way to deny yourself pleasure? Or is it always wrong? Listen and find out. Take One is a Tablet Studios production. The show is hosted by Liel Leibovitz, and is produced and edited by Darone Ruskay and Quinn Waller. Our team also ...
Nov 04, 2022•10 min•Season 16Ep. 10
Today’s Talmud page, Nedarim 9, gives us a master class in personal productivity. Stephanie Butnick joins us to explain why Hillel the Elder was a model for all multitaskers to emulate, and share her own intricate, and Talmudically-inspired, system of maximum efficiency at the office. What's the Gmail Gemara, and why should you study it carefully? Listen and find out. Take One is a Tablet Studios production. The show is hosted by Liel Leibovitz, and is produced and edited by Darone Ruskay and Qu...
Nov 03, 2022•10 min•Season 16Ep. 9
Today’s Talmud page, Nedarim 8, helps us find some inspiration to do good deeds. Rabbi Mordechai Lightstone joins us to talk about the Hakhel, an ancient tradition that brought all Jews together to hear the King read the Torah. Why is it still relevant today, particularly this year? Listen and find out. Take One is a Tablet Studios production. The show is hosted by Liel Leibovitz, and is produced and edited by Darone Ruskay and Quinn Waller. Our team also includes Stephanie Butnick, Josh Kross, ...
Nov 02, 2022•9 min•Season 16Ep. 8
Today’s Talmud page, Nedarim 7, kicks things off with an amusing story about a man who spoke in a confusing way leading his peers to be uncertain which room he had designated to be the bathroom. It's a strange little anecdote, but it eerily recalls one of Soviet history's most beloved tales, about the time Stalin's confusion led to the building of a monstrosity right in the heart of Moscow. How did the Hotel Moskva come to have two completely different designs in one building? And what does that...
Nov 01, 2022•11 min•Season 16Ep. 7
Today’s Talmud pages, Nedarim 5 and 6, warn us that if you don't speak your mind clearly, it's like you never spoke your mind at all. But how to speak and write well? How to make sure we're always understood? For advice, we turn to an unearthed gem, a 1978 commencement speech by the late William Safire, Richard Nixon's speechwriter and longtime columnist for The New York Times. What advice does he have on how to make sure we're never misunderstood? Listen and find out. Take One is a Tablet Studi...
Oct 31, 2022•20 min•Season 16Ep. 5
Today’s Talmud pages, Nedarim 3 and 4, dive right into the question of a special category of vow: The Nazirite Vow. Rabbi Dr. Stuart Halpern joins us to explain what this unique vow is, why the rabbis opposed it, and why one Nazir in particular became the Bible's great action hero and inspired everyone from Thomas Jefferson and Frederick Douglass. Who is that powerful man of mystery, and why are we still obsessed with him despite his weird vows? Listen and find out. Take One is a Tablet Studios ...
Oct 28, 2022•12 min•Season 16Ep. 3
Today’s Talmud page, Nedarim 2, introduces us to a new tractate that’s all about words and why they matter. Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin joins us with a preview of what to expect, and a meditation on why it's so important to make sure we all understand one another. What makes Nedarim one of the Talmud's most challenging and fascinating tractates? Listen and find out. Take One is a Tablet Studios production. The show is hosted by Liel Leibovitz, and is produced and edited by Darone Ruskay and Quinn Wall...
Oct 27, 2022•8 min•Season 16Ep. 2
Today’s Talmud page, Ketubot 112, brings us to the end of Tractate Ketubot. Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin joins us to recap what we’ve learned, and what powerful lessons the tractate still offers us today. Why do so many Jews hang their ketubot on the wall? Listen and find out. You can read Rabbi Bashevkin's essay on the conclusion of Tractate Ketubot. Take One is a Tablet Studios production. The show is hosted by Liel Leibovitz, and is produced and edited by Darone Ruskay and Quinn Waller. Our team als...
Oct 26, 2022•11 min•Season 15Ep. 112
Today’s Talmud page, Ketubot 111, gives us a thorny conversation between two rabbis on the subject of whether or not you're allowed to move to the Promised Land. How did their debate influence the history of Zionism? And what can it teaches us today as we argue about Israel? Listen and find out. Take One is a Tablet Studios production. The show is hosted by Liel Leibovitz, and is produced and edited by Darone Ruskay and Quinn Waller. Our team also includes Stephanie Butnick, Josh Kross, Mark Opp...
Oct 25, 2022•9 min•Season 15Ep. 111
Today’s Talmud pages, Ketubot 109 and 110, find the rabbis complaining about life in both cities and rural towns. Producer Josh Kross joins us to weigh the benefits of each lifestyle, and share what having a residence in each taught him about finding balance in life. So is city life better? Or should you go for some bucolic calm instead? Listen and find out. Take One is a Tablet Studios production. The show is hosted by Liel Leibovitz, and is produced and edited by Darone Ruskay and Quinn Waller...
Oct 24, 2022•10 min•Season 15Ep. 109
Today’s Talmud pages, Ketubot 107 and 108, ask a poignant question: What do you need to survive? Tablet Magazine's Tanya Singer joins us to explain why jewelry and charity are essentials, not luxuries, and share a touching story about her father who had recently passed. Why did the rabbis think so highly of ornaments? Listen and find out. Take One is a Tablet Studios production. The show is hosted by Liel Leibovitz, and is produced and edited by Darone Ruskay and Quinn Waller. Our team also incl...
Oct 21, 2022•7 min•Season 15Ep. 107
Today’s Talmud page, Ketubot 106, tells us a spooky story. It's about a rabbi who didn't mean to, but ended up interfering in some poor schlub's fair trial, and about the prophet Elijah who was so angered by this he decided to turn himself into a literal monster. Why would the kindly Elijah do something so terrifying? And what lesson about morality does the Talmud share with Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13th, Halloween, and the other great horror movie classics? Listen and find out. Take ...
Oct 20, 2022•9 min•Season 15Ep. 106
Today’s Talmud pages, Ketubot 103, 104, and 105, deliver an amusing little insight into the style of rabbinic argumentation. Our very own Presidentischer Rav, historian and former administration official Tevi Troy, joins us with some insights on what the rabbis can teach our contemporary politicians, and why so many alliances start with a few shots of whisky and end in discord. What are some of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue's most legendary fall-outs? Listen and find out. Take One is a Tablet Studios...
Oct 19, 2022•6 min•Season 15Ep. 103
Today’s Talmud pages, Ketubot 100, 101, and 102, give us a crash course in naming names. Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin joins us with some insights into how the rabbis of the Talmud used names to honor loved ones and pass down tradition. Why are there no Talmudic rabbis named Moses? Listen and find out. Take One is a Tablet Studios production. The show is hosted by Liel Leibovitz, and is produced and edited by Darone Ruskay and Quinn Waller. Our team also includes Stephanie Butnick, Josh Kross, Mark Oppe...
Oct 14, 2022•9 min•Season 15Ep. 100
Today’s Talmud page, Ketubot 99, ponders the complicated, sometimes fraught, and often fruitful relationship between clients and agents. Literary agent Anne Edelstein joins us to talk about helping her authors navigate their careers, a journey that requires profound psychological insights. So what is it, exactly, that an agent does? Listen and find out. Take One is a Tablet Studios production. The show is hosted by Liel Leibovitz, and is produced and edited by Darone Ruskay and Quinn Waller. Our...
Oct 13, 2022•9 min•Season 15Ep. 99
Today’s Talmud pages, Ketubot 96, 97, and 98, teach us that students must be deferential to their teachers. Mark Oppenheimer, recently retired after nearly two decades at Yale, joins us to opine about the wisdom of this comment, and suggest a very different way to engage with the young. Should a student call the teacher "professor so and so" or merely use the teacher's first name? Listen and find out. Take One is a Tablet Studios production. The show is hosted by Liel Leibovitz, and is produced ...
Oct 12, 2022•11 min•Season 15Ep. 96
Today’s Talmud pages, Ketubot 93, 94, and 95, warmly advise us to just be nice to our spouse. Journalist and writer Faith Salie joins us to question the ways the rabbis thought of love and marriage, and share some tips of her own on domestic bliss. What's the secret to keeping a husband or wife happy? Listen and find out. Take One is a Tablet Studios production. The show is hosted by Liel Leibovitz, and is produced and edited by Darone Ruskay and Quinn Waller. Our team also includes Stephanie Bu...
Oct 07, 2022•8 min•Season 15Ep. 93
Today’s Talmud page, Ketubot 92, delivers what, at first blush, appears to be a dreary discussion of intricate legal matters. Soon, however, it blooms into a meditation on love, law, and why the two are necessarily intertwined. What tremendous insight did the late Rabbi Jonathan Sacks share about the unique course of Jewish history? Listen and find out. Take One is a Tablet Studios production. The show is hosted by Liel Leibovitz, and is produced and edited by Darone Ruskay and Quinn Waller. Our...
Oct 06, 2022•8 min•Season 15Ep. 92
Today’s Talmud pages, Ketubot 90 and 91, surprise us by arguing that non-Jews can have a Ketubah when they marry. Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin joins us to explain why the idea of the Ketubah transcends any religion, and what this universal idea has to teach us today on how to make a marriage work. So what's the secret to a good, long, happy marriage? Listen and find out. Take One is a Tablet Studios production. The show is hosted by Liel Leibovitz, and is produced and edited by Darone Ruskay and Quinn ...
Oct 04, 2022•8 min•Season 15Ep. 90
