In today’s Talmud pages, Kiddushin 35 and 36, we begin with the Rabbis discussing whether women need to be obligated for time-bound commandments. But rather than focus specifically on this page, today, and all this week we will be celebrating a few milestones. We will be celebrating the new Jewish year, 5784, our reaching the middle page of the Talmud, that’s right we have hit the mid-point of this journey, and finally the upcoming publication of Liel’s book How the Talmud Can Change Your Life: ...
Sep 18, 2023•18 min•Season 20Ep. 35
In today’s Talmud pages, Kiddushin 33 and 34, the question is asked whether respect should be given based on age, or based on knowledge. While knowledge and expertise is important in many fields, honoring the wisdom that comes with age is equally, if not more important. What do we learn through the adventures of life? Listen and find out. Like the show? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Send us a note at takeone@tabletmag.com. Follow us on Twitter at @takeonedafyomi and join the conversation i...
Sep 15, 2023•9 min•Season 20Ep. 33
In today’s Talmud page, Kiddushin 32, the story is told of a great Rabbi who was serving drinks to the guests at the wedding of his son, and the other rabbis asked whether it was appropriate for such a great man to be serving them. Finally Rabbi Tzadok speaks up and reminds the others that God serves all people, so it is not inappropriate for a great man to do the same. This encourages us to consider the honor we invest in people and in God. Tablet writer Armin Rosen joins us to discuss a review...
Sep 14, 2023•11 min•Season 20Ep. 32
In today’s Talmud page, Kiddushin 31, it states that the torah instructs one to honor your father before your mother, and fear your mother before your father because that is not the natural way a child would feel. Tablet Studios General Manager, and an honored and feared mother, Tanya Singer returns to discuss the different roles that parents have in the life of a child, and the ways that gender can sometimes play into those roles. What can we learn from the fact that when being called up to the...
Sep 13, 2023•11 min•Season 20Ep. 31
In today’s Talmud page, Kiddushin 30, it states that God created an evil inclination, but that the study of Torah will keep you from harm. We wonder why God created an evil inclination in the first place. Would it not have been easier if we were not enticed by such an evil desire? What can we learn from an old story to better understand why the evil inclination is actually an important impulse to fight against? Listen and find out. Like the show? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Send us a not...
Sep 12, 2023•9 min•Season 20Ep. 30
In today’s Talmud pages, Kiddushin 28 and 29, we focus on the word “command”, which is understood not to refer to a single moment, but for that moment onward for all generations. Zev Moses, the Executive Director of the Museum of Jewish Montreal joins us to share how the museum he founded changed from a view of the history of Jews of Montreal to include what Jewish community looks like now and into the future. What can you expect from an experience of the Museum? Listen and find out. Like the sh...
Sep 11, 2023•8 min•Season 20Ep. 28
In today’s Talmud pages, Kiddushin 26 and 27, the Rabbis discuss how an animal is acquired. While it is stated that an animal can be acquired by either lifting it or pulling it. The Rabbis respond by asking how one acquires an elephant, which can neither be lifted, nor pulled. This page can be viewed as a meditation on how we treat animals, or on the intricacies of contract law, but perhaps we should focus instead on thinking and imagination. What is the creative solution that the rabbis found t...
Sep 08, 2023•7 min•Season 20Ep. 26
In today’s Talmud page, Kiddushin 25, we hear the story of an attempt at education gone wrong. Professor Alyssa Quint joins us to share her experiences of working with students who, like the students discussed in the Talmud, didn’t respect their teacher. What are the ways in which students and teachers can., and should, respectfully share ideas, and disagreements? Listen and find out. Like the show? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Send us a note at takeone@tabletmag.com. Follow us on Twitter...
Sep 07, 2023•9 min•Season 20Ep. 25
In today’s Talmud page, Kiddushin 24, it is all about noise. The Rabbis discuss the harm that one can cause another by shouting into their ear. This harm may not be an injury that they would be liable for in a court of law, but it is one that they are liable for in the court of the heavens. We all live in a world surrounded by the noise of our outside world, noise that is higher than is safe for our ears. During this month of Elul, perhaps it is an appropriate time to find a moment of two to be ...
Sep 06, 2023•7 min•Season 20Ep. 24
In today’s Talmud page, Kiddushin 23, it indicates that a slave cannot free themselves with their own money, but can only be freed by the money provided by others. Rabbi Diana Fersko joins us to discuss the ways that even when not thinking about slavery, there is something important of relying on our community and how we should all strive to be “the others” that can help liberate those who need it. What is our responsibility towards those who can not do for themselves? Listen and find out. Like ...
Sep 05, 2023•7 min•Season 20Ep. 23
In today’s Talmud pages, Kiddushin 21 and 22, Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakkai expresses the special place that the ear plays above all other parts of the body. A dedicated lover of music and all things audio, Tablet producer Josh Kross joins us to discuss the importance that sound plays in how we experience the world. In addition to discussing the centrality of the sense of hearing, we share a segment from a recent episode of Unorthodox about the National Library of Israel’s music and sound archive. If...
Sep 04, 2023•22 min•Season 20Ep. 21
In today’s Talmud pages, Kiddushin 19 and 20, the Rabbis discuss whether a maid-servant can be betrothed to her employer based on the amount of time left in the day for her to earn a minimal amount of money. This opens up the question of what our time is worth, and how we should be spending it. How should we balance the time we spend on work, on study, and on leisure? Listen and find out. Like the show? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Send us a note at takeone@tabletmag.com. Follow us on Twi...
Sep 01, 2023•8 min•Season 20Ep. 19
In today’s Talmud page, Kiddushin 18, there is a discussion of what to do if a slave steals property that is worth more than their value, and what to do when they are worth more than the value of what they steal. Rabbi Adam Baldachin joins us to explore how to deal with a question that seems so foreign to our modern ears, and explains that this section is truly an opportunity to consider each person’s value, and the ways in which we are all made in the image of God. How should we consider topics...
Aug 31, 2023•9 min•Season 20Ep. 18
In today’s Talmud page, Kiddushin 17, the rabbis instruct us that we all deserve liberty and dignity, no matter how useful we are or how industrious. Professor Brian Horowitz, the editor of a new translation of a work by one of Russia's greatest forgotten Jewish writers, Lev Levanda, joins us to talk about the artist's belief in the emancipation of Russia's Jews, and about how his optimism soured first into despair and then into mental illness. Why is emancipation the beginning of the journey ra...
Aug 30, 2023•11 min•Season 20Ep. 17
In today’s Talmud page, Kiddushin 16, we read about the severance that must be paid to a slave at the end of their term of service. Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin returns to teach us about the mitzvah of not sending a worker away empty handed, and explores what this can teach us about appreciating those who play pivotal roles in our lives, and how sending them off with a gift expresses how important they are to us. How should we think of those with whom we have a transactional relationship? Listen and fi...
Aug 29, 2023•9 min•Season 20Ep. 16
In today’s Talmud pages, Kiddushin 14 and 15, we read that it is required that slaves are treated honorably, and their living conditions must be equal to those of the master. The Rabbis are encouraging us to make it possible for all people, whether they be landowners or day laborers, to succeed and reach their potential. Over the course of the past sixty years the gulf between the salary of owners and workers has skyrocketed from a 20 to 1 ratio all the way up to 399 to 1. What needs to change f...
Aug 28, 2023•8 min•Season 20Ep. 14
In today’s Talmud pages, Kiddushin 12 and 13, we hear the story of a man who betroths with a worthless mat of mertyl. The Talmud questions whether the woman is truly betrothed when faced with a betrothal of such low value. This leads us to reflect on where the value of an item comes from, and how some items can be of great value to one person, and of none to another. Consider all the collections that you may have had as a child (or still do) and how those baseball cards or comic books may seem v...
Aug 25, 2023•8 min•Season 20Ep. 12
In today’s Talmud page, Kiddushin 11, the Rabbis discuss the minimum amount of money that a woman should accept as the fee for betrothal. While this is a wonderful statement of respect for self-worth, Jewish texts are short on conversations about self-worth, and rather focus more on being humble, and doing for others, and not for ourselves. Rabbi Simcha Bunam tells a tale with the instructions that we should all have two notes in our pockets, one that says “For my sake was the world created”, an...
Aug 24, 2023•7 min•Season 20Ep. 11
In today’s Talmud page, Kiddushin 10, the Rabbis ask when and how betrothal occurs. In trying to make sense of these questions, Rav Haym Soloveitchik explains that there is a difference between kiddushin (betrothal) and nissuin (marriage) in that one is legalistic, and the other impacts the day-to-day life of the couple. How do our physical acts impact our spiritual lives? Listen and find out. Like the show? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Send us a note at takeone@tabletmag.com. Follow us o...
Aug 23, 2023•5 min•Season 20Ep. 10
In today’s Talmud page, Kiddushin 9, we hear stories of interactions between men and women, in which the man is doing a poor job at expressing his interest. Lisa Ann Sandell returns to the podcast to discuss her first interaction with Liel, and how his pickup line left her a bit confused. What was the successful line that has resulted in nearly nineteen years of marriage? Listen and find out. Like the show? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Send us a note at takeone@tabletmag.com. Follow us on...
Aug 22, 2023•7 min•Season 20Ep. 9
In today’s Talmud pages, Kiddushin 7 and 8, there is a detailed conversation of the minutia of how wedding contracts are written with all of their provisions, conditions, and stipulations. Reading all of this contract talk at the start of Elul brought to mind a conversation from a recent episode of our sister podcast Unorthodox with Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin in which we discussed the personal work that one needs to do to re-up their personal contract with God during the month of Elul. What are the s...
Aug 21, 2023•19 min•Season 20Ep. 7
In today’s Talmud pages, Kiddushin 5 and 6, there is a discussion about whether the benefit of money, intercourse, and documents provide pleasure. To delve into this strange triad of items that may provide pleasure, we are joined by Tablet Magazine Editor in Chief, Alana Newhouse, who explores the ways that documents, money and intercourse can provide pleasure, but how that benefit may just be a means to an end? How do two magazine editors feel about the pleasures of a good piece of writing? Lis...
Aug 18, 2023•7 min•Season 20Ep. 5
In today’s Talmud page, Kiddushin 4, there is a comment that a young woman remains a minor until the age of twenty, when she immediately becomes a woman. Unorthodox co-host Stephanie Butnick joins us to explore the strangeness of the choice of that age, and discusses how becoming a Bat Mitzvah is now considered being a responsible member of the community, but how truly becoming an adult is a longer process. At what age did Stephanie finally feel like an adult? Listen and find out. Like the show?...
Aug 17, 2023•8 min•Season 20Ep. 4
Today’s Talmud page, Kiddushin 3, asks us what just may be the most important question ever posed: What is love? Is it just a series of grand romantic gestures, the kind we love reading about in novels and watching in rom-coms? Or is it a series of boring negotiations about taking out the trash and balancing the checkbook, better attempted by lawyers, not lovers? Listen and find out. Like the show? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Send us a note at takeone@tabletmag.com. Follow us on Twitter ...
Aug 16, 2023•10 min•Season 20Ep. 3
Today’s Talmud page, Kiddushin 2, introduces us to a new tractate that’s all about marriage. Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin joins us with a preview of this tractate, and to explore the definition of the word Kiddushin, which does not just mean marriage, but also holiness. What can we expect from this new tractate? Listen and find out. Like the show? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Send us a note at takeone@tabletmag.com. Follow us on Twitter at @takeonedafyomi and join the conversation in the Take On...
Aug 15, 2023•9 min•Season 20Ep. 2
Today’s Talmud pages, Gittin 89 and 90, bring us to the end of Tractate Gittin. Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin joins us to reflect on this tractate, and how while it is at its core about the dissolution of a marriage, it is more deeply about the connection or absence of a connection with God. What does it mean that an altar sheds tears at the divorce of a couple? Listen and find out. Like the show? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Send us a note at takeone@tabletmag.com. Follow us on Twitter at @takeo...
Aug 14, 2023•11 min•Season 19Ep. 89
Today’s Talmud pages, Gittin 87 and 88, asks whether a single divorce decree can be used for multiple people if a list of husbands and a list of wives are written and it indicates that they will be divorced. Rabbi Daniel Isaak, Rabbi Emeritus of Congregation Neveh Shalom joins us to discuss the experience he had when performing a collective marriage, marrying six couples, who had been previously married by civil law, but had not had a Jewish wedding. He shares which parts of the ceremony could b...
Aug 11, 2023•8 min•Season 19Ep. 87
Today’s Talmud page, Gittin 86, asks whether the fact that birds drink from a water basin, disqualifies that water from being purified, because as it drinks some water will spill back into the basin. This provides us an opportunity to reflect on birds, and the meditative experience of bird watching. In Jonathan Rosen’s book The Life of Skies, he explores the parallel between birding and hunting. The difference being that once you have found your target, you just take the time to appreciate it. W...
Aug 10, 2023•7 min•Season 19Ep. 86
In today’s Talmud page, Gittin 85, it states that a divorce with the restrictions that a woman not marry someone to whom she could never marry anyway, is a valid divorce. Rabbi Dovid Beshevkin joins us to explore the finality of divorce, and the reasons why putting other limits in a divorce decree makes the decree invalid. Which two letters are never read next to each other in the Torah? Listen and find out. Like the show? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Send us a note at takeone@tabletmag.c...
Aug 09, 2023•7 min•Season 19Ep. 85
Today’s Talmud page, Gittin 84, asks what happens when impossible conditions like flying through the air, or walking on water, are placed on the validity of a divorce decree. We are joined by circus acrobats Yoni Kallai and Angela Buccinni Butch of The Muse to discuss what goes into making the impossible possible as they perform together. They share the importance of verbal and non-verbal communication to build the trust that one needs to succeed. What would we learn if we gave ourselves permiss...
Aug 08, 2023•9 min•Season 19Ep. 84
