Today’s Talmud pages, Bava Metzia 44 and 45, ponder whether it's right to punish someone for merely contemplating committing a sin. Tablet Magazine's Armin Rosen joins us to discuss this idea and how it inspired some of science fiction's finest works. Can our thoughts sometimes be even more consequential than our actions? 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 conversati...
Apr 12, 2024•10 min•Season 22Ep. 44
Today’s Talmud page, Bava Metzia 43, gets very specific about how we ought to calculate the compensation someone ought to pay when they misappropriate something that then either grows or diminishes in value. What's the correct answer, and what does it have to teach us today? 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 One Facebook group. We think that...
Apr 11, 2024•8 min•Season 22Ep. 43
Today’s Talmud page, Bava Metzia 42, delivers a bit of financial advice so sage and timeless that, thousands of years later, it is still cited by investment gurus as the Golden Standard. What is it? And why do so many Wall Street hot shots ignore it, with disastrous results? 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 One Facebook group. We think that...
Apr 10, 2024•9 min•Season 22Ep. 42
Today’s Talmud page, Bava Metzia 41, delivers a strange ruling: A person, it tells us, doesn't have to cause another financial loss or damages in order to be guilty of misappropriation. What, then, does misappropriation truly mean? And what does it have to do with a recent and highly controversial decision by McDonald's? 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 conversatio...
Apr 09, 2024•8 min•Season 22Ep. 41
Today’s Talmud pages, Bava Metzia 39 and 40, talk about the assignment of property when people are taken captive. Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin joins us to discuss the Rabbis’ perspective on what matters most when Jews are taken prisoner. How do we take care of both survivors and captives? 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 One Facebook group. We thi...
Apr 08, 2024•8 min•Season 22Ep. 39
Today’s Talmud page, Bava Metzia 37 and 38, uses the case of a prolific thief to teach something far more fundamental about justice and Jewish law. Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin joins us to discuss how the law is for everyone, from the lowest of the thieves to the holiest among us. Should we consider the law the ceiling or the floor of our responsibilities? 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 @takeonedaf...
Apr 05, 2024•9 min•Season 22Ep. 37
Today’s Talmud page, Bava Metzia 36, uses a somewhat complicated transactional discussion about paid and unpaid bailees to deliver a gorgeous lesson for the ages about the importance of always trying and doing and being our best. Why should we never, ever cut corners and shirk our duties? 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 One Facebook group....
Apr 04, 2024•7 min•Season 22Ep. 36
Today’s Talmud page, Bava Metzia 35, speaks of the relation between debtor and creditor. Is it enough for a creditor to lend his wealth to debtors because he is an "upright person"? The producers of our sister podcast, Unorthodox, visited the Social Grocery Store in Tel Aviv just last week, a food pantry filled with upright volunteers that serve asylum seekers and migrants struggling to get by. Wondering what the bond is between wealth and righteousness? Listen and find out. Like the show? Subsc...
Apr 03, 2024•17 min•Season 22Ep. 35
Today’s Talmud page, Bava Metzia 34, unpacks the mystery of the shomer hinam, a person who agreed to watch over something free of charge and then, maybe, coveted the item for himself. Is it still a sin if he agrees to pay for it in full? And what does this seemingly dry, legalistic case teach us about remaining pure-hearted and kind? 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 th...
Apr 02, 2024•7 min•Season 22Ep. 34
Today’s Talmud pages, Bava Metzia 32 and 33, weigh in on the question of who deserves more respect: Our parents or our teachers. It's a hot-button political issue in our never-ending culture wars, and the rabbis offer a definitive, and surprising, take. What is it? 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 One Facebook group. We think that you may a...
Apr 01, 2024•8 min•Season 22Ep. 32
Today’s Talmud pages, Bava Metzia 30 and 31, stress the importance of teaching things in a way people can actually understand. Rabbi Dr. Stu Halpern joins us to shed light on why this passage is crucial to the Passover Haggadah, and how it inspired America's Founding Fathers. How did the Exodus story resonate with Washington et al? 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 ...
Mar 29, 2024•8 min•Season 22Ep. 30
Today’s Talmud page, Bava Metzia 29, instructs us that we should learn to take really good care of our possessions. What's the approach known as soulful materialism? And what does it teach us about radically rethinking the way we shop for and care for our stuff? 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 One Facebook group. We think that you may also...
Mar 28, 2024•8 min•Season 22Ep. 29
Today’s Talmud page, Bava Metzia 28, introduces us to a magical place: The Claimant's Stone, a spot in ancient Jerusalem where anyone who had lost or found anything would come to hang out and connect. It was, if you will, a sort of Facebook before Facebook; but did digital technology rob the idea of its meaning and purpose? And what advice, while we're at it, does Judaism have to offer us about navigating the thicket of social media? Listen and find out. Like the show? Subscribe to our weekly ne...
Mar 27, 2024•8 min•Season 22Ep. 28
Today’s Talmud page, Bava Metzia 27, is a masterclass in deductive reasoning. What's deductive reasoning? Why did the rabbis of the Talmud cherish it? And what does any of it have to do with a certain famous British detective known for his deerstalker hat and his cranky companion? 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 One Facebook group. We thin...
Mar 26, 2024•10 min•Season 22Ep. 27
Today’s Talmud pages, Bava Metzia 25 and 26, raise a terrifying proposition: That no matter how firmly we believe there's always time to do the right thing and make amends and fix what we've broken, sometimes we may simply and sadly be too late. How do we extract something positive and sweet from this bitter teaching? 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...
Mar 25, 2024•8 min•Season 22Ep. 25
Today’s Talmud pages, Bava Metzia 23 and 24, ask what makes an item immediately and distinctly recognizable. As it happens, the same exact question occupied some of our finest trademark lawyers as they did battle in court to protect their clients' unique and immediately recognizable brands. What makes something distinct enough to merit a trademark? And why did the Beatles duke it out with Steve Jobs over this very question? Listen and find out. Like the show? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. ...
Mar 22, 2024•8 min•Season 22Ep. 23
Today’s Talmud page, Bava Metzia 22, discusses one of society's most pressing, and most tragically misunderstood, topics, namely how to host a dinner party. What solemn responsibilities do hosts, and guests, have when breaking bread? And why is a good dinner party more like a shootout than like a picnic? 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 One...
Mar 21, 2024•10 min•Season 22Ep. 22
On today’s episode, we again take a break from Talmud and today's page, Bava Metzia 21, to play you our brand new podcast, Sivan Says: Taking the Torah Personally. It’s a weekly parsha podcast with me, Liel Liebovitz, and Israeli journalist and Torah scholar Sivan Rahav Meir. In our debut episode, Sivan tells us all about the story of Purim; explains how this year's Taanit Esther - Esther's Fast - takes on new meaning for the families of female hostages; and teaches four purim commandments for u...
Mar 20, 2024•22 min•Season 22Ep. 21
On today’s episode, instead of bringing you an episode about Bava Metzia 20, we take a break from Talmud to tell you about a new podcast we’re launching tomorrow called Sivan Says: Taking the Torah Personally. It’s a weekly parsha podcast with Israeli journalist and Torah scholar Sivan Rahav Meir. Sivan joins us on Take One to tell us about the 2000 year old “home page” of the Jewish people. You can find Sivan Says at TabletMag.com/sivansays, or whever you listen to podcasts. Like the show? Subs...
Mar 19, 2024•13 min•Season 22Ep. 20
Today’s Talmud pages, Bava Metzia 18 and 19, are a master class in paying attention to detail. Do details really matter? And is it better, when doing anything from looking for your keys to handling your legal documents, to sweat the small stuff or look at the big picture instead? 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 One Facebook group. We think...
Mar 18, 2024•7 min•Season 22Ep. 18
Today’s Talmud pages, Bava Metzia 16 and 17, begin as an ordinary sounding discussion of legal documents but soon blossom into a profound, and profoundly relevant, life lesson. Why does Rabbi Yohanan urge us to slow down and take a closer look at life's seemingly most ordinary interactions? 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 One Facebook grou...
Mar 15, 2024•7 min•Season 22Ep. 16
Today’s Talmud page, Bava Metzia 15, we're actually going to take a look at a new anthology from Tablet colleague Menachem Butler and co-editor Aviad Hacohen. The anthology, called Praying for the Defenders of Our Destiny: The Mi Sheberach for IDF Soldiers, was prepared in response to the October 7th massacre. It collects over seventy contributions from scholars, rabbis, and thinkers, that investigate the history, composition, and controversies surrounding the Mi Sheberach prayer, highlighting i...
Mar 14, 2024•17 min•Season 22Ep. 15
Today’s Talmud page, Bava Metzia 14, ponders why so many of us, from Talmudic times onwards, have been so obsessed with owning real estate. Scott Harris, real estate agent and the host of a new podcast about the spiritual side of home ownership -- The Pursuit of Home -- joins us to talk about how property assuages our longing for permanence and about why no piece of real estate is ever without its emotional meanings. What mistakes do you usually make when we're house shopping? Listen and find ou...
Mar 13, 2024•9 min•Season 22Ep. 14
Today’s Talmud page, Bava Metzia 13, has the rabbis doing some creative recycling. What to do with a bit of papyrus that's no longer a useful legal document? And how could the ancient world's habits teach us a very valuable lesson about being less wasteful? 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 One Facebook group. We think that you may also enjo...
Mar 12, 2024•6 min•Season 22Ep. 13
Today’s Talmud pages, Bava Metzia 11 and 12, raise a question that troubles many of us: What, precisely, makes a person an adult? Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin joins us to shed light on the meaning of growing up and becoming a man or a woman in full. How was Moses the ultimate practitioner of adulting? 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 One Facebook ...
Mar 11, 2024•8 min•Season 22Ep. 11
Today’s Talmud pages, Bava Metzia 9 and 10, wonder how we truly assume ownership of an animal, which is really another way of asking how we assume ownership of our own lives. Do the rabbis want us to devote our days to study and contemplation? Or should we focus on constant and fruitful action instead? 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 One F...
Mar 08, 2024•8 min•Season 22Ep. 9
Today’s Talmud page, Bava Metzia 8, asks us to ponder what it actually means to ride a horse. Lily Leibovitz, a 12-year-old master equestrian, joins us to share the magical sensation of bonding with a strong, enormous animal, and why this connection had enchanted humans for millennia. How do you get the animal to listen to your wishes, and how do you tune in to its needs? Listen and find out. Like the show? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Send us a note at takeone@tabletmag.com. Follow us on...
Mar 07, 2024•8 min•Season 22Ep. 8
Today’s Talmud page, Bava Metzia 7 discusses the validity of a bill of divorce if it is handed to a woman by her husband while he still holds on to it with a string, indicating that if he can pull the string and take it back, the bill of divorce is not legitimate, but if the string is too flimsy, or he can not pull it back, then the divorce is final. Tevi Troy returns to focus on the question of possession, and the specific question of when one truly takes possession of a job in the White House....
Mar 06, 2024•7 min•Season 22Ep. 7
Today’s Talmud page, Bava Metzia 6, interrogates that old chestnut of TV cop dramas, namely that a guilty suspect is always cool and in command when interrogated while an innocent one is distressed. Is that true? And what impact did this prevalent theory of policing have on wrongfully convicting people of crimes they didn't commit? 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 ...
Mar 05, 2024•8 min•Season 22Ep. 6
Today’s Talmud pages, Bava Metzia 4 and 5, tell us a story of theft and accusation riddled with uncertainty. Producer Josh Kross joins us to talk about what we can do when we simply don't have enough information to go on, and why sometimes doubt isn't the worst thing to experience. What to do when you're trapped on a mountain with no power and no clue? 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 @takeone...
Mar 04, 2024•8 min•Season 22Ep. 4
