Today’s Talmud page, Bava Batra 106, delivers a complicated case of two brothers splitting an inheritance and then learning that they've a third brother they'd never met. Showrunner Courtney Hazlett joins us to discuss this idea, and how it was captured in the hit TV show Succession. Are family dynamics primarily about rules or feelings or some measure of both? 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...
Oct 09, 2024•10 min•Season 23Ep. 106
Today’s Talmud page, Bava Batra 105, tells us what happens when a business dealing contains two unclear and contradictory statements. It remains a very concrete problem, costing companies tens of millions of dollars each year. So how can the Talmud teach corporate America to communicate more clearly? 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 Fac...
Oct 08, 2024•7 min•Season 23Ep. 105
Today’s Talmud pages, Bava Batra 102, 103, and 104, spend much time discussing rocky fields. But there's more to the debate than merely figuring out how to sell and buy land fairly; the wise rabbis give us a masterclass in how to avoid big, abstract, and ultimately meaningless terms and instead learn how to really think. Why do we abhor uncertainty, and how may we come to live with it, if not love it? Listen and find out. Like the show? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Send us a note at takeo...
Oct 07, 2024•9 min•Season 23Ep. 102
Today’s Talmud page, Bava Batra 99, gives us a glimpse at the Cherubs, those heavenly creatures there to guard the Ark of the Covenant. But which way, exactly, were they looking? And how might answering this seemingly technical question help us understand just how we're supposed to approach Rosh Hashanah? 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...
Oct 02, 2024•7 min•Season 23Ep. 99
Today’s Talmud page, Bava Batra 98, discusses who is at fault when good wine goes bad. Is it the seller, who probably failed to keep it in proper conditions? Or is it the buyer, punished for his ignorance and arrogance? And does this debate finally decide the awkward question of whether or not you're ever allowed to send a bottle of wine back at a restaurant? 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 @...
Oct 01, 2024•8 min•Season 23Ep. 98
Today’s Talmud pages, Bava Batra 96 and 97, teach us that when making Kiddush on Shabbos, one must use wine that would've been good enough to be offered in the Temple. Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin joins us to explain this curious idea, and how it elevates each Jewish home into a place of great passion and intentionality. What's the secret to transforming your own home into a sacred space? Listen and find out. Like the show? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Send us a note at takeone@tabletmag.com. Fo...
Sep 30, 2024•8 min•Season 23Ep. 96
Today’s Talmud pages, Bava Batra 94 and 95, tell the story of a strange way to resolve a financial dispute involving locking some of the money up and waiting for the Prophet Elijah to return to earth and adjudicate. Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin joins us to explain why waiting for the Messiah is really an invitation for all of us to mend our ways here in this world. What would you do differently in your own life once the Messiah arrives? Listen and find out. Like the show? Subscribe to our weekly newsle...
Sep 27, 2024•9 min•Season 23Ep. 94
Today’s Talmud page, Bava Batra 93, shares an old custom they used to have in Jerusalem, punishing anyone who messed up dinner. Why is the meal so important? And what can us moderns do to take it more seriously? 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 enjoy Liel's new book How the Talmud Can Change Yo...
Sep 26, 2024•7 min•Season 23Ep. 93
Today’s Talmud page, Bava Batra 92, finds the rabbis talking about guarantees. Does a seller owe the buyer anything should a product not meet the buyer's satisfaction? And how might the answer help the retail industry deal with more than $800 billion lost each years to customers sending back stuff? And just what, pray tell, is "wardrobing"? 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 ...
Sep 25, 2024•8 min•Season 23Ep. 92
Today’s Talmud page, Bava Batra 91, contains a difficult prohibition: the prohibition on living outside the land of Israel. How are we to grapple with this difficult notion? 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 enjoy Liel's new book How the Talmud Can Change Your Life: Surprisingly Modern Advice fr...
Sep 24, 2024•10 min•Season 23Ep. 91
Today’s Talmud pages, Bava Batra 89 and 90, explore ethical practices in the market place. Producer Josh Kross joins us to discuss fair business practices. According to the Rabbis, how should we purchase Taylor Swift tickets? 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 enjoy Liel's new book How the Talmud...
Sep 23, 2024•8 min•Season 23Ep. 89
Today’s Talmud pages, Bava Batra 87 and 88, ponder a question that is every parent's nightmare: Who is responsible when your kid breaks something valuable? As a recent story from Israel, involving a 3,500 year old vase and a very curious toddler, demonstrates, it's a profound question about parenthood, education, and what kind of society we want to be. So why should we let children touch things even if they're likelyt o break them? Listen and find out. Like the show? Subscribe to our weekly news...
Sep 20, 2024•6 min•Season 23Ep. 87
Today’s Talmud page, Bava Batra 86, discusses the manner of acquiring small animals, and concludes that they do not like being manhandled. It's an insight that modern science, addressing the same questions millennia later, confirms. Why do dogs really, truly hate being hugged? 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 th...
Sep 19, 2024•6 min•Season 23Ep. 86
Today’s Talmud page, Bava Batra 85, dives deep into the difference of commercial transactions occurring in the private versus the public domain. It's a tension that's still alive and well, as a new show, hosted by Rabbi Diana Fersko and producer Josh Kross explores; called Re-Form, it looks at the history of Reform Judaism in America, and how it navigated challenges of private versus public, tradition versus modernity, and other questions that are still very much relevant to American Jews today....
Sep 18, 2024•13 min•Season 23Ep. 85
Today’s Talmud page, Bava Batra 84, lists the surprisingly physical things we must do in order to consolidate an act of acquisition. Why did the rabbis require lifting and pulling before a commercial transaction was concluded? And what could their insights teach us about the possibility that shopping, derided as a soulless activity, is actually much more spiritually beneficial than we had previously considered? Listen and find out. Like the show? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Send us a not...
Sep 17, 2024•7 min•Season 23Ep. 84
Today’s Talmud pages, Bava Batra 82 and 83, are all about the difference between praying and learning Torah. Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin joins us to shed light on this important spiritual distinction. Why should we always endeavor to emulate King David and "be the prayer"? 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...
Sep 16, 2024•8 min•Season 23Ep. 82
Today’s Talmud pages, Bava Batra 80 and 81, have honey on the mind. But wait a minute: Why is honey even kosher? Bees, after all, aren't, and honey is very likely to have bits of bees in it. Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin joins us to clear things up, and give us a timely teaching about honey's transformative power. So why do we dip our challah in honey on Rosh Hashanah? 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...
Sep 13, 2024•8 min•Season 23Ep. 80
Today’s Talmud page, Bava Batra 79, warns us that whoever separates themselves from learning Torah can expect to be burned by fire. Why this harsh measure? What does it teach us about distancing ourselves from junk food, reality TV, and other things that aren't good for our hearts, minds, and soul? And how does C.S. Lewis's celebrated demon, Screwtape, fit into this stunning lesson in morality? Listen and find out. Like the show? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Send us a note at takeone@tabl...
Sep 12, 2024•7 min•Season 23Ep. 79
Today’s Talmud page, Bava Batra 78, teaches us all about ona'a, or the prohibited practice of charging someone unfairly in a business deal. Sadly, this prohibition is more relevant than ever, as big tech companies now use algorithms to compensate workers differently for the exact same tasks. How can the rabbis of the Talmud help us think our way into a more fair labor policy? Listen and find out. Like the show? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Send us a note at takeone@tabletmag.com. Follow u...
Sep 11, 2024•8 min•Season 23Ep. 78
Today’s Talmud page, Bava Batra 77, discusses how words help us make meaning. Executive producer Courtney Hazlett is joined by director Nathan Silver and comedian Robert Smigel to discuss their new film Between the Temples. How can words, expressed and not, affect our lives? 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...
Sep 10, 2024•20 min•Season 23Ep. 77
Today’s Talmud pages, Bava Batra 75 and 76, deliver a delicious disquisition on that ideal heavenly treat... whale meat. Why was the whale the food of the afterlife? 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 enjoy Liel's new book How the Talmud Can Change Your Life: Surprisingly Modern Advice from a Ver...
Sep 09, 2024•9 min•Season 23Ep. 75
Today’s Talmud pages, Bava Batra 73 and 74, give us a rare glimpse into the rabbis' view of cosmology. Dr. Jeremy Brown joins us to discuss why our wise ancestors believed in a place where the heavens touched the earth, and how this belief informed their view of the stars, the universe, and everything in it. How is the Talmudic cosmos like one of those airport luggage conveyor belts? Listen and find out. Like the show? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Send us a note at takeone@tabletmag.com. ...
Sep 06, 2024•13 min•Season 23Ep. 73
Today’s Talmud page, Bava Batra 72, gives us the story of the grafted carob as metaphor. What's so special about this tree that it was considered both a tree and akin to land? And what lesson does its seemingly contradictory status have to teach us as we go on a spiritual detox in preparation for the High Holidays? 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 t...
Sep 05, 2024•6 min•Season 23Ep. 72
Today’s Talmud page, Bava Batra 71, offers us one peculiar Hebrew phrase that unlocks a whole world of spiritual instruction we could use just about now. What did the rabbis mean when they insisted we see the world with a beautiful eye? 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 enjoy Liel's new book How...
Sep 04, 2024•7 min•Season 23Ep. 71
Today’s Talmud page, Bava Batra 70, kicks things off talking about investments. The discussion, however, soon evolves into a debate of what, precisely, we tell our kids about business. Do we share with them our financial affairs? Or is it better to leave them in the dark? 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 yo...
Sep 03, 2024•5 min•Season 23Ep. 70
Today’s Talmud pages, Bava Batra 68 and 69, contain a little nugget of great importance. It's a discussion of cultivated carob trees, and why, if you want them to be fruitful and tall, you should graft a few cultivated branches onto the wild trees that are strong but not very fertile. How is this insight a metaphor for all of human civilization? And what can it teach us about social media influencers? Listen and find out. Like the show? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Send us a note at takeo...
Sep 02, 2024•7 min•Season 23Ep. 68
Today’s pages, Bava Batra 66 and 67, continue discussing the objects that are part of a home, and where an olive press fits in. Why was olive oil such a staple of the Talmudic diet? Why bother buying extra-virgin olive oil at all? 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 enjoy Liel's new book How the T...
Aug 30, 2024•7 min•Season 23Ep. 66
Today’s Talmud page, Bava Batra 65, is all about the things we keep in our kitchen, and what these appliances mean to us. How do our kitchen gadgets help make a house into a home? 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 enjoy Liel's new book How the Talmud Can Change Your Life: Surprisingly Modern Adv...
Aug 29, 2024•7 min•Season 23Ep. 65
Today’s Talmud page, Bava Batra 64, finds the rabbis discussing the soul of commerce. Should commercial transactions bring people closer together? Or drive them further apart? Producer Courtney Hazlett addresses these questions by interviewing Ben Zion David, an eighth generation Yemeni jeweler in Jaffa. How can buying and selling stuff build community? Listen and find out.
Aug 28, 2024•14 min•Season 23Ep. 64
Today’s Talmud page, Bava Batra 63, is a master class on how to write, and read, legal contracts. Sure, arguing over the meaning of every word can be exhausting, but it's also immensely edifying. What can we non-rabbis and non-lawyers learn from the Talmudic attention to every possible nuance? Listen and find out.
Aug 27, 2024•7 min•Season 23Ep. 63
