Today’s Talmud page, Shevuot 14, warns us against climbing atop the Temple Mount, lest we accidentally defile its holiness. But if that's the case, why are we permitted to climb Mount Sinai? And how does Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel help explain this idea of making the world holier with our actions? Listen and find out.
Today’s Talmud page, Shevuot 13, discusses one of the Torah's strangest rituals, one involving two goats on Yom Kippur. How does sacrificing one and launching one into the wilderness mirror the repentance each of us must make? And what does Satan have to do with it? Listen and find out.
Today’s Talmud page, Shevuot 12, discusses the two goats offered up on Yom Kippur, one sacrificed and the other pushed off a cliff into the wilderness. Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin joins us to discuss why this ceremony is an astonishing example of breaking the Fourth Wall and talking to God directly. Why do we sacrifice our own decision-making power? Listen and find out.
Today’s Talmud pages, Shevuot 10 and 11, explain what was done with the leftovers animals in the Temple, those fit to be sacrificed but never used. What insights can we learn from the rabbis to help us do better than the $160 billion worth of food we throw away every year while 50 million Americans go hungry? Listen and find out.
Today’s Talmud pages, Shevuot 8 and 9, raise one of the most difficult questions to ever face the rabbis: Why is a woman giving birth considered a sinner? Is she required to bring a sin offering to repent for that first sin, so long ago, by the first mother, Eve, eating from the Tree of Knowledge? Or is there some deeper lesson here about hope, connection, and gratitude? Listen and find out.
Today’s Talmud page, Shevuot 7, introduces us to a very special category of sins, those we enter into fully aware of what we're doing yet somehow lose all track of our wrongdoing the more we engage in it. How is that possible? And what brilliant and compassionate atonement payment plan does the Torah prescribe? Listen and find out.
Today’s Talmud page, Shevuot 6, finds the rabbis talking about what happens when you compare two great kings. Dr. Tevi Troy, our very own Presidentischer Rav, returns to explain how the Talmud's dual approaches to power informed Ronald Regan in his struggle with the Soviet Union. How to handle a global adversary and win? Listen and find out.
Today’s Talmud page, Shevuot 5, finds the rabbis talking about Tzara'at, the affliction that was punishment for slanderous gossip. What can this ancient disease teach us moderns about guarding our tongue? Listen and find out.
Today’s Talmud page, Shevuot 2, kicks off a brand new tractate. Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin joins us to tell us a little bit about what we have in store for the next few weeks. Why must we be careful when taking the name of God? Listen and find out.
Today’s Talmud page, Makkot 24, brings our tractate to a close. Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin joins us to sum up what we've learned, and explain Judaism's wonderful attitude to punishment and reward. Why did Rabbi Akiva laugh when he saw Jerusalem destroyed? Listen and find out.
Today’s Talmud page, Makkot 23, issues a stern warning against lashon harah, or malicious speech. But hey, we all gossip, so what's so bad about that, anyway? And what great arguments did the rabbis give to convince us to think before we open our mouths? Listen and find out.
Today’s Talmud page, Makkot 22, finally sheds light on one of the tractate's central questions, namely just how many lashes must a person sentenced to lashing receive. Why did the rabbis subtract one lash from the number indicated in the Torah? And what could their behavior teach us as we think of crime and punishment? Listen and find out.
Today’s Talmud page, Makkot 21, dives into the controversial issue of tattoos. Are tatted Jews really prohibited from being buried in Jewish cemeteries? And what surprisingly moving lesson do the rabbis teach us about finding compassion even as we falter and sin? Listen and find out.
Today’s Talmud pages, Makkot 19 and 20, contain a long list of instructions pertaining to Jewish hair. Why can't men shave their beards with a razor, but scissors are fine? And how to address the anxieties around frizzy, curly hair? Listen and find out.
Today’s Talmud pages, Makkot 17 and 18, the rabbis warn us that there are times when we must follow very strict procedures or rob even life's most special and sacred moments of all meaning. How is this insight relevant for anyone trying to enjoy a meal these days at a fancy restaurant? Listen and find out.
Today’s Talmud page, Makkot 16, informs us that if you have to go to the bathroom and fail to do so in a timely fashion you risk making your soul detestable. Why is that? And how is relieving ourselves not just of bodily waste but of emotional and spiritual baggage as well key to staying healthy? Listen and find out.
Today’s Talmud page, Makkot 15, asks a fascinating question: Are there any transgressions for which there's no punishment? It's a conundrum we've all faced when we vowed, say, to go to the gym and never did. What, if any, should be the consequences for promises unfulfilled? Listen and find out.
Today’s Talmud page, Makkot 14, delivers a charming little story of three of the most important rabbis of the Talmud talking Torah while buying meat at the butcher shop. What can this slice of life anecdote teach us about the rabbis style of leadership? And what time management skill can we still learn by following their advice? Listen and find out.
Today’s Talmud pages, Makkot 12 and 13, take up the thorny question of why, precisely, courts do not absolve those who are truly repentant. Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin joins us to explain why we may be forgiven for our sins in shul on Yom Kippur but not before an earthly judge. What was the most famous Talmudic discussion ever held in America, and how does it relate to the question at hand? Listen and find out.
Today’s Talmud pages, Makkot 10 and 11, kick things off with a strange, spooky story about two murderers that soon blossoms into a gorgeous morality tale. Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin joins us to explain the important insight the story delivers. What did the rabbis mean when they taught us that we must assist a person to walk down whichever path the person chooses? Listen and find out.
Today’s Talmud page, Makkot 9, delivers a subtle rebuke about the dangers of succumbing to hate. Why should we sometimes be much more attentive to those we hate than to the ones we love? Listen and find out.
Today’s Talmud page, Makkot 8, delivers a stark reminder to watch the way we behave in public. Why should we be meticulously mindful when it comes to the general wellbeing of others? And how do we keep the public domain from becoming a public nuisance? Listen and find out.
Today’s Talmud pages, Makkot 5, 6, and 7, contain a fierce debate of the death penalty. Should courts strive as much as they can to make sure we execute as few people as is possible, if not abolish capital punishment altogether? Or is the death penalty a necessary deterrent, without which we're sure to experience more chaos and crime? Listen and find out.
Today’s Talmud pages, Makkot 3 and 4, gives us a good lesson on how to deal with situations of great uncertainty. Should we just trust our gut and hope for the best? Should we analyze all available metrics instead? Or is there a third, wiser solution? Listen and find out.
Today’s Talmud page, Makkot 2, kicks off a brand new tractate. Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin joins us with a rollicking preview of what lies in store. Why are the conspiring witnesses punished with the same fate they schemed to afflict on another? Listen and find out.
Today’s Talmud page, Sanhedrin 113, brings us to the end of our magical tractate. Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin joins us to recap what we've learned, and share Judaism's unique and inspired view of the law. Why keep the commandments when we're already guaranteed a place in the World to Come? Listen and find out.
Today’s Talmud page, Sanhedrin 112, continues the discussion of an idolatrous city and whether or not it should be destroyed. Jordan Gorfinkel returns to help us parse what part, if any, do the residents of this evil town play in determining their fate. Why is Kevin Smith's Clerks a masterful Talmudic meditation? Listen and find out.
Today’s Talmud pages, Sanhedrin 110 and 111, kick off a discussion of an idolatrous city and whether or not it should be destroyed. Jordan Gorfinkel has thought about this question a lot, particularly as one of the leading creative forces behind Batman, whose native Gotham is an idolatrous city if there ever was one. Should Gotham be destroyed? Were there innocent people on the Death Star? And what can this Talmudic conversation teach us about, say, Gaza? Listen and find out.
Today’s Talmud pages, Sanhedrin 108 and 109, tell the great tale of Nahum Gam Zo, a man whose motto in life was "This, too, is for the best." How did this outlook save him from certain death? And what can it teach us on handling life's thorniest challenges? Listen and find out.
Today’s Talmud page, Sanhedrin 107, tells the heartbreaking story of how Jesus came to leave Judaism's fold. What was his great and wise teacher's sin? And what can it teach us about the need to always do much more to draw people near than we do to drive them away? Listen and find out.
