A request from the Roman Caesar that R. Yehoshua Ben Chananiah show up at the House of Avidan. Plus: Riddles! Fundamentally, on aging. (Addendum: the Queen of Sheba's riddles for King Solomon, as part of the culture of riddles). Note the challenge of this kind of reminder of our own mortality. So: biblical interpretation where a person's soul mourns over him. From there, an inference that the soul mourns for 7 days, as we keep 7 days of shiva. Also: R. Yehuda made sure to bring a minyan to a hom...
Aug 05, 2020•19 min•Season 2Ep. 152
A difficult daf: When someone dies on Shabbat, don't close their eyes; when someone dies on a weekday, don't risk hastening their death. Note that once a person has died, the body is muktzah. Also, a comparison: break Shabbat to save a newborn, but don't handle any dead body on Shabbat, not even that of King David. Plus: A lion does not pounce upon two people, except when it does. Also: Do mitzvot when you can. And wealth can be lost in an instant... Nobody's material success is inherently perma...
Aug 04, 2020•19 min•Season 2Ep. 151
The mishnah reflects two issues: what can we talk about and think about on Shabbat, and what can we plan to do after Shabbat? Tchum Shabbat - how far can one go on Shabbat in preparation to hire workers after Shabbat? The Gemara then applies the mishnah, to determine its specific case, including explanations why it can't mean the more general case. Also: when you cannot say something on Shabbat, but you can hint to it. And: Some of the things that appear on this daf as permitted are surprising -...
Aug 03, 2020•22 min•Season 2Ep. 150
Today, a halakhah section and an aggadah section. First, halakhah: no written lists for that which will appear at the table, lest one erase items off the list as they happen -- or lest one start dealing with business documents. The Gemara tracks through the different views, and the rationale and implications of each. Fundamentally, what it means to explore the "nafka minah," the practical difference between the two views. Also: being involved in punishing another person distances one from God. P...
Aug 02, 2020•18 min•Season 2Ep. 149
Financial dealings on Shabbat - or at least goods: borrowing without saying "borrow." If Erev Pesach (in Jerusalem in the time of the Temple) fells out on Shabbat, certain negotiations could be done for the sake of the korban pesach. Also: Several cases based on the mishnah's concern re the specific language of the loan, which leads to the difference between a larger, longer-term loan vs. spotting someone for a short time. But isn't the shorter-term loan at risk of getting written down? During t...
Aug 01, 2020•27 min•Season 2Ep. 148
If you shake crumbs or dust, etc., off your tallit, or garment, that's akin to laundering, and incurs a korban chatat, at least for a new garment. And yet, this was not a universal approach - as some people were not concerned about it, and for them, shaking off the dust, crumbs, etc. did not matter, and therefore did not incur a korban chatat. Ulla, the key personality here, does seem to like to get involved, as he fears that those who were not particular about their garments in this way were vi...
Jul 31, 2020•20 min•Season 2Ep. 147
(Recorded in advance of Tisha B'Av) The Gemara claims that non-Jews were considered contaminated - why? They never had the contamination from the Garden of Eden serpent removed, as Bnei Yisrael did. It's a difficult presumption in a world where we generally claim that people are born good, or at least innocent (which would mean not contaminated!). And what about converts? The implication is that they were always going to be part of the Jewish people. Also: Making a hole in a cask of dates - depe...
Jul 30, 2020•21 min•Season 2Ep. 146
More on squeezing fruit on Shabbat, specifically over food, and not over an empty bowl - salad dressing! Also, hearsay testimony (one witness) is accepted only for allowing women to remarry, instead of leaving them agunot. Is there no other arena of halakhah where one witness's testimony would be sufficient? There is - when one claims that an animal is a first-born animal, and not available for the food of the kohanim. Plus: Certain unsavory foods that we're not considered tasty, yet some still ...
Jul 29, 2020•27 min•Season 2Ep. 145
That ongoing discussion about liquid that unintentionally comes out from fruit on Shabbat... Blood is also one of the liquids that can grant the food it comes in contact with (!) the capacity to become impure. R. Akiva is more stringent for the milk, over the blood. What do intentional and unintentional mean, in this context? What about other fruit (berries and pomegranates, for example)? And how do our expectations of what the fruit will be used for (to be squeezed for juice or not, for example...
Jul 28, 2020•26 min•Season 2Ep. 144
More on moving muktzah. Removing bones and husks from the table - or removing the board of the table altogether. Crumbs and left over pods are less problematic, as they can be eaten by animals, and thereby have a purpose on Shabbat. Also, using a sponge on Shabbat is tricky in that it may entail automatic squeezing, unless it has a strap as a handle. Note the implications for cleaning our own Shabbat tables are not necessarily clear from this. Plus: A barrel that breaks on Shabbat - taking the f...
Jul 27, 2020•29 min•Season 2Ep. 143
More on moving muktzah, for the sake of needing its place or the item itself. Specifically, terumah, where some is pure and some is impure, in the same basket. Also, coins on a pillow. Notably, the Gemara's careful and close reading of the Mishnah. A side comment on "Gemara logic," and its associative nature, as compared to the linear approach of Greek logic, which underpins much of modern thinking. And: some more cases of moving muktzah: a stone at the mouth of the barrel. And more on the coins...
Jul 26, 2020•25 min•Season 2Ep. 142
Moving muktzah - when and how can you manage that? When you need the space where the muktzah item is, or when you need the muktzah item for a non-muktzah use. Examples include straw and a press, depending on the rest of the circumstances. Also: Scraping mud off your shoes with a tool... as long as the shoes are new. Similarly, how one can use oil as a moisturizer without working the shoe leather, or the leather of a covering akin to tanning. Plus: Don't go out wearing shoes that are way too big,...
Jul 25, 2020•24 min•Season 2Ep. 141
A brief comment on the range of homegrown practices of amud alef. And then the wisdom of R. Hisda (Who's Who), including the general advice and then his personal experience, to Torah students: 1. Don't eat vegetables; 2. Don't share out your bread if you don't have enough; 3. Don't pass up barley bread or beer for wheat bread or wine, because of bal taschit (the Gemara recasts that). Plus his advice to his daughters: 1. Don't eat too much in front of your husband; 2. Don't have food/drink that r...
Jul 24, 2020•25 min•Season 2Ep. 140
Cause and effect: If there are troubles in your world, look to what's wrong with the judges of Israel. The rebuke here is explicit, even if we are less comfortable with ascribing blame that directly in this day and age. And so we ask, punishment, or a natural consequence of the messy messiness? Also: 3 questions asked if Levi: spreading a canopy on Shabbat, planting hops in a vineyard, and burial on yom tov. But another rav needed to answer: there were ways to pasken with leniency, but he didn't...
Jul 23, 2020•26 min•Season 2Ep. 139
How straining wine for its sediment is a concern of making a tent. More, the range of opinions in the dispute about that wine is fodder for concern (on the daf) about how disparate they are (recall the Jerusalem of Gold ornament). Also: A promise, as it were, that the Torah will be forgotten by Israel (the people) in the future, with a prooftext from a verse in Amos. Which is, or course, of great concern. The daf tries to suss out what "word of God" will be forgotten, and the focus of that conce...
Jul 22, 2020•27 min•Season 2Ep. 138
Finishing off this chapter on brit milah. What if you do a brit milah on Shabbat that wasn't supposed to happen until Sunday? Or Friday? Interestingly, the dispute here is rooted in a parallel of idolatry. And: Brit milah takes place on the 8th day of the baby's life, but it also can happen in the 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th days, simply because of how the calendar works out. And of course the brit delayed for the sake of the health of the baby. Also: Precision on removing the foreskin. Plus: The bles...
Jul 21, 2020•24 min•Season 2Ep. 137
Warning: Infant mortality. In the world of the Talmud, a baby was viable if carried to term at 9 months, and also viable at 7 months, but not those delivered at 8 months. Also, 2 stories of rabbis who mourned their babies, even though they seemed to have died within the first 30 days after birth. Both sages insist that the child was born to term, and they each mourn, despite those who raise questions on their doing so. And: The question of yibum in a case where a father died, and then his baby d...
Jul 20, 2020•26 min•Season 2Ep. 136
More on brit milah... When a child is born circumcised, what to do? You can take a drop of blood. Beit Hillel and Beit Shammai seem to disagree. R. Adda bar Ahava fathered a son who was born circumcised, and took that drop of blood, to his detriment. Also: If a baby is born to a woman who does not become impure in childbirth, what day should the brit milah be? Plus: Who's Who/What's What: Eved Kna'ani.
Jul 19, 2020•18 min•Season 2Ep. 135
Dedicated by Lisa Droski, in memory of her parents Bertrand and Florence Sandweiss. || A story about Rabbi Meir not keeping the halakhah he himself had paskened - an object lesson of not doing something just because you can. Also, medical lessons taught to Abaye by his mother, specifically about newborns. Notable is the level of care, given the times of the Talmud, without molecular knowledge. And: Two stories of women whose infants had died and whose next babies, one for each of them, were save...
Jul 18, 2020•21 min•Season 2Ep. 134
[With apologies for the audio issues at the beginning. They do diminish pretty quickly.] The Gemara asks why verses are needed when logic should be enough, in that the unintentional act is permitted. Rava and Abaye explain that the verses are necessary to make the point here to R. Yehuda and R. Shimon - as, when it comes to intent, they each take the less popular position. More on brit milah: You can do anything pertaining to the brit on Shabbat, including all ways of caring for the injury. Plus...
Jul 17, 2020•31 min•Season 2Ep. 133
More brit milah on Shabbat - everyone accepts that milah overrides Shabbat: it's Halakhah! From brit milah, we infer that saving a life also overrides Shabbat. What's What: Kal va-chomer. In the context of different approaches of rabbinic interpretation. Plus: The Rock Paper Scissors of what overrides Shabbat - meaning, when there's a conflict between mitzvot that compete for the time (namely, on Shabbat), which takes precedence: brit milah, the Temple service, tzara'at.
Jul 16, 2020•25 min•Season 2Ep. 132
Gezerah shavah again. The Omer sacrifice and the Shtei HaLechem sacrifice - both of which involve grinding of flour to prepare. Not all gezerah shavahs are created equal. Also: Not all mitzvot override Shabbat, but the following do: lulav, sukkah, matzah, shofar, brit milah. These inferences do not arrive at modern day halakhah, because the overriding sometimes applied only in the Temple. And a brief reflection on the challenges of this kind of daf.
Jul 15, 2020•26 min•Season 2Ep. 131
A mohel who needs to perform a circumcision on Shabbat should make sure his tools are at the site of the brit from before Shabbat. If he has to bring the tools with him on Shabbat, he makes sure they're visible, so everyone know what he's carrying. But why visible? And what if the era involves oppression of Jews, where "visible" is not a good idea? Rabbi Akiva's rule: that which can be done before Shabbat cannot be done on Shabbat. Also: Eating poultry with milk. Including peacock. R. Yehudah Ha...
Jul 14, 2020•24 min•Season 2Ep. 130
To be stringent or lenient when it comes to not quite a case of pikuach nefesh? Note that lenient with regard to Shabbat in this context means being stringent with regard to health - and that is the psak. Also: Bloodletting - seems to have been done frequently, for the sake of basic health, and even nourishment. Look at the extent to which Chazal were focused on health, even if their bloodletting approach does not align with current medical practice. Namely, a fully rounded sage is well-versed i...
Jul 13, 2020•21 min•Season 2Ep. 129
Food for ravens - muktzah or no? Food for deer? For doves? What about food for ostriches? Or elephants? Who knew?! Plus: All of Israel are the children of kings. Namely, even exotic pets area reasonable. Note the application to a debtor collecting from one of our princes. Back to the animals - chicks, chickens, calves, foals... and toddlers: help them to walk. How do we navigate the muktzah aspect of animals with the need to care for them too? What if the animal is stuck in the water? What if th...
Jul 12, 2020•24 min•Season 2Ep. 128
Muktzah does appear! R. Yehudah HaNasi cleared the baskets, but not actually himself - an example of what it meant to be the Nasi. Also: That passage about moving the baskets for the sake of the guests rolls into a discussion about hachnasat orchim - hospitality. Which rolls into the beraita that lists the mitzvot for which we real the real rewards in the World to Come, though they seem to focus on the here-and-now. As well as the interplay between bein adam la-chaveiro (human-focused mitzvot) a...
Jul 11, 2020•25 min•Season 2Ep. 127
The distinction on practice at the Temple vs. outside of it. In this case, door bolts that are not tied to the door - which is fundamentally the melakhah of building. So there's a work-around for places outside the Temple, but not within it. Also: window shutters, even if they aren't attached to the building.... are permitted. Note: What's What: Anonymous mishnayot are usually authoritative - but in this case, they supplement with knowledge of the practice, and that "ma'aseh rav" trumps. Also: C...
Jul 10, 2020•24 min•Season 2Ep. 126
What do you do with the broken shards of an item that was (or wasn't) designated before Shabbat? The daf follows the process of argumentation that emerges on this discussion. Side-point: A paradigm of impurity. Also: A contraption that involves filling it up on Shabbat -- and introducing the "basis" category of muktzah, depending on your intent. But how can you tell what happened how?! And the daf offers the same structure of argumentation as above, and that familiarity helps us understand the l...
Jul 09, 2020•23 min•Season 2Ep. 125
The term "muktzah." Shabbat vs. yom tov - when it comes to items with a permissible purpose on yom tov that is prohibited on Shabbat. But shouldn't all details of Shabbat and yom tov be the same outside of food prep? And yet, that's not necessarily the case. Also: the shards of broken vessels can be treated like the vessels themselves would have been, as long as they serve a purpose.... more of less specifically. Depending on when the vessel broke, in terms of determining its Shabbat use. Note: ...
Jul 08, 2020•22 min•Season 2Ep. 124
The mishnah on daf 122 explains that every item is permissible to move on Shabbat - and provides permitted activities to do that designate items that otherwise have a prohibited purpose on Shabbat for use on Shabbat. But what is this really all about? For that, we need today's daf. And the mishnah here says - you can move all items on Shabbat, except 2. But why? Again, what is this really all about? Which brings us to the decree against carrying *anything,* (except 3 small things for the table),...
Jul 07, 2020•25 min•Season 2Ep. 123
