Finishing chapter 2... An interpretation of a very common phrase in the Torah. Also: kneading dough with water that must be "rested" water. And making sure that the dough (and the water used to do so) does not warm up, and risk leavening faster. Noting that not all cases are the same, and parameters for one case do not necessarily apply to another. Is the default permitted unless there's a prohibition, or is it prohibited unless permitted? Plus a list of foods that are simply prohibited on Pesac...
Jan 02, 2021•21 min•Season 4Ep. 42
The concern of non-chametz food items coming in contact with something that will become chametz. For example, water used by a baker can easily contribute to leavening. Which connects to methods of cooking and what is acceptable as roasting. What about the hot springs of Tiberias? When cooking isn't quite cooking, roasting over a fire is quite specific. Also, what happens if the korban Pesach is not cooked fully? If one eats it anyway? The Gemara lists the sets of lashes that one would incur in v...
Jan 01, 2021•25 min•Season 4Ep. 41
Additional concerns about foods becoming chametz - specifically, soaking barley or wheat kernals, and the moment at which that soaking becomes a problem, even if you did it inadvertently. But isn't all of this prohibited? The Gemara hazards a distinction between those who look to be more stringent and everybody else. The Gemara establishes several viewpoints, leaving us to ask: So is it prohibited, possible, or required to soak that wheat or barely?? Also: from when does one protect the wheat or...
Dec 31, 2020•25 min•Season 4Ep. 40
Maror! 5 vegetables that are listed as effective to fulfilling one's obligation of maror. And what kind of preparation (or lack thereof) leaves them still fit for the obligation. And what kind of status is permitted. What ARE these 5 vegetables? And why horseradish, since it's not on the list and the Gemara is very clear on details about this list that make it clear that it doesn't include horseradish (including Rabbi Dr. Ari Zivotovsky's article on the same question). Also: Why lettuce? And why...
Dec 30, 2020•31 min•Season 4Ep. 39
Matzah that is made from ma'aser sheni produce, an etrog that is ma'aser sheni produce... doesn't work (following the opinion of R. Meir). Albeit for different rationales for each. Plus, the logic of the formulation of "since" (ho'il) in the Gemara. Also: The Nazir and the matzah of his offering. And the dynamic between R. Ilai and R. Eliezer, as evident in the discussion on these "rekikei nazir" and their knowledge of Halakhah, when some of these details are not explicit in the Torah.
Dec 29, 2020•21 min•Season 4Ep. 38
How do we ensure that when we bake our bread, we don't end up with chametz? Firstly, no "thick bread." But how thick is thick? Do you need to be an expert to make sure you know what you're doing at all? And be sure to use dry wood (would wet wood really make chametz)? What about the difference between a metal oven and a clay oven? How much can we apply these elements of baking the lechem ha-panim to baking matzah? So perhaps "thick matzah" really means extra... and not to overcook. Also: The pit...
Dec 28, 2020•24 min•Season 4Ep. 37
"Lechem oni" - what does it mean? Why is it used for matzah? (Several different possible explanations) Followed, of course, but what it means to enrich matzah in ways that may make it prohibited on Pesach, in part because additions can make the dough leaven more quickly that water alone does (excepting warm water). Also, why are the kohanim considered more likely to prevent the dough from leavening? Consideration of the diet of the kohanim.
Dec 27, 2020•23 min•Season 4Ep. 36
Stringencies with regard to kodshim - specifically, as they emerge from the biblical text. Also, what can matzah be made from - to fulfill the mitzvah of eating matzah on the first night of Pesach. And also what can you *not* use for matzah (beyond the obvious chametz, which is not under discussion here). Including the different options that kohanim have, which the rest of the people cannot partake of. The gemara articulates the names of the mishnah's list of grains - in the vernacular. Which le...
Dec 26, 2020•22 min•Season 4Ep. 35
Who's Who: Abba Shaul. Also, terumah that becomes impure - what happens if you replant that terumah? The Gemara focused on the issue of "hesach ha-da'at" - a break in paying attention to the terumah (or what had been terumah), and the implications of that shift of focus. Plus: The judging of the sages of Babylonia by... the sages of Israel, and their harsh language. And also: the water of the water libations of Sukkot, and the question of impurity in this regard.
Dec 25, 2020•21 min•Season 4Ep. 34
Why can't that which has no value be designated as terumah? Why must terumah have a value - to the recipient? Also - when it comes to squeezing grapes, for example, is their juice considered an integral part of the fruit, or separate. And most importantly, specifically, what are the implications of that difference of perspective once it comes to tumah? Also, implications of what happens with the juice of the fruit when it comes to mulberries, etc., and the impurity of it.
Dec 24, 2020•18 min•Season 4Ep. 33
Chametz that is also terumah (or terumah that is also chametz) - what happens when it is misused? Which is to say, violating a prohibition and also incurring damages. Which will be a different value if the terumah is pure or impure. Also: One who is not a kohen who eats a k'zayit's amount of terumah has to pay back the amount and then a fifth of the total value on top of that. Though Abba Shaul disagrees, and the question is what is the crux of the disagreement.
Dec 23, 2020•20 min•Season 4Ep. 32
The Gemara's extensive probing of any which place that chametz could be in play. Beginning with chametz being used as collateral in a loan. And ending (this daf) with chametz being buried under a landslide. How far we go to make sure we don't use chametz on Pesach! Also: Destroying chametz and nullifying the rest of it, in case there is any more. Plus: Who owns the collateral?! And what is the role of the creditor with regard to it, especially in the context of a chametz collateral?
Dec 22, 2020•17 min•Season 4Ep. 31
More on "ta'am," conveying flavor. Now in the context of a ceramic pot, and chametz after Pesach - use it with food of a different type! Ah, but what if you used it for the same type of food? Rav and Shmuel dispute the matter. Plus: A strategy to prevent price gauging - relying on R. Shimon's opinion that one can benefit from chametz after Pesach. Also: An oven smeared with grease - now, what if you bake dairy in there? Or bread, which is pareve, and then you have to take exceedingly great care ...
Dec 21, 2020•23 min•Season 4Ep. 30
More comparisons between chametz and hekdesh - including the phenomenon of the prohibition of food, and including chametz that is hekdesh on Pesach. Plus: Another example of two prohibitions coming together - in the case of having to pay damage from an action that itself violated Shabbat or Yom Kippur. Also - mixtures of prohibited food together with permitted food. Verging into the concepts that are most relevant in Hilkhot Kashrut... For example, what it takes for a food to be nullified in a l...
Dec 20, 2020•26 min•Season 4Ep. 29
Rejecting R. Yehudah's conclusion based on his own rationale, in the sharpest of terms. Also: Crumbling chametz and throwing it into the wind or the sea - does the crumbling apply to that which would thrown into the sea, or only into the wind, and throwing into the sea could be whole? A real grammatical conundrum. The parallel is grinding idols and scattering to the wind... or the sea, which just might be the Dead Sea. What is retrievable, and what is destroyed? Also: When Halakhah is affected b...
Dec 19, 2020•26 min•Season 4Ep. 28
Intermingling of that wish is permitted with that which is forbidden - in complex ways. For example, baking bread with wood from an orlah tree. Or hekdesh. Which leads to issues of both me'ilah and the item losing its hekdesh status. But is burning different? The implications for the ashes that remain are telling. The prohibitions with regard to hekdesh go beyond the usual food prohibition. Also - more on the Gemara's logic and the kal va-chomer. Namely, a kal va-chomer doesn't work if the end r...
Dec 18, 2020•23 min•Season 4Ep. 27
Getting benefit from something, unintentionally. Abaye's example is a story of R. Yochanan ben Zakkai enjoying shade from the wall of the Beit HaMikdash, as he taught. Other examples from cleaning the Beit HaMikdash - how they actually did their work. Also: sights and sounds and smells - and the benefits or enjoyment that they bring - are more abstract, and less tangible... with smell being more definite. How and to what extent is this applied? Note that the halakhah expects people to get enjoym...
Dec 17, 2020•29 min•Season 4Ep. 26
Milk and meat, as prohibited foods - where does the prohibition against benefit for in, or does it? The comparison to orlah, and why they are different, may be most significant. Also - "for medicinal purposes" will excuse and allow a lot of prohibited-for-benefit items. But not the Asherah. Which brings us to the Big 3 - mitzvot for which one should martyr oneself rather than transgress. Plus: What if you get benefit from something prohibited for benefit - against your will?!
Dec 16, 2020•29 min•Season 4Ep. 25
Our learning today is in honor of Deborah Spector on her birthday dedicated by her chevruta, Cindy Barnard. || More What's What on "kal va-chomer." Also - when it comes to removing chametz, if you don't do it, you've violated two negative commandments. A variety of biblical verses come together to prohibit the eating of various creatures, as a sample of many verses coming together to round out the prohibition. The explication of text thereby elaborates on the negative commandments without actual...
Dec 15, 2020•26 min•Season 4Ep. 24
More on the prohibitions against eating that counter R. Abahu's claim that a prohibition against benefit comes with the eating prohibition. Hizkiyah chimes in as well. And then the Gemara goes in to limit R. Abahu's claim extensively.
Dec 14, 2020•14 min•Season 4Ep. 23
On R. Abahu's position that every prohibition against eating that is in the Torah carries with it a prohibition against getting benefit from that same food. How does this pan with out with the Gid HaNasheh (the sciatic nerve)? Moreover, does the gid ha-neshesh contribute to the flavor of the food? Also, what about the prohibition against non-Jews eating from the limb of a live animal. Note the introduction of the extension of responsibility to protect another from transgression. Plus: The signif...
Dec 13, 2020•27 min•Season 4Ep. 22
Anytime that you are allowed to eat chametz, you're also allowed to get benefit from it in a variety of ways (or all ways). What happens in that in-between time of the 5th hour, as per the debate when you must stop eating chametz (4th or 5th hour)? Also, what is this formulation of "permitted to eat" and "to feed"? Also, selling chametz to a non-Jew during that same time that you can still eat chametz (which is getting benefit from it, if course). Which leads us to a dispute between Beit Shammai...
Dec 12, 2020•23 min•Season 4Ep. 21
The case of the needle in the cow. Which brings us to imposing limitations on the case, and establishing the principles of what is susceptible to tumah (hibat ha-kodesh - the belovedness of the consecrated). Also - a discussion on the difference of oil vs wine, with regard to either of them as terumah, on the first day of Chanukah, no less. How either of these can be used in ways that go beyond their usual use (as food and drink).
Dec 11, 2020•24 min•Season 4Ep. 20
What levels of tumah for which kinds of foods (consecrated, terumah, chullin)? And what happens to kadosh (consecrated) items that come in content with impurity? The combination and contamination within one vessel. Plus the non-food impurity rendered by a t'vol yom. Also - the scenario of a needle in a cow, which is metal... What is pure, what is impure? Doesn't it matter where the needle is found? What's What: "Tumat Yadayim." One of the many rabbinic decrees that establish Impurity. Which brin...
Dec 10, 2020•27 min•Season 4Ep. 19
More on the 7 Machshirim - mnemonics. Now, the biblical verses on this Impurity, which support the discussion of the daf. And to what extent are the details of the impurity of liquid learned from the verses and to what extent inferred via kal va-chomer logic. How does R. Akiva read the verse? Where is the impurity being transferred to? Also, R. Yossi's disagreement with R. Akiva. What's What: Muchsar Kippurim. Which leads to a refinement between terumah and kodshim. Plus:The implications for 3rd...
Dec 09, 2020•22 min•Season 4Ep. 18
What's What: The 7 (!) Liquids of Machshirim. More on impurity.... Continuing the discussion of whether the liquids in the slaughter house in the Beit HaMikdash can become impure - including wine and oil, not just the blood and water. Also, trying to line up the sages and their opinions - Levi, Rav, and more. Plus: R. Pappa on the question of tumah d'Orayta, and his position that the purity here is Halakhah le-Moshe mi-Sinai. Which has its own rules. Also, the location of the liquid is a game-ch...
Dec 08, 2020•22 min•Season 4Ep. 17
Impurity, now in the context of liquid. All of which, in the slaughtering part of the Beit HaMikdash, were pure. But is that because they couldn't be impure or for other reasons? Also, liquid as a perquisite to food items that can become impure becoming impure. Plus - supporting Rav's interpretation (trying to) that blood can be impure from a d'Orayta level.
Dec 07, 2020•18 min•Season 4Ep. 16
One of the less practical elements of the Talmud, in lining up opinions that have already been authorized... Specifically R. Meir, in this case. Also, a recommendation for Point by Point Daf (dafyomi.co.il) - for outlines. What's What: Pigul. Notar. Also, moldy food and its relation to the tumah status (which can't be applied to something that is so far gone it's not food). The role of the dog in determining what counts as food is reminiscent of how we determine what is food with regard to chame...
Dec 06, 2020•21 min•Season 4Ep. 15
The sugya of R. Hanina S'gan ha-Kohanim. Basic principles of tumah and taharah - purity/impurity. Who's Who: Hanina S'gan ha-Kohanim. And, almost a What's What: The levels or degrees of tumah. Also - the mishnah itself, regarding the kohanim and impurity and Erev Pesach, including a t'vul yom (one awaiting the time for dunking). Plus the rabbinic decrees on mixing levels of tumah - including food transferring to food (derabbanan). Another plus: the tumah capacity of metal.
Dec 05, 2020•30 min•Season 4Ep. 14
Trying to make sense of the halakhah, and how it lines up with the disputants' positions. Which brings us to a discussion of terumah (and kodshim) and how to dispose of it on Erev Shabbat, when the first day of Pesach is Saturday night, and you can't burn on the 14th, because it's Shabbat. It's an open question for a time, which in turn raises the concern that Eliyahu might show up on Shabbat to adjudicate... Also - more on this question, and including the challenge of the Korban Todah and the a...
Dec 04, 2020•23 min•Season 4Ep. 13
