R. Yochanan's opinion that one doesn't need to make a new bracha over food in a new locale. That is, no after-blessing nor prior to eating, even for the foods that do not need an after-blessing. But that's disputed, of course. And somewhat counter-intuitive, prioritizing the nature of the food or the meal over the logistics of location. Also, Birkat HaMazon over a cup of wine, and whether that can be combined over a cup that would have kiddush recited on it as well - which would be via a complic...
Mar 03, 2021•16 min•Season 4Ep. 102
Kiddush! Why we make kiddush at home, after hearing it in shul, and why we make kiddush in shul, despite the fact that we're going to make kiddush at home too. Plus the requirement to have a meal in the place where you make kiddush, for kiddush to count. Also, how halakhah is quoted from an amoraic perspective, and how they put it into practice.
Mar 02, 2021•17 min•Season 4Ep. 101
In not wrecking your appetite before the first yom tov meal, if you do start a meal on Erev Shabbat or Erev Yom Tov, how would it work? Do you interrupt the meal you're in to daven and make kiddush? There's a difference of opinion, of course. Would you interrupt for Havdalah, even according to those who say that you should for Kiddush? You can hide the table for Havdalah.
Mar 01, 2021•14 min•Season 4Ep. 100
A neat solution for the lost Korban Pesach. Plus: the value of a science, for both the fool and the wise, including context! Also: Chapter 10! Coming to the matzah with an appetite. And the four cups, which demonstrates the freedom of Seder night (as well as the expense and how to handle it). That is, the class equalizer, at least in concept, of the seder. Plus, the Gemara's question about why Erev Pesach proffers a concern about appetite, and now every other holiday and Shabbat.
Feb 28, 2021•14 min•Season 4Ep. 99
3 interesting mishnayot: 1. Designating an animal that never should have been consecrated for a Korban Pesach - what can be done with the animal? What if something gets in the way of the offering between the time of consecration and the time of offering? What if one becomes an onen - an immediate mourner? 5 Amoraim then address what the case is, of when one became an onen. 2. Animals that are mixed up, between which was for which korban. Now what?! Some measure of penalty seems in place, presuma...
Feb 27, 2021•30 min•Season 4Ep. 98
On Shmuel's discussion of a Korban Chatat, and the 5 cases when an animal that was designated for the korban can't be used, and it's put to death instead of living out its days grazing, until it gets a blemish anyway. Plus the policy of sending most out to graze, if disqualified. And the parallel application of these same cases to the Korban Pesach (they become korbanot shelamim), but still, most go to graze. With caveats on Shmuel's position. Plus, which factor wins out when there's a replaceme...
Feb 26, 2021•14 min•Season 4Ep. 97
The differences between the Korban Pesach brought as part of the Exodus from Egypt and the Korban Pesach that was offered every year.... Contrasting the in-person experience, as compared to the memorialization of the experience. Also, not substituting one animal for an already designated, consecrated animal, but what if have already done so?
Feb 25, 2021•18 min•Season 4Ep. 96
More on Pesach Sheni - this time, how it differs from Pesach Rishon. And how they're the same, too. Plus, how the requirement of Hallel adds a new dimension to our theoretical experience of the Korban Pesach. Also, what happens when the Korban Pesach is brought when most of the community is impure, which means a lot of people who cannot enter the Temple... with different categories of Impurity, and the implications of that.
Feb 24, 2021•19 min•Season 4Ep. 95
A journey into the heavens: the astronomy of the Talmud and that of today, post-Copernicus. Including a dispute between the Jewish sages and the non-Jewish sages if their day. Also, an interesting take on Nebuchadnezzar and a bat kol. And the distances of the earth to the firmament. Plus: 4 seasonal paths that the sun takes across the sky.
Feb 23, 2021•19 min•Season 4Ep. 94
When is one obligated to bring a Korban Pesach on Pesach Sheni? Whether you'd get karet or not for missing Pesach Rishon... When does karet kick in? What about those whose obligation for the Korban Pesach kicks in between Pesach Rishon and Pesach Sheni? Can you be obligated in the second one that year at all?! Three opinions on Pesach Sheni, and the rationales for each of them. Also, how far is a "distant journey"? Plus: the dots on the tops of letters in the Torah.
Feb 22, 2021•17 min•Season 4Ep. 93
More on the mourner in the immediacy of mourning, as another distinction between the Korban Pesach and other kodshim. In contrast to one who hears of a close relative's death more than 30 days after the death. Also, the case of a convert who converts on Erev Pesach, and the dispute between Beit Hillel and Beit Shammai. As part of the consideration of the many different populations and the application of who they are with regard to the Korban Pesach. Plus: 6 scenarios of rabbinic decrees and thei...
Feb 21, 2021•22 min•Season 4Ep. 92
The case of one in immediate mourning (onen) and others who becomes unable to eat from the Korban Pesach, but are eligible at the time of schitah, they are included, as long as that group for the korban isn't only those ambiguous categories of status. Also, more on women and the Korban Pesach. For all that most include women, R. Shimon apparently does not.
Feb 20, 2021•16 min•Season 4Ep. 91
The money for a Korban Pesach and a prostitute's (zonah) earnings/fees - can these be one and the same, or rather, how to relate to these cases. Why is this here now, what are the implications? Also, what can you do with the Korban Pesach funds? More, what is this economy? How far can the Korban Pesach funds go? Trading has a place, within reason.
Feb 19, 2021•18 min•Season 4Ep. 90
What if the Korban Pesachs were jumbled, and one of them was rendered problematic. Now what? A "residual korban" might be a good solution, though how that would work is also a good question. Also, the laying on of hands for the korban, a distinction between the Korban Pesach and a korban shelamim (for men, anyway). Also, when a father apportions the Korban Pesach to "the child who gets to Jerusalem first" - whether that's "bereirah" (retroactive clarification) or a father's pedagogical tool. Als...
Feb 18, 2021•24 min•Season 4Ep. 89
The dates in Babylonia - a matter of perspective on how they influenced the Jews' study of Torah there. Also, more on the discussion of who can bring a Korban Pesach on behalf of someone else, in particular the woman who is a wife and daughter. Here, on children and slaves, as well. Also, more on the case of one who is half a slave and half a freed man. Beit Hillel and Beit Shammai on this person's marriage prospects. Plus, "tikkun olam" in the Talmud. Also, a king and queen who regularly turn t...
Feb 17, 2021•23 min•Season 4Ep. 88
When a married woman eats from her husband's Korban Pesach, and when from her father's Korban Pesach. Likewise, how an orphan eats from a guardian's Korban Pesach, and a jointly-owned slave, or a partially-freed slave. [Who's Who/What's What: Hoshea and Trei Asar] Recounting Hoshea's narrative, and his repentance, and God's rebuke to him... and the promise of redemption. Also, the experience of the Babylonian Exile, and the comparison to Rome (with another exile to Babylonia!). Including the val...
Feb 16, 2021•22 min•Season 4Ep. 87
We're the rooftops in Jerusalem, or even the Beit HaMikdash, considered holy? With implications for where one can eat the Korban Pesach. The discussion raises the question of how the Beit HaMikdash is a building. Also, a new mishnah on the actual group meal of the Korban Pesach, when two different groups are crowded in one room, where they'd face away from each other. A waiter traveled between the groups, being part of only one, so he too would turn his face away. So too a bride would turn her f...
Feb 15, 2021•22 min•Season 4Ep. 86
A new factor in the permissibility of th Korban Pesach: What happens if the meat is taken out of the boundaries where it's supposed to be? Is that rendered impure by rabbinic decree? Plus, what does moving it out entail? How much is parallel to the laws of carrying on Shabbat? Also, what happens if a limb leaves the boundary... where you then can't break the bone? As compared to other korbanot, where you could break the bones. And in having the boundary - outside the door jamb, possibly. Plus, a...
Feb 14, 2021•19 min•Season 4Ep. 85
Even those parts of a young ox that are edible because of its immaturity, which are not edible in an adult ox, are not permitted. The question is whether you can or cannot register to eat one of those parts of the Korban Pesach. That's a dispute of R. Yochanan and Resh Lakish -- which is revisited by the subsequent Amoraim, and Ravin and R. Abahu finish off the machloket (in favor of Resh Lakish). Also, if you break a bone of the Korban Pesach while it's still pure, that gets lashes, but not if ...
Feb 13, 2021•17 min•Season 4Ep. 84
What do you do with the bones of the Korban Pesach? The mishnah says to burn them on the day after the day of eating the Korban Pesach, with any "notar" (leftover) - the question is why they are being burned, when only that which is edible is supposed to be burned. Also, that burning is shifted to the 17th of Nisan if the 16th is Shabbat (in which Anne and Yardaena think this deferral is sensible or puzzling, respectively). What about other korbanot that are burned on Shabbat? The biblical verse...
Feb 12, 2021•25 min•Season 4Ep. 83
If the Korban Pesach is rendered impure, on part of all, how is it than burned? And how different personalities or economic standings have impact on who brings the wood to burn it. Plus, what in human nature we protect and protect against, and the potential to misappropriate public funds, even though we're talking about the holy Beit HaMikdash. Also, if the Korban Pesach or a portion thereof was taken out of Jerusalem - that too has to be burned. [What's What: Kodshim Kodashim/Kodshim Kalim] Plu...
Feb 11, 2021•27 min•Season 4Ep. 82
More on Tumat ha-Tehom. First, the Gemara establishes a kal va-chomer (a fortiori) regarding the unknown impurity as derived from known purity. And then the Gemara knocks down that logic as illegitimate reasoning in this case. Rather, the particulars of Tumat ha-Tehom emerge from a whole slew of biblical verses, right? In fact, not quite, as the Gemara recasts those verses as "asmachta be-alma," a way to connect the halakhah to the text, but really the case of Tumat ha-Tehom is "halakhah le-Mosh...
Feb 10, 2021•24 min•Season 4Ep. 81
What happens if different elements of Bnei Yisrael are impure, and in different kinds of impurity? Those divisions might even be as per the biblical tribes... Would that push the whole tribe to Pesach Sheni? That's difficult, given the unifying role of the Korban Pesach. Also, the case of the korban itself being discovered to have been impure - the meat or the blood, not the person sacrificing - the tzitz of the kohen gadol will ease the way of that offering. It doesn't work for the person makin...
Feb 09, 2021•17 min•Season 4Ep. 80
What happens if/when most or all of the population is impure? What happens if/when a minority of the community is impure? (Think Pesach Sheni). What if the people are pure, but the kohanim impure, or vice versa, or the vessels are impure? The offering stands. What is the knife is impure? With tumah that will render the person who wields it impure? Or tumah that will only render that which it cuts impure? Also: What if the population is exactly 50% pure and 50% impure? Are the both the majority? ...
Feb 08, 2021•23 min•Season 4Ep. 79
Does the mishnah line up with R. Yosi? What is the role of the tzitiz? Also, what is part of your korban becomes impure? Specifically, the meat that you would eat are impure, and the parts that would be burned on the altar are fine - no sprinkling of blood, because the eating is the most important part for the Korban Pesach. The reverse would require sprinkling. But the Korban Pesach itself doesn't have to be eaten, as long as that sprinkling takes place. Which lines up with Rabbi Natan's opinio...
Feb 07, 2021•18 min•Season 4Ep. 78
5 different offerings from the mishnah on daf 76 that can be offered by those who are impure, though it's not eaten by those who are impure. As compared to other sacrifices, which cannot be eaten or offered in impurity. And as compared to the Korban Pesach. Plus, why identify this list as specifically "5"? What is excluded and why? Also, is the principle that allows for the korban one of "d'chuya" (pushing off) or "hutra" (actually permitted)? And what does the "tzitz" - from the garments of the...
Feb 06, 2021•26 min•Season 4Ep. 77
What happens if the Korban Pesach comes in contact with something that might cook any amount of the sacrifice through direct contact? The question brings us to a discussion of basic kashrut principles, and how foods absorb (or don't) the taste(s) of other foods. Specifically, the role of temperature, and the placement of the respective foods. Similarly, the braita that presents the basics of temperature and absorption, with a solution (when rinsing off the foods in contact is sufficient). What a...
Feb 05, 2021•25 min•Season 4Ep. 76
The need for fire in roasting, and the Gemara's reread of the mishnah with an emended text (chisurei mechsera) that turns the mishnah's discussion of a grill on its head, and Rabban Gamliel's instruction to his servant Tavi no longer contradicting the primary position of the mishnah. The Gemara also beings an example of fire that is fueled by that which is prohibited (in this case, orlah) - can the heat from that fire be used to bake bread? It is an attempt to determine whether the Korban Pesach...
Feb 04, 2021•24 min•Season 4Ep. 75
Chapter 7! Cooking the Korban Pesach... The mishnah says to roast the animal on a skewer of pomegranate wood, and of course the question is why pomegranate wood? Why not a metal spit? The positioning of the animal's limbs and entrails, while roasting, is a matter of dispute as well. Plus, a lot of detail of handling the blood of the animal. Also, Who's Who on R. Acha and Ravina.
Feb 03, 2021•23 min•Season 4Ep. 74
Who's Who: Rabbi Tarfon, and his unusual take on terumah. Also, one who violates Shabbat without that action including some constructive aspect, that violation is not complete, for the sake of "melekhet machshevet." According to those who say that one who injures another, the injury is incomplete in this way (and the perpetrator is exempt from a korban chatat), whyever would a Korban Pesach that is brought in ways that disqualify it on Shabbat incur a korban chatat? Indeed, the Gemara goes on to...
Feb 02, 2021•23 min•Season 4Ep. 73
