Remember "bereira"? It's here again. This time, in the context of a sukkah that relies on an animal being part of the sukkah. And wine that is in its wineskins, where terumot and maaserot have not yet been taken. Also, a shift to a discussion about gittin - Jewish divorce, and specifically the writing of the bill of divorcement. And the parameters of the writing of that divorce, as per the interpretations of the biblical phrasing. The back and forth here specifically is about the opinions of Rab...
Jul 31, 2021•21 min•Season 7Ep. 24
A general principle on when one can enter a sukkah (with an unusual base) on yom tov - it needs to be able to stand on its own, regardless of the tree that it is in, etc. Plus, this mishnah is attributed to R. Akiva, in contrast to the opinion of Rabban Gamliel. Both of which depend on how much wind a sukkah is expected to withstand. Also, building a sukkah with an animal, both on an animal and using an animal as part of the walls of the sukkah (a contrast between the Torah requirements for a su...
Jul 30, 2021•22 min•Season 7Ep. 23
A new mishnah! A sukkah that is "meduvlelet" and with more shade than sun, is kosher. That is, a sukkah with sparse schach. Alternatively, a disordered sukkah. The dispute here is between Rav and Shmuel, and the question is how many factors are contributing to this sukkah. Also, when can layers of schach combine to be one roof, and when would they be considered one on top of another? Also, the Gemara picks up on the shade being greater... And addresses what happens if shade and sunlight are equa...
Jul 29, 2021•16 min•Season 7Ep. 22
Sleeping under a bed - is doing so an obstruction to fulfilling one's obligation of sleeping in a sukkah? Does it get in the way of the schach above? Part of this halakhic discussion includes the story of Tavi, the servant of Rabban Gamliel, who was not Jewish. His sleeping under the bed is used to "prove" that the bed is an impediment. Also, leaning the sukkah on a bed - does it need to stand on its own, or is this a kosher sukkah? It seems to depend on two factors: stability and the possibilit...
Jul 28, 2021•16 min•Season 7Ep. 21
In the ongoing discussion of the mats and their acceptability as schach, we find some rabbinic interlude, which brings us to: Who's Who: Rabbi Hiya. Plus, more on the mats themselves. The question of whether they are acceptable continues to revolve around the potential they have to be rendered impure - regardless of the variety of materials that can be used to make a mat. Also, a trans-Babylonia/Israel exchange that conclusively answers the question of the permissibility of the mats. Almost.
Jul 27, 2021•19 min•Season 7Ep. 20
When something comes off a sukkah, it's treated like a sukkah - whatever does that mean? The Gemara offers 4 possibilities, including a discussion of shade vs. sunlight. Also, 2 mishnayot - the first of which is undermined by a contradictory beraita and R. Yosi's practice. The second mishnah allows for sukkah mats for schach, as long as they've been designated for schach use.
Jul 26, 2021•22 min•Season 7Ep. 19
Lavud... What if you have a gap of less than 3 tefachim in the middle of the schach? Specifically, if your sukkah is larger than the minimum. Which leads to a discussion of the purity issues of a sukkah in this way, and the absolute heritage of how impurity works in this kind of case. Note the methodology here, in terms of seeking halakhic parallels (or not, as this case may be). Also, a couple of statements by R. Yehudah bar Ilai, including one about small kosher fish - where they can be eaten,...
Jul 25, 2021•25 min•Season 7Ep. 18
A mishnah with 3 cases of non-kosher sukkahs. And then the Gemara needs to figure out why all 3 cases are necessary. Also, some narrative about the sages having their discussions on the halakhot of sukkah, and the talk that happens around learning. Plus, What's What (Where's Where?) on the yeshivot of Sura, Nehardea, and more.
Jul 24, 2021•19 min•Season 7Ep. 17
Looking for the stages that clarify the previous mishnah. A bed can, of course, be rendered impure and then be purified. Even if the bed is dismantled... Whereas, mats woven from various reeds and grasses - which are apparently too small. And lastly of those cases - digging into a grain pile to make a sukkah, depending on the measure of the hole you dig. Also, a new mishnah: wherein one lowers the walls of a sukkah to hover above the ground. How large the gap is will make the difference - in wha...
Jul 23, 2021•23 min•Season 7Ep. 16
A daf with 2 mishnayot. The first has 3 different disputes in the span of the one mishnah, which focuses on wooden boards that can be used for schach, depending on the finished product. How wide can the board be? What if you remove a board? And most importantly, perhaps, how do we apply other basic sukkah concepts to this new scenario of sukkah. Also, the second mishnah - metal skewers or bed rods for schach.... Plus one who digs a sukkah out of a pile of grain... Which poses a structural questi...
Jul 22, 2021•20 min•Season 7Ep. 15
A follow-up to the hyssop/"eizov" discussion. Also, continuing the case of one who harvested grain and then decided not to eat it, but to use it for schach. Where both action and intent can be relevant, and action demonstrates intent. Plus, turning straw over with a pitchfork. Which leads into a comparison between the prayers of tzadikim and a pitchfork. Also, a new mishnah, and the question of wooden boards as schach - which involves a dispute by R. Yehudah and R. Meir, and is followed up in th...
Jul 21, 2021•26 min•Season 7Ep. 14
Binding things together entails more than one thing! Also, the hyssop (or "eizov"), and its uses in the process of purification. Also, materials that might usually be used for food (and therefore be able to be rendered impure) and use them for roofing, there are ways to use them in ways that won't be rendered impure. For example, grapes are obviously food, but the branches that they're on are never eaten. Once there's more inedible than edible, them you can use it for schach.
Jul 20, 2021•20 min•Season 7Ep. 13
Schach - what can be used for it: the specific examples of the leavings from the threshing floor and the winepress, as delineated and derived from the biblical verses. But not the grain or the grapes themselves, as food can be rendered impure. The Gemara also discusses whether wine can be used for schach, and, interestingly, the fact that it is liquid is not a concern. Plus, another sukkah connection to Nechemiah. Also, bundles are not acceptable for schach, but unbundled should be fine. The sto...
Jul 19, 2021•24 min•Season 7Ep. 12
Climbing plants on a sukkah - ivy? Grapes? Etc. When they are attached to the ground, they can't really be part of the schach, unless they were overwhelmed in quantity by schach that was not attached to the ground. Also, tzitzit! In parallel to sukkah. In this case, can a string that is tied to two corners be acceptable for tzitzit? Plus, the 4 species make an appearance here. Do they need to be bound together? What if the myrtle branch has berries? And finally, what is the source for the requir...
Jul 18, 2021•20 min•Season 7Ep. 11
[Some wonky audio from the app. Not throughout. With our apologies nonetheless.] What can't go over the schach: for example, additional shading, such as a tarp or a canopy. Any such thing that can be rendered impure cannot be kosher for schach. But if you are intentionally beautifying the sukkah with decorations, that should be fine. The discussion of roofing that can be rendered impure does get some attention here, but as a given. Also, an exilarch (resh galuta) story, with a sukkah and schach ...
Jul 17, 2021•21 min•Season 7Ep. 10
Does the age of the materials being used to build a sukkah matter? How long on advance of Sukkot can one build a sukkah? What about intent? How do we define an "old sukkah"? The dispute is between Beit Hillel and Beit Shammai. Just as a korban that is dedicated to be a festival-sacrifice, so to the building materials are consecrated when they are dedicated to be part of a sukkah. That plan to use the materials for a sukkah elevates them. Also, one who built a sukkah inside of a house or under a ...
Jul 16, 2021•22 min•Season 7Ep. 9
Serious math on the daf, geometry in particular. Squaring a round sukkah. Which gets into the math of circumferences... Which needs π (3.14....). Also, who can make a sukkah and be sure it will be kosher? Together with an a week to the question whether a sukkah has to be built for the express purpose of building a sukkah. Via mnemonic acronyms.
Jul 15, 2021•22 min•Season 7Ep. 8
Defining sukkot - if you put schach on top of an alleyway, you can ha e a kosher sukkah - reviewing many cases, in ways that are reminiscent of Eruvin. Also, the need for more shade than sunlight for the sukkah to be kosher. And that shade needs to be coming from the roof (the schach), and not via cracks or gaps in the walls. Plus what is essential to a sukkah? There are ways that a sukkah is similar to a permanent structure. And other ways that it's clearly temporary. A list of sages each has a...
Jul 14, 2021•16 min•Season 7Ep. 7
Measurements! Barley. The vine. Fig. Pomegranate. Date. Olive. Also, a sukkah must have 3 walls - though that third wall can be as small as a tefach. This detail is subject to dispute, however. How is it derived? The spelling of "sukkot" is different and each spelling implies a new detail about the sukkot. Plus, the interwoven discussion on "halakhah le-Moshe mi-Sinai." Note the multiple entry points of interpretation, and how that seems to contrast with the halakhah as derived in the context of...
Jul 13, 2021•25 min•Season 7Ep. 6
The minimum measurements of the sukkah coming off the aron brings us to a discussion of God's arrival to meet with man - but always 10 tefachim above the ground. And even Moshe and Eliyahu didn't make it higher than those 10 tefachim, either. All of which suggests that our time in the sukkah is, or can be, should be, an encounter with the Divine. Also, on the kaporet - back to measurements. With a concern that the effort to derive those measurements from too many different sources risks attempti...
Jul 12, 2021•23 min•Season 7Ep. 5
More on the very tall 20+ amot high - what if you build a platform within it, raising the ground, as it were, so that it's less than 20 amot high on the inside? In what ways does this work to make the sukkah kosher? (via a few different cases, including some with a curved wall, no less). Also, what about a very small sukkah? Then you want more sunshine than shade, to make sure the shade isn't from overhang schach. Plus, other cases of size adjustment - specifically, digging down, so a less-than-...
Jul 11, 2021•24 min•Season 7Ep. 4
Who's Who: Helene HaMalkah - Queen Helene - and her very high sukkah. Was it too tall to be a kosher sukkah? And how are women supposed to handle the sukkah? Also, a discussion over whether there's a machloket between Beit Hillel and Beit Shammai, in terms of a large sukkah and a small sukkah - regarding the minimums and where is kosher. [What's What: Chisurei mechsera] Plus, how a tiny house can be so tiny that it's not considered a house, halakhically, with all kinds of ramifications for halak...
Jul 10, 2021•20 min•Season 7Ep. 3
An introduction to the tractate: Sukkah. Plus, the historical component, as compared to the ritual aspect. Note that the Talmud jumps right in, with the basic principles of what makes a sukkah. Plus, some observations on how sukkah and eruvin compare - recall the alleyway, and a slew of other details. Recall also that eruvin is deRabbanan, where sukkah is de'Orayta. Plus, the 20-amot rule, and how the tractate here presents the arrival at the halakhic details.
Jul 09, 2021•22 min•Season 7Ep. 2
Concluding Yoma - with a return to a discussion of impurity on Yom Kippur, with the case of one who sees a seminal emission over the course of Yom Kippur. Plus, how potential impurity plays a role in one's experience of Yom Kippur. Also, the possibility of reassurance that one's teshuvah, repentance was accepted, a positive close to the tractate - albeit a very different experience of Yom Kippur, as compared to our experience in modernity.
Jul 08, 2021•11 min•Season 6Ep. 88
[Some brief audio weirdness from the app at the beginning] Mechilah, forgiveness, and prayer: first, several stories of people getting insulted and then varying degrees of efforts to move past it. Also, a discussion of the confession and Neilah.
Jul 07, 2021•24 min•Season 6Ep. 87
More on atonement, with a focus on repentance. For any number of lesser sins, repentance itself atones for them. But for more severe sins, such as taking God's name in vain, repentance is necessary, but atonement will only come through the experience of Yom Kippur as well. And we determine which sins are which in accord with the severity if the respective punishments. Also, a study of "chilul Hashem" - some details of which are surprising as compared to how the concept is applied colloquially in...
Jul 06, 2021•29 min•Season 6Ep. 86
More on pikuach nefesh. The case of the person who is buried under a collapsed building. Painful, today, in the context of the ongoing search in Surfside, Florida. The discussion becomes a more abstract, yet very practical discussion of how we know when a person is alive. Which brings is to the development of a fetus and the question of the beginning of life in utero. And yet, the conditions may differ for pikuach nefesh. The structure of the first half of the daf is a bit unusual,as well. Also,...
Jul 05, 2021•29 min•Season 6Ep. 85
Fake medicine and real medicine. First, the "fake" (or more home remedies): one who is in contact with a rabid dog, or bitten by one. What do we do for that person? It's a real ailment with a folk cure. And as for the "real medicine," one main issue is taking medicine over Shabbat - and not deferring doing so, even when we're so concerned about Shabbat. Note that if health is on the line, then get to it - including gedolei Yisrael. There's no need to look for someone else to do the melakhah for ...
Jul 04, 2021•24 min•Season 6Ep. 84
A person who is I'll and might need food on Yom Kippur is fed according to the recommendations of experts. But if the person who sick contradicts the doctors, we trust the sick person more even than the doctors. Unless the more lenient position comes from the doctor - what if a sick person doesn't realize the degree of illness.. so then the experts win. And if there are no experts? Trust the sick person. Plus, a discussion of the modern day ramifications, and a couple of personal stories. Also, ...
Jul 03, 2021•26 min•Season 6Ep. 83
Children are not supposed to fast, but we help them learn to fast and train them in it a couple of years before they reach the age of bar/bat mitzvah. Is that training a requirement? Does it mean the kids must fast in preparation, or are they easing into fasting by eating later than usual. Also, a pregnant woman who has a strong craving - you can feed her the food she wants, even on Yom Kippur. Certainly that's true of someone who is ill and thinks food is the cure too. The issue, of course, is ...
Jul 02, 2021•26 min•Season 6Ep. 82
