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Talking Talmud
Learning the daf? We have something for you to think about. Not learning the daf? We have something for you to think about! (Along with a taste of the daf...) Join the conversation with us!
Episodes
- Talking Talmud
Sanhedrin 17: The Odd Verdict in a Unanimous Vote to Convict
In a case where the vote of 71 is unanimous to convict, they can't convict, but rather acquit - beginning with the fact that the sentencing could not be…
- Talking Talmud
Sanhedrin 16: The Court of 71
A false prophet is to be judged only by the court of 71. How we do know that? The Gemara uses verses with the same term to derive it -- and then revises which…
- Talking Talmud
Sanhedrin 15: Judge the Snake with 23
Turning to capital cases, judged by 23 judges. Including various cases of bestiality -- wherein both parties (human and animal) are put to death. Also, other…
- Talking Talmud
Sanhedrin 14: Rabbi Yehudah ben Bava and Rabbinic Authority
More on semikhah - ordination -- both the process of whether laying on of hands is necessary and why 3 judges were essential. Including the promised story and…
- Talking Talmud
Sanhedrin 13: Seasons in Their Time
What happens to the equinox, when calculating the calendar? Is it considered the beginning of the new season or the end of the old season? The equinox is…
- Talking Talmud
Sanhedrin 12: Rome's Impact on the Calendar
How far in advance of Adar -- when the month is added to the year -- could they intercalate the year? Rosh Hashanah time? Before it? Afterwards? Why would they…
- Talking Talmud
Sanhedrin 11: Sages: Pious and Human
That time Shmuel HaKatan took the blame for someone else. [Who's Who: Shmuel HaKatan]. Also, that time Rabbi Hiyya took the blame for someone else. With the…
- Talking Talmud
Sanhedrin 10: Lashes and Leap Months
A case where the judgement might be lashes requires 3 judges, with an explanation of why, from a verse. So why do others maintain that 23 judges are needed for…
- Talking Talmud
Sanhedrin 9: When Is a Monetary Case a Capital Case?
A long discussion on the dispute between Rabbi Meir and the rabbis in mishnah -- beginning with a case of a husband who accuses his wife of not being a virgin…
- Talking Talmud
Sanhedrin 8: A Count of 3
Parsing a verse from the Torah, the Gemara explores the ethics of judges, and how they must judge "small and great" alike -- understood to be monetary sums at…
- Talking Talmud
Sanhedrin 7: Bringing Justice into the World
A sidebar to the discussion of judges, wherein a passerby utters pithy statements which a couple of sages then ground in biblical verses. Also, errors in…
- Talking Talmud
Sanhedrin 6: In Praise of Compromise as Blasphemy
How many judges do you need for meditation? For compromise? Is it akin to "judgement" or not? Plus, the need for a formal act of acquisition (or lack thereof)…
- Talking Talmud
Sanhedrin 5: Eggs, Marsh Water, and Halakhic Leadership (Oh my!)
For a judge to not undertake financial responsibility for an error in judgement, he needs permission to judge from the exilarch. Plus, complications between…
- Talking Talmud
Sanhedrin 4: Text vs. Tradition
Cases of whether one should focus on the pronunciation of a word as compared to its written version, for any number of cases where both are presented, when…
- Talking Talmud
Sanhedrin 3: Does the Great Court Need 141 Judges?!
On why the mishnah needs to include damages and half-damages in its list (about how many judges for this kind of case). Also, a dispute about whether the…
- Talking Talmud
Sanhedrin 2: The Number of Judges
Beginning Sanhedrin! With an introduction to the court system, as initially instituted, in some measure, in the Torah. And the first mishnah -- this time, all…
- Talking Talmud
Bava Batra 176: A Halakhic Way of Thinking
In the case of one who wrote an IOU document in his own handwriting, without witnesses, then the collection can only take place from unencumbered property --…
- Talking Talmud
Bava Batra 175: The Torah Effect
Returning to the person on his deathbed -- what about liability incurred by a person in these circumstances? What are the implications of his status for how…
- Talking Talmud
Bava Batra 174: Faulty Ethics, or Why 'Poverty Follows the Poor'
More on the guarantor -- distinguishing between a regular one and a "kablan guarantor." So, here, the halakhic concept becomes a halakhic category, with…
- Talking Talmud
Bava Batra 173: Signing on to Be a Guarantor Is Real
More on people who have the same name -- and a need for a scribe to write an IOU -- with a third approach to making the deal work, including, if both parties…
- Talking Talmud
Bava Batra 172: What to Do about Imprecise Documents
On the ways to write documents, especially those used to effect transfer -- including if the document is written in a different place from that actual transfer…
- Talking Talmud
Bava Batra 171: Shabbat-Dated Documents
Everyone agrees that if the date of an IOU is the date of a Shabbat or Yom Kippur, the given assumption is that the document was post-dated, with some…
- Talking Talmud
Bava Batra 170: Practical Cases of Contested Loans (plus)
When an apparently previous owner claims he is the current owner, against the apparent current owner. What kind of proof would be necessary? All of which leads…
- Talking Talmud
Bava Batra 169: In the Absence of a Guarantee
A case study of two documents for each party in the context of, for example, the sale of a field -- where two copies increases the risk of fraudulent…
- Talking Talmud
Bava Batra 168: The Selfish Trait of Sodom
When the document to be scribed is a bill of divorce, the husband pays the cost of the scribe -- with a rational for why he does, and also why that…
- Talking Talmud
Bava Batra 167: How Far People Go to Commit Fraud
More on the tips and tricks in documents to avoid the possibility of forgery or fraud -- beginning with not leaving too much blank space for someone to sneak…
- Talking Talmud
Bava Batra 166: The Need for Lawyers
If a document has terms such as "silver" or "gold" in it, but without more detailed specification of the amount, the Gemara establishes the bare minimums…
- Talking Talmud
Bava Batra 165: Terms of Agreements
Rabbi Shimon ben Gamliel prepared documents occurring to the practice of the land - regular or bound/tied - but did he have to? Certainly, the different kinds…
- Talking Talmud
Bava Batra 164: New Ways of Forging: Erasures and Dates
A document with signatures - on erased parchment - is considered valid, though it was erased. One erasure was identifiable, as compared to repeated erasures…
- Talking Talmud
Bava Batra 163: Empty Lines Invite Forgery
A gap of two lines of between the text and the witnesses' signatures invalidates the document - but does it include the air above and below those lines of…
- Talking Talmud
Bava Batra 162: Empty Space
More on documents and the implications of establishing all kinds of things on the basis of a document's authority. Including an important regulation that the…
- Talking Talmud
Bava Batra 161: Room for Fraud
The Gemara raises concerns about the potential for fraud via the document that has been witnessed, if text were added to the document and a new signature were…
- Talking Talmud
Bava Batra 160: Securing Your Land for the Babylonian Exile
Chapter 10! A new mishnah - on the way documents are formally signed the details of their contracts within confirmed. With 2 kinds of documents - "regular" and…
- Talking Talmud
Bava Batra 159: New Parameters in Inheritance Cases
The laws as established in the Land of Israel.... when a son borrows against his father's property, and then the father dies -- a text that is then emended (if…
- Talking Talmud
Bava Batra 158: Collapsing Case Studies
New mishnayot! A case of a house that collapsed on a husband and wife -- apparently, a second marriage, as the heirs of each deliberate which of the two died…
- Talking Talmud
Bava Batra 157: The Order of Inheritance
The Gemara follows on yesterday's mishnah, explaining the dispute there. Plus, a new mishnah here! On the order of deaths, which determine heirs, of each…
- Talking Talmud
Bava Batra 156: Old Enough to Get Married, But Not to Sell Inheritance
A difficult opening case - checking kids for signs of puberty to b sure they're old enough to get married (and for divorce and chalitzah and a girl refusing…
- Talking Talmud
Bava Batra 155: Old Enough for Business Sense
More on the case of a possible minor as the heir who then sells the inheritance property. How old must one be to emerge from the "minor" status in this…
- Talking Talmud
Bava Batra 154: Sick-bed Giving (Or: Not Every Ill Person Is on His Deathbed)
What happens when it's not clear whether a person was indeed on his deathbed? In the aftermath of determining whether his gift was valid, it becomes a matter…
- Talking Talmud
Bava Batra 153: Cursing Rava
More on the debate between Rav and Shmuel and the possible kinyan (formal act of acquisition) on the deathbed gift. Which leads to a case of a deathbed will…
- Talking Talmud
Bava Batra 152: Deathbed Changes to a Deathbed Will
When a person on his deathbed includes a formal act of acquisition in his gift under those circumstances, when that formal act is not required, given that he's…
- Talking Talmud
Bava Batra 151: A Soap Opera Daf
The mother of Rav Zutra bar Tuviah wrote a deed giving her son all of his property, to keep it out of the clutches of Rav Zevid, whom she then married. And…
- Talking Talmud
Bava Batra 150: Some Significance of Movable Property
A focus on the formulation and phrasing of the deathbed scenarios, including what is specified, what is implied, and what is excluded by implication. Plus…
- Talking Talmud
Bava Batra 149: A Convert, a Slave, Rava, and a Man on His Deathbed
The case of a person on his deathbed who admits to owing money -- but maybe he doesn't really! Adding the complications -- the case of a non-Jew who converts…
- Talking Talmud
Bava Batra 148: Where's the Miracle? Deathbed Recoveries
Another deathbed case - if one signs away all of his property, without reserving anything for himself in case he would recover, what happens if he seems to be…
- Talking Talmud
Bava Batra 147: The Farmer's Talmudic Almanac
When someone makes a gift from his deathbed, no formal act of acquisition is necessary for the gift to be acquired by its recipient. Plus, a discussion of the…
- Talking Talmud
Bava Batra 146: Gifts to the Bride's Father's House - Temporarily?
A new mishnah! With more on the bridal gifts -- she received gifts after kiddushin, and before nisuin, so they were sent to her father's house, because she…
- Talking Talmud
Bava Batra 145: Wedding Presents
What happens to gifts that are given in advance for an upcoming wedding, and then either bride or groom dies? (or perhaps less dramatically, if wedding is…
- Talking Talmud
Bava Batra 144: Forced Service to Rome
If one leaves heirs some of whom are minors and some of whom are of age - with various stipulations - what is the halakhah? Plus, if one married a child off in…
- Talking Talmud
Bava Batra 143: The Donkey and the Five Women
When one doesn't respond to a stipulation of inheritance that would go to a person and a donkey... To understand this case, a somewhat parallel case is…
- Talking Talmud
Bava Batra 142: The Fetus Does Not Inherit
More on the powers of acquisition (or lack thereof) of a fetus. What is the timing of a person trying to bequeath property to a fetus, when that person than…
- Talking Talmud
Bava Batra 141: It's Surely Worse to Be a Woman, But Go Support Your Daughters
When a man commits to giving an unborn child a set amount of money - regardless of the gender of the child, which apparently makes a difference in terms of the…
- Talking Talmud
Bava Batra 140: Those Poor Disadvantaged Males
A new chapter! Chapter 9 -- with a mishnah from the previous daf (as the beginning of the chapter) and a second mishnah on this daf as well. Firstly, the case…
- Talking Talmud
Bava Batra 139: The Strength of an Undocumented Loan
A new mishnah (from the bottom of 138): A father who gives his land to his son, while retaining the rights to the produce for himself, until after his own…
- Talking Talmud
Bava Batra 138: More Deathbed Utterances
More on deathbed requests, as presented in a series of beraitot. How much attention must be given to the wording of such requests? What happens when debt…
- Talking Talmud
Bava Batra 137: A Woman and Her Date Palm
If one person gives another person an etrog, and that the recipient should pass it along to another person after his own death, then there's a dispute between…
- Talking Talmud
Bava Batra 136: What Can an Heir Do with an Early Bequest?
A new mishnah! On how a healthy person can transfer property to others -- to go into effect after that person's death: the phrasing of "from now until after…
- Talking Talmud
Bava Batra 135: Ineffectual Deathbed Documents
When a man is dying, they ask him in a roundabout way whether his wife will be subject to yibum. When he says she could marry a kohen gadol means she doesn't…
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Bava Batra 134: The Greatness of Hillel the Elder's Students
A practical example, of one who found his children to be lacking and gave all of his property to Yonatan ben Uziel instead of to his official heirs. The sage…
- Talking Talmud
Bava Batra 133: Giving Gifts Instead of Inheritance: What Does It Really Mean and How Bad Is it?
More on Rabbi Yehudah ben Berkoka's position, with the property being established as an inheritance vs. as a gift. But what is the real difference? Why would…