Shows / Talking Talmud
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
Sotah 46: Did the Gemara Just Take a Position on Gun Violence?!
A new mishnah! Going through the process of establishing the heifer whose neck is to be broken, in contrast to some of the details of the red heifer, through…
- Talking Talmud
Sotah 45: Head and Body
On the dispute between R. Elazar ben Yaakov and our mishnah, with regard to who goes out to confess over the eglah arufah - which leadership? And the verses…
- Talking Talmud
Sotah 44: When War Is a Mitzvah
More on the exemptions from going into battle - the Gemara says the order of the exemptions themselves teach us of the proper order of how we should live…
- Talking Talmud
Sotah 43: Every New Homeowner Has a Housewarming
The exceptions of the people who won't go out to war because they are built or planted or married, and so on. Plus, subcategories of these mainstay exemptions…
- Talking Talmud
Sotah 42: Priest of War, Man of War
Chapter 8! On the anointed kohen who is designated to lead the people before and into war, and what he says. Plus, the difference between the enemy that is…
- Talking Talmud
Sotah 41: Corrupting Flattery
How many Torah readers can there be, and what concerns the sages about multiple readers. Plus, in the new mishnah: Hakhel, the 8th year of the shemitah cycle…
- Talking Talmud
Sotah 40: You Don't Say 'Amen' in the Beit HaMikdash
On two of the Temple practices - specifically, how the congregation would daven or meditate on verses while the kohanim were blessing the people. Plus, how…
- Talking Talmud
Sotah 39: An Infinite Circle of Blessing
More on Birkat Kohanim. Plus, how R. Elazar Ben Shamua achieved a truly ling life - in never using a synagogue as a shortcut, among other respectful aspects of…
- Talking Talmud
Sotah 38: Priestly Blessings
On Birkat Kohanim - the priestly blessing - and how it was said in the Temple and outside of it. Including the responses by the people. Also, the case of eglah…
- Talking Talmud
Sotah 37: Mathematical Gymnastics
More on the discussion of Yosef and Yehudah, getting God's name inserted into their names. With some debate over what Nachshon ben Aminadav overcame to jump…
- Talking Talmud
Sotah 36: The Punishing Hornet and God's Righteous Name
Bringing a verse to life - a winged flying insect that helps (or does not help) the Israelites when they crossed into the land of Israel to conquer it. Also…
- Talking Talmud
Sotah 35: Bad Reporting
More on the spies. Why people wanted to hear from Calev more than they were willing to hear from Joshua. Plus, trusting God when it comes to conquering the…
- Talking Talmud
Sotah 34: Spying the Land
The splitting of the Jordan River reminded the nations around of what they'd heard of the splitting of the Red Sea, and were still afraid, all these years…
- Talking Talmud
Sotah 33: Do the Angels on High Need Our Prayers?
On the fact that Tefilah can be said in any language - because it's a request for mercy. But can one really pray in... wait for it... Aramaic?! Plus, the way…
- Talking Talmud
Sotah 32: Blessings and Curses and Sharing One's Pain
Chapter 7! Passages that are read out that can be recited in any language, as compared to those that need the Hebrew. Plus, a long description of the blessings…
- Talking Talmud
Sotah 31: Love and Fear
A daf that opens with aggadata: Job's worship of God from love, as explicated in the text. Plus, Abraham's worship of love of God. As compared to the one who…
- Talking Talmud
Sotah 30: Responsive Singing at the Sea
A debate on whether one is allowed to cause non-hekdesh food to become impure. Plus, a quick mention on the debate regarding the status of the Shabbat…
- Talking Talmud
Sotah 29: Logic vs. Verses
On the interpretation of the verses that address the women we cannot marry kohanim - or is it those who can't eat terumah? Delving into the fine points of the…
- Talking Talmud
Sotah 28: Belly and Thigh
A deep dive into R. Yehudah HaNasi's position that the water check the paramour just as it checks the woman. Also, a long beraita on the way of being rendered…
- Talking Talmud
Sotah 27: All in a Single Day's Work
Finishing one chapter and starting the next. Wrapping up some possible cases - for the relationships where the husband isn't present or available to continue…
- Talking Talmud
Sotah 26: Innocent, But Ill: Reacting to the Bitter Waters
More on women who would (or would not) drink the bitter waters. Plus, the forbidden relationships - for which the husband's warning is valid, and she can…
- Talking Talmud
Sotah 25: What's the Good of Warnings?
Two dilemmas relate back to the very long mishnah: 1. If a woman violates some aspect of modesty standards or practices, does she get a warning before she…
- Talking Talmud
Sotah 24: Women Who Don’t Drink
Another long series of mishnayot now discussing situations where a woman does not drink the Mei Sotah. The Gemara further discusses some of the biblical…
- Talking Talmud
Sotah 23: Men and Women on Display
A series of mishnahyots presented as one long Mishnah begins with different laws around menachot which leads into a mishnah discussing some halachic…
- Talking Talmud
Sotah 22: With Great Knowledge Comes Great Responsibility
The Gemara addresses the categories of those who erode the world - we focus first in the "perushot," abstemious women. Specifically, a chaste girl who prays…
- Talking Talmud
Sotah 21: A Woman's Merits and a Pious Fool
What merit could stave off the death of a guilty sotah? Perhaps the merit of Torah study (but how much merit does that really get her?!). So presumably the…
- Talking Talmud
Sotah 20: Women and Learning Torah
A new mishnah: The woman can walk back her plan to drink from the bitter waters until the very last minute, when the Name of God has already been erased, after…
- Talking Talmud
Sotah 19: Waving
A new chapter! The new mishnah delineates the process of the kohen taking the meal-offering from the sotah, and waving the basket it's in together with her…
- Talking Talmud
Sotah 18: When There's No (Apparent) Rabbinic Will
Different scenarios of the sotah case - especially where things go wrong in brining her to drink, etc. Which all are held in abeyance, as far as their…
- Talking Talmud
Sotah 17: What's in a Scroll?
A daf with 2 mishnayot. First, on the kohen's writing the scroll that will be dipped in the water and erased - what is the portion of text from the Torah that…
- Talking Talmud
Sotah 16: The Power of Tradition
More on the sotah's water - and how earth (and ashes) need to be added to it. Plus, the mesorah/tradition on the writing of this document, as well as that of…
- Talking Talmud
Sotah 15: Meal-Offerings
The ingredients of the meal-offering "always" include oil and frankincense - except for when they are excluded (sin-offerings, in particular, plus the sotah's…
- Talking Talmud
Sotah 14: Mimicking God, and Protecting the Sotah
On Moshe's burial - and how the Romans didn't find the place either. Also, interpretations of how people can come close to God, including mirroring His…
- Talking Talmud
Sotah 13: Burying the Great Ones
On retrieving Yosef's bones to rebury him in the land of Israel, as promised at the end of the Book of Genesis, and the role of Serach bat Asher. Also, on the…
- Talking Talmud
Sotah 12: Moshe's Special Birth
More exegesis of the Torah's verses on the opening on the story of the Exodus - beginning with Yocheved's pregnancy with Moshe (some of which presupposes…
- Talking Talmud
Sotah 11: In the Merit of Righteous Women
Verses that are explicated on this daf are also found in the Haggadah - timely, this round of daf yomi, as we learn this daf on Passover. On the righteous…
- Talking Talmud
Sotah 10: Tamar, as Foil to the Sotah
5 people who each had a trait that was to their credit, but they ended up brought down because of that same trait. Not surprisingly, beginning with Samson…
- Talking Talmud
Sotah 9: Nearly Guilty until Proven Innocent
The sages teach that the sotah-woman gets her just deserts, in alignment with her own actions. She doesn't get what she wanted, and what she had is taken from…
- Talking Talmud
Sotah 8: Fear and Trembling
The kohen takes hold of the clothing of the sotah-woman, and uncovers (or dishevels) her head. There was concern that a particularly attractive woman would be…
- Talking Talmud
Sotah 7: Journey to Jerusalem
The daf has a Mishnah describing how how the Sotah is brought to Jerusalem and how the public participated. The daf also explains what biblical stories were…
- Talking Talmud
Sotah 6: Adultery in the Temple (wait, really?!)
A new mishnah! At what point is a woman who's a sotah not permitted to eat terumah? Plus, a list of the women who are not allowed to eat terumah. Also, R…
- Talking Talmud
Sotah 5: A Tiny Bit of Arrogance
Learning from the Divine, and God's choice of the lowly bush and the lowly mountain - against arrogance, and in favor of humility. But maybe some "arrogance,"…
- Talking Talmud
Sotah 4: Tracking Time
How long is the seclusion that counts as suspect, for the husband to bring his complaint against his wife? The ways the Gemara measures time are far from the…
- Talking Talmud
Sotah 3: Protecting Our Relationships
On the warning the husband gives his wife - and the multiple levels of anger in the process. Including the private/public dynamic of this accusation and sotah…
- Talking Talmud
Sotah 2: There Is Smoke. Is There Fire?
Introducing the sotah-woman, a unique Torah status that isn't in play in the absence of the Temple. From the verses to the rabbinic focus on witnesses to what…
- Talking Talmud
Nazir 66: The Prophet Samuel - Nazir or No?
The Gemara goes on in its discussion about seminal emissions and various stages or levels of impurity. Including the "zav" status of a convert. A final…
- Talking Talmud
Nazir 65: An Unknown Graveyard
A new mishnah: One who finds a dead body that is lying in the manner of Jewish burial, and takes it from there, together with some of the dirt... Likewise, if…
- Talking Talmud
Nazir 64: Floating Impure Mush
The status of floating impurity... the puzzles of the circumstances when it would extend impurity and when it would not. Plus, the implications for…
- Talking Talmud
Nazir 63: The Matter Has Legs
A Nazir who has reached the point of shaving, and then encounters impurity - depending on the kind of impurity, he might need to cancel the nezirut days. But…
- Talking Talmud
Nazir 62: Not Placing a Value on Non-Jews
Developing the principle that "erkhin," valuation of people, doesn't apply to non-Jews, including the exegesis from the verses on valuation. Also, 2 mishnayot…
- Talking Talmud
Nazir 61: The Mesorah of Nazir
The nazir's hair removal by a razor, specifically.... plus the metzora's shaving: 4 shavings from impurity. Also, the new (and final) chapter, 9: The laws of…
- Talking Talmud
Nazir 60: 4 Cases of Purification
A new mishnah - with a nazir who may have come in contact with a dead body, and who also may have been a Metzora. What is his purification process going to be?…
- Talking Talmud
Nazir 59: Women Who Wear Trousers
Continuing the question of a man shaving the body parts that were usually shaved only by women, in violation of the verse that prohibits men and women from…
- Talking Talmud
Nazir 58: The Fringes, the Garment, and Hair Removal
A discussion of tzitzit! In the context of shaving, and the mechanisms by which these positive and biblical commandments work. Plus, sha'atnez. And tekhelet…
- Talking Talmud
Nazir 57: Am I Impure, or Is That You?
Opening with questions about the nazir's status - pure or impure? Namely, a third party observed one of two nezirim come in contact with impurity, but he's not…
- Talking Talmud
Nazir 56: Links in the Chain
More on the counting of the nazir and R. Hisda's ruling. Plus, the impurity from a dead body - that would require shaving for a nazir - would be a violation if…
- Talking Talmud
Nazir 55: When Do you Need a Haircut?
If you leave the Land of Israel in a box, will you become impure? It's a machloket. Also, how to continue counting the days of nezirut after purification.
- Talking Talmud
Nazir 54: When the Land Is Impure
A new mishnah with the impurities that do NOT make a nazir need to shave - despite his contact with the impurity, it doesn't negate his nezirut. Also, focusing…
- Talking Talmud
Nazir 53: Did the Halakhah Change?
Insight into how the rules regarding purity and impurity changed over those early generations. Also, a dispute between R. Yochanan and Resh Lakish regarding…
- Talking Talmud
Nazir 52: What's Worse Than Finding a Worm in an Apple?
Creepy-crawlies and the impurity of them leads to the question of what happens if you eat portion of the creepy-crawly, and not its entirety? (in terms of…