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
Beitzah 22: So Much Preparing for Yom Tov
A story about Ulla - regarding Beit Shammai's stringency regarding a candelabra and vessels... and extinguishing a fire. Plus, Rabban Gamliel's leniencies.
- Talking Talmud
Beitzah 21: A Non-Jewish Army in a Jewish Town
The case of an animal that is jointly owned by a Jew and a non-Jew, is it permissible to slaughter that animal on yom tov (for yom tov)? And how does that…
- Talking Talmud
Beitzah 20: Marrying Off a Daughter for a Nice Price
Bringing an obligatory korban, as compared to a voluntary offering. Can one korban fulfill both? Which leads to a discussion on different implications of…
- Talking Talmud
Beitzah 19: When Doing Extra Means Nothing (and is therefore allowed)
Further explication of the most recent mishnah: a vessel that has been immersed... and then dunked again. A dunking that does nothing is allowed, of course…
- Talking Talmud
Beitzah 18: The Prohibited Dunking of Yom Tov
Immersing a vessel on Shabbat - a problem of carrying. But what if the immersion was possible in one's own courtyard? Or what about on yom tov, when carrying…
- Talking Talmud
Beitzah 17: God's Partners in Jewish Life
When yom tov falls out on Shabbat, what should the Amidah prayer entail? As discussed in an era when the tefilah wasn't yet set. Also, more on the eruv…
- Talking Talmud
Beitzah 16: An Extra Soul on Shabbat
All of people's wealth is allocated to them during the time between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, except for the sums that are put toward Shabbat and the…
- Talking Talmud
Beitzah 15: Spreading Holiday Cheer
Sending gifts on yom tov - if the principle was that anything that can be used on yom tov can be sent, then why does the Gemara say - anything that can be used…
- Talking Talmud
Beitzah 14: Do You Need It for the Holiday?
4 mishnayot on the daf, a series of disputes between Beit Hillel and Beit Shammai with regard to food preparation for yom tov. The first, salt, and other…
- Talking Talmud
Beitzah 13: Is Eating-on-the-Go Not Holy?
Terumot and maaserot - the holiness that is in the food, and how to handle it. Including how the foods themselves are usually prepared for eating. Plus all…
- Talking Talmud
Beitzah 12: Holiday Gift-Giving
Again, more Beit Hillel vs. Beit Shammai. This time, what can be carried from the private domain to the public domain. Including a child, including a lulav…
- Talking Talmud
Beitzah 11: When a Talmudic Debate Isn't a Talmudic Debate
[For reasons unclear, several audio issues returned in this episode. The content is still readily available. In the spirit of the season, please forgive us and…
- Talking Talmud
Beitzah 10: Interdisciplinary Details
Continuing from the attempted line up of the positions of Beit Hillel and Beit Shammai by R. Yochanan, including his willingness to reverse their positions…
- Talking Talmud
Beitzah 9: When the Sages Get It Wrong (according to themselves)
Carrying a ladder on yom tov - muktzah? Not muktzah? To what degree? An apparently straightforward machloket. The Gemara makes it clear that there are other…
- Talking Talmud
Beitzah 8: Neither Here Nor There
This episode is for Wednesday's daf. || Cases of unclear, obscure, indeterminable statuses: ashes from the hearth, in various permutations. Plus, other cares…
- Talking Talmud
Beitzah 7: Why Did the Chicken Cross the River?
This is Tuesday's episode. || How do we know that a chicken has laid an egg? The Gemara connects laying/bearing with the time of conception, at least, in…
- Talking Talmud
Beitzah 6: The Two Days of Rosh Hashanah (or: The Chicken and the Egg)
On Rosh Hashanah - how timely! - that was consecutive with Shabbat, where they forgot to make an eruv tavshilin (and then couldn't prepare for Shabbat). Can't…
- Talking Talmud
Beitzah 5: What's Special about the Egg?
Who's Who: Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai. Now, from the time of the decrees of R. Yochanan ben Zakkai, an egg that wasn't permitted on one day of Rosh Hashanah…
- Talking Talmud
Beitzah 4: Cooking for the Holiday
When yom tov falls out on Friday or Sunday, and an egg is laid on the first day of the two consecutive holy days, can you eat it on the following day? Of…
- Talking Talmud
Beitzah 3: Fruit and Eggs
[Edited to add: My apologies - I thought this posted hours ago, and was surprised to discover it pending still. -AG] What makes the egg that is laid on yom tov…
- Talking Talmud
Beitzah 2: A Tractate about an Egg, Kinda, Sorta
An introduction to this tractate, which is called, "Egg," but is really, fundamentally, about yom tov, the holidays. It therefore has overlap with the…
- Talking Talmud
Sukkah 56: Be Careful in the Company You Seek
A very full closing daf. Beginning with a focus on the day-to-day in the Beit HaMikdash, and distribution of the lechem ha-panim. Also, the blessings on the…
- Talking Talmud
Sukkah 55: Our Atonement for All Nations of the World
How what happened in the Temple made it into our liturgy. Specifically, how the musaf sacrifice is represented in the musaf prayer service. Which is…
- Talking Talmud
Sukkah 54: Calendar Combinations and the Mishnah's Responsibility
More on the daily shofar blasts in the Temple: the case of Rosh Hashanah that falls out on Shabbat. This is not the case the mishnah uses, but why not?…
- Talking Talmud
Sukkah 53: Juggling Knives with Joy
On the simchat beit hashoevah - and the quite acrobatic dancing and celebration. To the extent of injury... in juggling dangerous items. Could that injury have…
- Talking Talmud
Sukkah 52: Human Foibles
On the evil inclination... There are 7 names for the evil inclination, and the Gemara goes through each if the seven, where and who called it what. Plus, a…
- Talking Talmud
Sukkah 51: In the Eyes of the Beholders
The musicians in the Temple were the slaves of the Levites, or perhaps from distinguished families, or perhaps Levites themselves. Is the focus of the singing…
- Talking Talmud
Sukkah 50: Temple Music and Moshe's Flute
The 5th and final chapter of the tractate The music and joy of the simchat beit hashoevah - beginning with the flute, and carrying on for 5 or 6 days of…
- Talking Talmud
Sukkah 49: Kindness Is for the Living and the Dead
A mystical text on the drain pipes in the Temple that were created during the six days of Creation. A challenging Gemara that, at base, reflects the position…
- Talking Talmud
Sukkah 48: Rejoicing and Heresy
A 3-mishnah daf. On Hallel and the mitzvah to rejoice - both last for all 8 days. Thee Gemara is careful on its understanding of the biblical text. What is the…
- Talking Talmud
Sukkah 47: The New Holiday of the Eighth Day
Shemini Atzeret! What makes this day, named for its connection with Sukkot, a different holiday? Beginning with the blessing of Shehechyanu, and reflecting on…
- Talking Talmud
Sukkah 46: When the Children Ate Their Etrogim
On establishing the halakhot of certain blessings, specifically on the mitzvah of sukkah - which brachot does one make, and when? And what about the brachot…
- Talking Talmud
Sukkah 45: The Existence of 36 Tzadikim
On the aravah... They would gather the willow branches in Motza, and stand them around the altar in the Beit HaMikdash. They would blow the shofar. And recite…
- Talking Talmud
Sukkah 44: Make Sure You Have Food for Shabbat!
The aravah in the Beit HaMikdash opens some avenues to the kohanim who have some kind of defect, and would be prevented from certain activity in the Beit…
- Talking Talmud
Sukkah 43: The Palm, the Willow, Heresy, and History
On the prohibition of taking the lulav on Shabbat - the issue is moving the lulav, which is a rabbinic precept, as compared to the Torah mitzvah to take the…
- Talking Talmud
Sukkah 42: A Child's Lulav Readiness
A woman and the lulav on Shabbat, including storing it in water. A minor who knows how to wave the lulav and the obligation that emerges because of that…
- Talking Talmud
Sukkah 41: Rabban Gamliel's Lulav
[Some audio mess towards the beginning, but it mostly resolves pretty quickly. We're working on a permanent solution] When the Temple stood, the lulav was…
- Talking Talmud
Sukkah 40: Living with Holiness
More on using items that have kedushah shev'it. But why doesn't a lulav from the 7th year have kedushah? Which teaches us that trees themselves (the wood of…
- Talking Talmud
Sukkah 39: The Value of 3 Meals
A final point about Hallel and the blessings connected to it, with a distinction made between the one before and the one after the recitation of Hallel. Also…
- Talking Talmud
Sukkah 38: What If You Don't Know How to Say Hallel?
The case of a traveler on Sukkot who doesn't have a lulav with him - when and how should he take the lulav? What about anyone who doesn't take a lulav in the…
- Talking Talmud
Sukkah 37: Waving in the Rainy Season
Anything that is present to beautify the 4 species will not be a barried to separate between the person doing the mitzvah and the mitzvah itself - in the…
- Talking Talmud
Sukkah 36: Is Beauty in the Eye of the Beholder?
The many different ways that an etrog can be invalidated for use for the mitzvah of the 4 minim - with a focus on an unripe etrog, and the dispute about it…
- Talking Talmud
Sukkah 35: A Peculiar Fruit
It's the etrog's turn - one that is stolen or dry cannot be used for the 4 species. Plus, the various regulations that apply to the etrog as a fruit (terumot…
- Talking Talmud
Sukkah 34: A Rose by Any Other Name...
And now the willow - if it's dry, it is not kosher for the 4 minim, in the same formulation as the lulav and the hadas, which leads to defining what this…
- Talking Talmud
Sukkah 33: Disqualifying Berries
An existential question about mitzvot and if/when the items we use for mitzvot are disqualified from that use. Specifically, a myrtle branch, the top of which…
- Talking Talmud
Sukkah 32: Its Ways Are Ways of Pleasantness
Lulavim from the Iron Mountain - are these kosher with an exception that is not, or not kosher with an exception that is? With a possible explanation why it's…
- Talking Talmud
Sukkah 31: Saving the Lulav for the Grandchildren
What if you use stolen land to erect your sukkah? On the claim that at the resh galuta's home that this took place. Also, the case of a stolen beam - to be…
- Talking Talmud
Sukkah 30: Sourcing Not-Stolen Merchandise
The third perek - and a shift away from the mitzvah of sukkah to that of lulav. We open with several ways a lulav is pasul, not fit to be used for the mitzvah…
- Talking Talmud
Sukkah 29: It's a Big Questions Episode
What does it mean to make your sukkah your established residence, and make your regularly established home into a temporary residence? Also, under what…
- Talking Talmud
Sukkah 28: Women's Exemption from Sukkah
A focus on the scholarly approaches and personalities of R. Eliezer and R. Yochanan ben Zakkai (Who's Whos from the Gemara itself). Also, the case of one whose…
- Talking Talmud
Sukkah 27: The Hotel California of Sukkahs
How many meals must be eaten in the sukkah? The mishnah says: 14, day and night, each day. But that's disputed - between a meal a day and no set amount…
- Talking Talmud
Sukkah 26: Sleeping Too Much
Additional conflicts that exempt a person from at least some mitzvot - on this case, the same people who are involved in the writing or selling of Torah…
- Talking Talmud
Sukkah 25: Sukkahs, a Wedding, and a Funeral
Who needs to sit in the sukkah? Or who is exempt from sitting in one? One who is buys with another mitzvah is (often) exempt. Similarly, one whose eating is…
- Talking Talmud
Sukkah 24: Complete Severance
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…
- Talking Talmud
Sukkah 23: Would You Really Use an Elephant as a Sukkah Wall?
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…
- Talking Talmud
Sukkah 22: On a Boat, in a Tree, on a Camel, Oh, What Can Be?
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…
- Talking Talmud
Sukkah 21: Sukkah Beds (Or Is That Bed Sukkahs?)
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…
- Talking Talmud
Sukkah 20: When a Mat Has a Wall
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…
- Talking Talmud
Sukkah 19: Creative Interpretations
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…
- Talking Talmud
Sukkah 18: The Little Fish
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…