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
Shabbat 85: How Much Agriculture Did the Rabbis Really Know?!
Asmakhtah, again. And a whole new discussion: kilayim, the prohibition against sowing seeds together. Mapping out the garden... And on to the salvation of the…
- Talking Talmud
Shabbat 84: Little Boxes, Impure Boxes (for Friday, May 29, 2020, Shavuot)
What's What: Midras tumah. When boxes are contaminated, as it were, with tumah - when they open from the side or from the top. Whereas a very large box is not…
- Talking Talmud
Shabbat 83: A Ship Is Not Impure
The importance of context, when the backdrop of idolatry shows up here. Also: What's What: Tumat Heset - the tumah that is transferred when moving an object of…
- Talking Talmud
Shabbat 82: When Everyone Has a Remedy for You
A nod of appreciation to the topic of witchcraft. Also: When a father tells his son that learning the basics is important. Plus: Those basics - some moral…
- Talking Talmud
Shabbat 81: Bathroom Etiquette (and Shabbat)
How heavy is the rock you throw at a bird? What's the amount that makes a rock a problem to carry on Shabbat? It can't be muktzah, because it has essential…
- Talking Talmud
Shabbat 80: How Not to Prepare Your Daughter for Marriage
More on blue eye shadow: whoever shadows just one eye?! Modesty vs. hypermodesty - not just a tension of the modern era. Plus: Lime qua depilatory and…
- Talking Talmud
Shabbat 79: Recycling Sifrei Torah (No)
When carrying becomes a topic of documents and of receipts or promissory notes, it's only logical that the discussion would veer to parchment and tefillin and…
- Talking Talmud
Shabbat 78: Blue Eyeshadow
The liquids that are beverages or food, and are also used for medicinal purposes - on which measure is used to determine how much one would need to carry to be…
- Talking Talmud
Shabbat 77: The Need for Mosquitoes in the World
Dedicated for the yarzheit of Dr. Michael E. Osband Melech Gershom Channa Ben Eliezer v’Chasya Hesha. Alef vs ayin - the Gemara is figuring out the Mishnah's…
- Talking Talmud
Shabbat 76: Food for a Cow, Food for a Camel, and Luggage Weight Limits
Where what you value has impact on what is: namely, is the amount for which one is held accountable an objective measurement, or dependent on the individual's…
- Talking Talmud
Shabbat 75: Killing Is Not in the Spirit of Shabbat
Mazalot - divination vs. astronomy, that which at worst carries a death sentence for those who practice it vs that which is a mitzvah to undertake, as a means…
- Talking Talmud
Shabbat 74: The Problem of Seedless Watermelon
Who's Who: Nachmani. Borer - what are the parameters of this melakhah? A tannaitic statement needs rereading by the Amoraim, to establish just that - 5…
- Talking Talmud
Shabbat 73: The 39 Melakhot of Shabbat
First, Abaye vs Rava on throwing an object in reshut harabim -- if the resultant action alines with your own concerns, don't you have to bring a korban? Which…
- Talking Talmud
Shabbat 72: My Mitzvah Can Beat Up Your Mitzvah
The Gemara claims: Shabbat is a more stringent area of halakhah than other mitzvot - and where it is less so. And then the Gemara twists and turns to figure…
- Talking Talmud
Shabbat 71: When Eating Fat Is Literally a Sin
R. Yochanan vs. Resh Lakish on the number of sin-offerings one brings upon eating "chelev," the prohibited fats. Delving in, the biblical verses and beyond…
- Talking Talmud
Shabbat 70: Keeping Shabbat Is Hard
How did we come by these 39 individual melakhot? The Gemara finds an answer in the biblical text on the severity of the punishment. Which, of course…
- Talking Talmud
Shabbat 69: On the *Second* Day, Adam (and Eve) Rested
Why do we need to know that there are 39 melakhot? After all, there's a list! It's all about what happens in a time period of forgetting (he'eleim). Defining…
- Talking Talmud
Shabbat 68: When You Forget What Day It Is, and That Day Is Shabbat
Back to basics: The categories (avot) of prohibited labor on Shabbat, their sub-categories (toladot), and the significance of having both avot and toladot…
- Talking Talmud
Shabbat 67: The Big Red Tree
When folk remedies don't heal, and might be worse - superstitious nonsense or "darkei haEmori"? Rabbi Meir and the Sages disagree. But Abaye and Rava agree…
- Talking Talmud
Shabbat 66: Transferring a Fever to a Passing Ant (Not on Shabbat!)
Is a prosthetic leg to be considered a shoe? What about going out on Shabbat with prosthetics? The Gemara's discussion does not address what we might think is…
- Talking Talmud
Shabbat 65: Are We Wearing Our Masks - or Carrying Them?
More things a woman might wear. Including strings in pierced ears, holding the place for future earrings. Medean garments. Etc. With all the implications for…
- Talking Talmud
Shabbat 64: Erotic in the Eye of the Beholder
Different ornamental items - how internal and external pieces of jewelry might be treated differently in halakhah. Context matters, and individual…
- Talking Talmud
Shabbat 63: Swords into Ploughshares
The smell of cinnamon in Jerusalem. The time of the messiah - the perpetual question of how different it will really be after all. Plus: Never forget the plain…
- Talking Talmud
Shabbat 62: Rabbi Meir: Tefillin Are Not a Positive, Time-bound Commandment (Wait, what?!)
First, defining some terms of armor. Then, a new mishnah introduced several topics: starting with balsam oil, and the absence of a decree when there's no…
- Talking Talmud
Shabbat 61: Medicinal Amulets
Going out on Shabbat with one shoe and an injured foot: why do we wear shoes? Plus: Amulets! (What is going on with them?? How are they okay? How do they heal?…
- Talking Talmud
Shabbat 60: The Story of the Nailed Sandal
Parallel structuring, on what a man cannot wear out on Shabbat. The hobnailed sandal and the reason it was prohibited get the focus of this daf. This decree…
- Talking Talmud
Shabbat 59: The Queen of England Does Not Show Off Her Crown
The city of gold, which is to say, more ornaments, to be worn (or not) in the public domain. Rabbi Akiva's gift to his wife, Rachel. But in this case, the…
- Talking Talmud
Shabbat 58: What Makes a Bell a Bell?
What's What: "Atarot Kallot." More on clothing that is decreed against wearing on Shabbat, lest one come to carry. Extending the discussion to focus on a bell…
- Talking Talmud
Shabbat 57: With Ribbons in Her Hair
A new chapter! The decree against women wearing certain kinds of adornments on Shabbat - lest they take them off to show them off and forget to put them back…
- Talking Talmud
Shabbat 56: In the Footsteps of Repentance
On the practice of close reading of the biblical text, and the strong interpretive tradition of Chazal. Understanding biblical personalities via the…
- Talking Talmud
Shabbat 55: The Scarlet Tav
Selecting good people to be protected from the angels of destruction and wicked people to be identified for them. But Justice asks: how different are they…
- Talking Talmud
Shabbat 54: The Place of Rebuke
First, an addendum to the one-armed woman of yesterday. Next: limits on what animals can wear, as it were, on Shabbat -- and the implication of those limits on…
- Talking Talmud
Shabbat 53: Why Coffee Is Allowed on Shabbat (a good thing, too)
First, the distinction between medicine for a person as compared to an animal; next, no medicine on Shabbat at all. Plus: 2 very strange stories, one involving…
- Talking Talmud
Shabbat 52: An Unruly Red Heifer
Animals in the public domain - what can they wear, what counts as "carrying"? We focus on the parah adumah, the red heifer, and today what extent wearing some…
- Talking Talmud
Shabbat 51: Herding Cats
Can you insulate to keep things cold? R. Yehudah HaNasi contradicts himself - until Abaye resolves the contradiction. Also, a lesson in rabbinic authority, and…
- Talking Talmud
Shabbat 50: Washing Your Face in the Service of God
Again, the overlap of hatmanah and muktzah, and again, the importance of intent, as we set items aside... for use on Shabbat. Also: Pursuing beauty, in…
- Talking Talmud
Shabbat 49: Doves' Wings
More hatmanah/insulation. Elisha (not the prophet). Explaining why the dove. Plus: The important discussion of the 39 Melakhot and their ostensible source in…
- Talking Talmud
Shabbat 48: Keeping the Soup Hot Friday Night
The new perek! Insulating food on Shabbat, without cooking it. What substances protect the heat without increasing it and cooking. Plus, two stories that…
- Talking Talmud
Shabbat 47: What Do Clothes Mean to You? Halakhic Subjectivity (in a good way)
First, an unusual use of a biblical verse that we found delightful. Next: Carrying ashes on Shabbat - muktzah, no? Which leads into an important discussion…
- Talking Talmud
Shabbat 46: Living Proof
Stories of Hazal - how they kept the laws of Muktzah themselves, as per the Gemara's account. Sussing out halakhic positions from observed practice. Also…
- Talking Talmud
Shabbat 45: When You Hang a Burning Lamp in Your Palm Tree
More on Muktzah. Including the case in the title, and how it relates to bein hashmashot. Plus: R. Shimon's minority opinion on the dried figs and raisins that…
- Talking Talmud
Shabbat 44: Ick, don't touch that! Exactly.
More Muktzah. Still no statement to that effect by the Gemara. That which is disgusting, that which is designated not for use before Shabbat, and that which…
- Talking Talmud
Shabbat 43: The Untranslatable Muktzah
Some overview, and some cases from this daf - of these things that are prohibited to carry on Shabbat. Also: Defining "nolad," which is, of course, muktzah too.
- Talking Talmud
Shabbat 42: When You Dig a Hole, Do You Need the Hole, or Do You Need the Dirt?
So many ways of not *meaning* to do melakhah. Partially defining "melekhet machshevet," and its requirements. Intent (davar she'eino mitkaven). And needing the…
- Talking Talmud
Shabbat 41: Role Models
Who's Who: Rabbi Zera. Also: What the Gemara learns from Rabbi Yehuda's conduct in the bathhouse. Plus: Warming devices for heating on Shabbat.
- Talking Talmud
Shabbat 40: No Showers on Shabbat
The decree against full showers or baths on Shabbat, even when the water has been heated prior to Shabbat. Plus: the hierarchy of rabbinic authority, in which…
- Talking Talmud
Shabbat 39: Heated by Hellfire
Still more cooking - frying your egg on the sidewalk ( is the sun)? Acceptable or not? What about-face hot springs. Also: Drawing inferences vs. a tradition…
- Talking Talmud
Shabbat 38: Putting One Over on Hilkhot Shabbat - Temporarily
More cooking! A decree that sheds light on halakhic cooking - and human nature. Defining terms: acting be-mezid, be-sho-geg, or forgetting. Also: Why intention…
- Talking Talmud
Shabbat 37: None of These Melakhot Is Exactly as It Seems
Cooking! When more time on the fire is better or worse for the food. Also: Understanding the variables in cooking as a melakhah. Including how Yardaena likes…
- Talking Talmud
Shabbat 36: We Don't Always Know What the Words Mean - and the Gemara Agrees
Shofar, aravot, and the name of Babylonia - definitions in the absence of the Temple and losing the nuances of language. Also: Cooking! We begin the discussion…
- Talking Talmud
Shabbat 35: The First Pre-Shabbat Siren
Erev Shabbat preparation, beginning with the 6 shofar blasts announcing the coming day. And the 5 shofar blasts of the Babylonian diaspora - of some concern to…
- Talking Talmud
Shabbat 34: The Twilight Zone, Literally
A brief mention of "hatmanah" and crock pots. More: The checklist going into Shabbat. Keeping tension in check, and welcoming Shabbat well. Also: Bein…
- Talking Talmud
Shabbat 33: Unfair Stereotyping of Women in the Ancient World - Unlocked! (Maybe)
One of those dapim we were eager to get to - it's got drama and conflict and religious pathos; it's got spying and flighty women; it's got the ability to…
- Talking Talmud
Shabbat 32: Scare Tactics
Three sins for which women die in childbirth - from "women's mitzvot," such as they are. Why these are so severe, and the cautionary mishnah. Also: Rabbi…
- Talking Talmud
Shabbat 31: "Go and learn!"
Hillel and Shammai themselves, the famous stories. The dare to anger Hillel, who takes every question seriously, patiently. "Convert me while I stand on one…
- Talking Talmud
Shabbat 30: When King David Tried to Cheat the Angel of Death
Extinguishing a flame to prevent the flame from being seen vs doing so to save the candle... For example, saving a life... Or improving the sick person's…
- Talking Talmud
Shabbat 29: MacGyvering Shabbat Candles
Repurposing a garment to be wicks - yea or nay? Plus: The prohibition of getting up an oil dispenser for candle from an egg shell (never mind the challenge in…
- Talking Talmud
Shabbat 28: It's a Unicorn!
Still talking about ritual impurity... Including non-kosher animals. Holy endeavors must use a kosher animal, and the Gemara explains where this rational…
- Talking Talmud
Shabbat 27: Strange and Stranger Mitzvot, and What We Learn from Them
The impurity of Tzara'at and the impurity of the creepy-crawlies -- can one be inferred from the other? Different ways one happens upon tumah - vs. the tumah…
- Talking Talmud
Shabbat 26: Don't Let Your Daughter-in-Law Catch on Fire
The audio is a little wonky today - with gaps and overlaps - we don't know why (why tried to fix it) - we are sorry about that....... Back to the oils for…