Matmonim: Daf Yomi by Rabbi David Lapin

This episode deals with two comments by Rava, the great Rosh Yeshiva and Rav of Mechoza in Babylon, in connection with the practice of the Babylon depositing flour with Jewish families from which they had to bake bread for the garrison in the city. This had implications for Pesach and the day after Pesach.

Exploring the subtle difference between isurei hana'ah  (commodities from which the Torah prohibits us from having any benefit) that have no present value but will have future value, and financial instruments that will mature in the future and, although they have no  inherent value in the present are tradable based on their future value. R Shimon Shkopp, Shaa'arei Yashar 1:9 Ketzot Hacho...

The Tosfot Harosh reveals an understanding in Rashi and the Rambam that yields insight as to how and why Halacha deals with human experience even where this is not aligned with scientific reality. 

A new insight in Rashi about the limitations of the injunction " vechai bahem " - Live by Torah revealing the impossibility for the human being to evaluate the relative value of one life to another.

The episode explores the relationship between eating and other forms of pleasure. By analyzing two versions of a statement by Rabbi Avahu in the name of his teacher, Rabbi Yochanan, we develop an appreciation of how we can be physically nourished by intangible pleasures.

This episode teaches how to mine significance from technical passages of Talmud. Exploring the different methods of interpretation of the Chachamim and R Yehudah, we gain fresh insights into the law of Orlah (prohibition of eating fruit from trees in their first three years of growth), and the idea that more is sometimes less.

We show different qualities of honor to different personalities: Parents, scholars and one's own rebbe (teacher/mentor). Your own rebbe is the person responsible for your way of seeing the world and your method of learning Torah. He is the person who gave you your world-view, and the honor you show to him is different from any other. This episode explores why and teaches how to extrapolate id...

Highlighting a difference in the views of  Rashi and R Peretz, we explore how economic value in a commodity can be destroyed by rabbinic legislation.

Hands are treated uniquely in Halacha and we wash them a lot! We wash in the morning, for davening (prayer), before meals, after meals, and the Kohanim wash their hands. Is it for cleanliness, or  for sanctity?

The Torah will at times provide a source for a law that we can just as easily extrapolate using the method of Kal VaChomer - learning the more obvious from the less obvious. (In our case the law of diminished contagion regarding food and liquid.) This principle (as well as the law of contagion itself) introduces the idea that something or someone that has been inspired by the original source of wi...

There are two categories of Tum'ah:  1) Tumat Haguf which, although not a physical substance but rather a conceptual one, behaves like a physical substance in the ways it transmits. 2) Tumat Hanefesh -  corruption of purity of thought, feelings and deeds which can damage the sanctity of the things we do and engage with.

One dimension of Tumah is a negative energy that attaches itself to places that have been vacated of sanctity that they previously contained. Tumah, as we learn in this daf, is inherently something which is transmitted from one object or person to another. The idea that even the negativity of emptiness can be contagious, is fascinating.

Being human, we seldom have the complete picture. Even if we know all the available facts from a reality perspective, we are usually missing perspectives from a spiritual, Truth perspective. How do things look from Hashem's perspective? The result is that we have many doubts and dilemmas. Even the Talmud often needs to leave matters in doubt, unresolved...at least till Eliyahu Hanavi appears....

We observe physical reality by means of physical dimensions. Living in the world of physical reality we measure everything and even value most things quantitatively.  But the spiritual, halachic world that deals with relationships and as such it is also concerned with the more nuanced qualitative differences between things. These differences impact our relationship with things that might appear ph...

Time and timing are two different, but connected, ideas. Time is what we use to synchronize events. Timing is the natural rhythm of nature such as the movement of the sun, the days of the weeks, the waxing and waning of the moon. Hours, minutes and seconds are artificial measurements we have created for the more efficient and accurate management of time. Tora uses time to synchronize, but wants pe...

It can happen that two principles, each of which is true in an absolute sense, can not be reconciled. (A) can be true and (B) can be true but sometimes (A) + (B) is not true. Like the axion of Hashem's omniscience and the axiom of our free choice are not reconcilable. This is what paradox is, and we are taught to manage paradox from a  very young age. This episode explores Halacha's way...

On Hoshana Rabba we pray to be protected from Behalla, which as we see in this episode means fear of loss. Fear of loss can lead people to behave in self-destructive and addictive  ways. Daf 11 develops two different educational approaches to how to manage the behavior of people who are infected with fear or addiction.

This episode further develops the idea of how Truth and Reality are different. Science deals with Reality. Torah deals with Truth. Reality is about objects, Truth is about the relationship between objects. When checking our homes for chameitz (leavened bread) before Pesach, Halacha allows us in certain cases to ignore the possibility that in reality there could be  chameitz there.  In terms of rel...

There is a difference between Truth (in an absolute sense) and reality. Reality is empirical knowledge; that which we perceive with our five senses. In the final analysis, reality is subjective. We can never be sure that what we sense is always real in an absolute way. Truth however is the wisdom we extrapolate from the Torah, and as Hashem's word, we believe it to be true in the absolute.  I...

This episode, an introduction to the Matmonim series, explores why we extrapolate some of the laws of bedikat hameittz from the verse dealing with the search for Joseph's cup in Binyamin's bag.  It clarifies the difference between searching for something you know is there, but don't know quite where, and seeking something you are not sure even exists.