Take One Daf Yomi

On today’s episode of Take One, we take a break from the daf to speak with Gila Fine, the author of The Mad Woman in the Rabbi’s Attic, a reexamination of women’s role in the Talmud. What can we learn about the world of women in the Talmud? Listen and find out. 

Today’s Talmud page, Sanhedrin 22, tells us that it’s as difficult to match a couple as it is to part the Red Sea and that when a couple divorces, the very alter at which they were married sheds tears. Executive producer Courtney Hazlett joins us to share her perspective on this touchy topic. When is a relationship truly over? Listen and find out. 

Today’s Talmud page, Sanhedrin 21, tells us the story of King Solomon's downfall. What made the wisest man alive sin, and what does it have to do with the Roman Empire? And what warning does the story hold for us about choosing our values carefully? Listen and find out.

Today’s Talmud pages, Sanhedrin 19 and 20, tell a riveting story of a haughty king, a brave rabbi, and a murder most foul. Why did one brave judge stand up to the most powerful man in the land? And what led the rabbis to issue a stern warning against handing any one person, or institution, too much power? Listen and find out.

Today’s Talmud pages, Sanhedrin 17 and 18, give us a masterclass about choosing the right leaders. Why must a leader speak every conceivable language? And why must he or she be attractive as well as wise? Listen and find out.

Today’s Talmud page, Sanhedrin 16, is all about optional wars, and who has the right to go to battle and under what circumstances. Rabbi Dr. Shlomo Brody, author of the new book Ethics of Our Fighters: A Jewish View on War and Morality, joins us to talk about the Jewish way of war. How do the ancient teachings inform our very modern warfare? Listen and find out.

Today’s Talmud page, Sanhedrin 15, asks what is to be done should an animal take a life. Might the beast stand trial for murder? And why is Reish Lakish, perhaps the fiercest of all of the Talmud's rabbis, advocating for compassion? Listen and find out.

Today’s Talmud page, Sanhedrin 14, tells the story of Rabbi Yehuda ben Bava, a Talmudic superhero who sacrificed his own life to keep the Jewish tradition alive. What can we learn from his inspiring story? Listen and find out.

Today’s Talmud pages, Sanhedrin 12 and 13, remind us that the role of rabbis used to be very different than what most of might recognize today. Rabbi Diana Fersko joins us to talk about this historic shift, and about whether the expectations we have of modern-day rabbis are still realistic. So what, exactly, is it that a rabbi does all day? Listen and find out.

Today’s Talmud pages, Sanhedrin 10 and 11, ask a deeply troubling question: How come we no longer have prophets hearing and conveying the word of God? Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin joins us to explore this complicated question. What's the Bat Kol, the Divine voice that some still continue to hear? Listen and find out.

Today’s Talmud page, Sanhedrin 9, informs us that those of us who rush to help someone do a mitzvah are rewarded themselves as well. Erica Pelman, the founder and director of Jewish unplanned pregnancy support network Shifra, joins us to talk about her organization's sacred work. How can we change the way we talk about abortions for the better? Listen and find out.

Today’s Talmud page, Sanhedrin 8, introduces us to one of the most popular idioms in contemporary Hebrew, teaching us that we should be as diligent when passing judgment involving a very small amount of money as we would've been with a much larger sum. Israeli broadcaster and Torah teacher Sivan Rahav-Meir joins us to shed light on the profound moral principle at play here. How can we become more...

Today’s Talmud page, Sanhedrin 7, argues that when people love each other, they can make do with very little physical space. Producer Josh Kross joins us to discuss how this rule applies to minuscule New York City apartments. Is a home made physically larger on account of joy? Listen and find out.

Today’s Talmud pages, Sanhedrin 5 and 6, raise a fascinating question: Why should we ever compromise? After all, if justice is a divine quality, shouldn't we always aspire to have a clear-cut verdict? Or is compromise itself just as heavenly? Listen and find out.

Today’s Talmud pages, Sanhedrin 3 and 4, deliver a meditation on jurisprudence. What are we moderns getting so wrong about justice and the law? And how does the rabbinic way of understanding the role of the courts can help us course-correct? Listen and find out.

Today’s Talmud page, Sanhedrin 2, kicks off a brand new tractate, and a real page-turner at that. Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin joins us to explain what we may expect to find in tractate Sanhedrin, the ultimate meditation about living a life of consequence. What does the Talmud tell us about the World to Come? Listen and find out.

Today’s Talmud page, Bava Batra 176, brings us to the end of one of the Talmud's longest and most demanding tractates. Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin joins us to sum it all up. Why does this legalistic tractate contain a collection of wild stories about the Jewish Sinbad, and what do they teach us about coexistence? Listen and find out.

Today’s Talmud page, Bava Batra 175, warns us that people will always try to make themselves appear poorer than they are so as to receive a bit more money. But as one of the Torah's greatest heroes, Jacob, teaches us, it's far healthier to do just the opposite. Why is Jacob's mantra "I have become small," and why should we, too, adopt it? Listen and find out.

Today’s Talmud pages, Bava Batra 173 and 174, give us a stunning example of a very famous rabbi advocating what at first sounds like a complete violation of his own teaching, advising a friend to defraud his own father. But the advice is much more soulful than that, delivering a masterclass on the relationship between love and law. What is the ultimate purpose of rules and regulations, and what do...

Today’s Talmud pages, Bava Batra 171 and 172, ask how to go about doing business with two people who have the same name. How to keep the records straight? And what did the rabbis understand about the human brain that took neuroscientists millennia to unlock? Listen and find out.

Today’s Talmud page, Bava Batra 170, offers a small but inspiring meditation on the true meaning of the justice system, warning us not to forget that every machination we set up must first and foremost serve human beings, flawed as they may be. What should our algorithm-addled and bureaucratic modern society learn from the ancient rabbis about making people feel seen and heard before the law? List...

Today’s Talmud page, Bava Batra 169, looks at the connection between a written contract and the actual thing you're buying. Should you have to return your Toyota, say, if you happen to simply misplace the lease? And, if not, do words on contracts have any meaning at all? Listen and find out.

Today’s Talmud page, Bava Batra 168, issues an incredible instruction: In some earthly matters, Torah scholars should turn and seek help from their bitterest foes, the ignoramuses. Why are experts so frequently wrong? And what can the Talmud teach us about forging a society that focuses not on equity but on excellence? Listen and find out.

Today’s Talmud pages, Bava Batra 166 and 167, discuss a dastardly bit of forgery and its subsequent investigation. The Presidentischer Rav Tevi Troy returns to the show to discuss how different presidential administrations have investigated leaks, and how some of these leakers composed their messages in language that would throw suspicion onto their rivals. How has forgery and leaking changed sinc...

Today’s Talmud pages, Bava Batra 164 and 165, caution us not to erase a document after it's been signed and try to write a new one in its stead. What does this seemingly mundane bit of legalese have to do with baseball? And why is it the most Jewish sport imaginable? Listen and find out.