Take One Daf Yomi

On today’s page, Chullin 139, yesterday’s mother bird returns with a thornier question: If sending her away is a mitzvah, should we actually go looking for nests just so we can perform it? Generations of rabbis disagree, turning one unusual commandment into a meditation on what it means to pursue a holy life. Are mitzvot opportunities to seek out, or instructions for the moments life puts in our p...

On today’s page, Chullin 138, Maimonides and Nachmanides disagree over why the Torah commands us to send away a mother bird before taking her young. Their argument takes us from animal suffering to conservation to a deeper question about how seemingly small acts can shape our character. Can showing mercy to an animal teach us how to become more merciful ourselves? Listen and find out. Learn more a...

On today’s pages, Chullin 136 and 137, Tzom Gedaliah reminds us of the terrible price Jews can pay when disagreement becomes hatred. Liel revisits a conversation with Rabbi Rachel Timoner, a Jewish leader with whom he has quite a few disagreements, to ask whether we can fight passionately over what matters while still recognizing the good in one another. How do we disagree without becoming enemies...

On today’s pages, Chullin 134 and 135, apples and honey offer more than a wish for a sweet year. A bee that stings can nevertheless produce honey, and Jacob’s true scent remains beneath the disguise he wears—two reminders that our failures needn’t define who we are or who we can become. Drawing on a teaching shared with the Simchat Torah Challenge, we ask: What if the sweetest version of ourselves...

On today’s page, Chullin 133, the rabbis issue a startling warning about teaching students who aren't serious about learning—going so far as to compare it to idol worship. Behind the hyperbole lies a demanding vision of education in which teachers and students each have responsibilities to the other. What do students owe their teachers in return for being taught? Listen and find out. Learn more ab...

On today’s page, Chullin 132, the rabbis debate the status of the koy, a creature caught somewhere between wild and domesticated. With Rosh Hashanah just days away, their strange animal becomes a metaphor for the struggle within each of us—and for a holiday whose very name may contain an invitation to transform ourselves. What would it take to tip the scales toward the person we want to become? Li...

On today’s page, Chullin 131, the rabbis consider the tithes that sustained the priests, Levites, and poor—and remind us that community requires more than simply belonging. If we want strong institutions and leaders, we have to support them, just as they have an obligation to support us in return. What do we have to give to get the community we want? Listen and find out. Learn more about your ad c...

On today’s pages, Chullin 129 and 130, Megillat Ta’anit raises a fundamental question: What exactly makes the Oral Torah oral once its teachings have been written down? To help answer it, we’re sharing a lesson from Talmud Daily, in which Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin explains why Torah shebe’al peh is more than a collection of texts—it’s the lived Judaism we learn from families, teachers, communities, an...

On today’s pages, Chullin 127 and 128, the rabbis contemplate the wonders of creation, from creatures of the sea and land to those of fire and air. Then some enterprising residents decide to improve on God’s handiwork by breeding two animals that shouldn’t be able to reproduce—and discover that not every miracle is a blessing. What happens when we ask whether something can be done without stopping...

On today’s page, Chullin 126, the rabbis encounter a mystery buried in two words: golel and dofek. Solving it takes us from Rashi and Maimonides to the burial caves of ancient Israel and the great stones once rolled across their entrances. What can the Talmud teach us about the lost burial practices of our ancestors? Listen and find out. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoic...

On today’s page, Chullin 125, the rabbis consider a curious rule of ritual impurity: Under the right circumstances, it can get out of an enclosed space but cannot get in. Their technical discussion becomes a powerful argument for repentance and the possibility that, no matter what we’ve done, something at our core remains forever pure. Can our worst mistakes ever change who we truly are? Listen an...

On today’s page, Chullin 124, Rabba bar Rav Huna is too tired to answer a complicated question, so he points to the sky and cries, “Look! A raven!” His wonderfully human moment offers a radical rule for relationships: Don’t settle for merely being there when you can wait until you’re ready to be fully present. What do we owe the people who ask for our time and attention? Listen and find out. Learn...

On today’s pages, Chullin 122 and 123, an unsettling discussion of human skin recalls one of the most gruesome stories in Jewish tradition: the martyrdom of Rabbi Yishmael at the hands of the Romans. Behind the horror lies a reminder of what the rabbis refused to surrender, even at the cost of their lives. What are the things we believe are worth dying—and therefore living—for? Listen and find out...

On today’s pages, Chullin 120 and 121, one mysterious word sends generations of Jewish scholars searching through animal anatomy for an answer. Is the alala a neck ligament, a tendon, leftover flesh—or something else entirely? What can an unsolved anatomical puzzle teach us about the rabbis’ extraordinary attention to detail? Listen and find out. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.f...

On today’s page, Chullin 119, some supersized wheat leads us to the supersized integrity of Shimon ben Shetach. Whether returning a valuable jewel to its rightful owner or forcing a powerful king to answer before the law, the great sage had one rule: Put honesty above all else and fear only God. Listen and find out. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On today’s page, Chullin 118, the rabbis want to know what makes a handle a handle, leading to some rather gruesome questions about the different ways one might grab an animal. Modern neuroscience offers a surprising echo of their inquiry, revealing that the less we know about what we’re holding, the tighter we tend to grasp it. Why does uncertainty make us hold on tighter? Listen and find out. Le...

On today’s page, Chullin 117, a new chapter called “The Skin and the Sauce” breaks an animal down into its constituent parts, from flesh and bones to tendons and hooves. But as the month of Elul begins, this inventory becomes an invitation to take stock of ourselves—and consider what elevates us beyond our own skin and bones. What separates us from the beasts? Listen and find out. Learn more about...

On today’s pages, Chullin 115 and 116, the rabbis demonstrate that understanding the Talmud means learning not only its conclusions, but how it thinks. Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin joins us to introduce Talmud Daily, a new 40-week journey through the concepts, history, and structure that can give anyone a map of this sprawling text. Ready for the grand tour? Listen and find out. Learn more about your ad...

On today’s pages, Chullin 113 and 114, a discussion of how food absorbs flavor becomes a recipe for a meaningful Jewish life. Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin joins us to consider three paths to experiencing the divine: the heat of passion, immersion in community, and the salt of life’s most difficult moments. Where do we find the flavor in faith? Listen and find out. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit...

On today’s page, Chullin 112, a meaty knife and a humble radish lead the rabbis to a deceptively simple principle: Taste is taste, and taste is boss. Their intricate rules make keeping kosher more complicated—but they might also make eating infinitely more delightful. What can a pastrami-flavored radish teach us about tasting the world? Listen and find out. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit...

On today’s page, Chullin 111, the rabbis debate how to prepare one of Jewish cuisine’s most divisive delicacies: liver. If you think its staying power comes down to tradition or nutrition, you’re only halfway there. Take our hand as we explore a food that is humble and luxurious, beloved and reviled—and somehow still here after thousands of years. We’ll make it, we swear. What could be more Talmud...

On today’s page, Chullin 110, the rabbis continue their discussion of the laws surrounding udders before we turn to a different question: What can Moses teach us about despair? In this special episode from The Republic of Moses, former Israeli Chief Rabbi David Lau explores why so many people have lost hope—and what Deuteronomy can teach us about finding it again. Listen and find out. Learn more a...

On today’s pages, ⁠Chullin 108 and 109, Yalta observes that for everything the Torah forbids, God provides something permitted in its place. It’s a striking teaching from one of the Talmud’s most fascinating women, whose appearances range from smashing 400 barrels of wine in a rage to offering profound insights into Jewish law. What happens when law and poetry meet? Listen and find out. Learn more...

On today’s pages, ⁠Chullin 106 and 107, a discussion of handwashing leads to stories of culinary confusion, marital disaster, and a very dirty mustache. Centuries later, Ignaz Semmelweis would discover just how deadly unwashed hands could be—and pay a terrible price for trying to convince the world. Why are the invisible dangers sometimes the hardest to believe? Listen and find out. Learn more abo...

On today’s page, Chullin 105, two rabbis encounter a witch who uses an incantation to stop their boat in its tracks. Their eerie encounter opens a centuries-old Jewish debate over whether magic is real—and offers a surprisingly mundane prescription for confronting the supernatural. How do you protect yourself from a witch? Listen and find out. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/a...