Take One Daf Yomi

Today’s Talmud page, Nedarim 14, launches a meditation on vows, intentions, sleep, and speech. Commemorating the second yahrzeit of the late, great Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, we bring a sermon of his that addresses these very subjects. How can the things we say and don't say transform our reality? Listen and find out. To learn more about the annual Day of Learning in Rabbi Sacks's memory, click here. T...

Today’s Talmud pages, Nedarim 12 and 13, offer a moving meditation on the significance of anniversaries. Why do we bother with birthdays? Why light candles annually to commemorate the passing of a loved one? And what spiritual energy is unleashed on an anniversary that is not available on any other day of the year? Listen and find out. Take One is a Tablet Studios production. The show is hosted by...

Today’s Talmud pages, Nedarim 10 and 11, warns us against taking unnecessary vows and practicing needless restraint. Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin joins us to talk about boundaries, and how different people struggle with different temptations in different ways. Is there a good way to deny yourself pleasure? Or is it always wrong? Listen and find out. Take One is a Tablet Studios production. The show is ho...

Today’s Talmud page, Nedarim 9, gives us a master class in personal productivity. Stephanie Butnick joins us to explain why Hillel the Elder was a model for all multitaskers to emulate, and share her own intricate, and Talmudically-inspired, system of maximum efficiency at the office. What's the Gmail Gemara, and why should you study it carefully? Listen and find out. Take One is a Tablet Studios...

Today’s Talmud page, Nedarim 8, helps us find some inspiration to do good deeds. Rabbi Mordechai Lightstone joins us to talk about the Hakhel, an ancient tradition that brought all Jews together to hear the King read the Torah. Why is it still relevant today, particularly this year? Listen and find out. Take One is a Tablet Studios production. The show is hosted by Liel Leibovitz, and is produced...

Today’s Talmud page, Nedarim 7, kicks things off with an amusing story about a man who spoke in a confusing way leading his peers to be uncertain which room he had designated to be the bathroom. It's a strange little anecdote, but it eerily recalls one of Soviet history's most beloved tales, about the time Stalin's confusion led to the building of a monstrosity right in the heart of Moscow. How di...

Today’s Talmud pages, Nedarim 5 and 6, warn us that if you don't speak your mind clearly, it's like you never spoke your mind at all. But how to speak and write well? How to make sure we're always understood? For advice, we turn to an unearthed gem, a 1978 commencement speech by the late William Safire, Richard Nixon's speechwriter and longtime columnist for The New York Times. What advice does he...

Today’s Talmud pages, Nedarim 3 and 4, dive right into the question of a special category of vow: The Nazirite Vow. Rabbi Dr. Stuart Halpern joins us to explain what this unique vow is, why the rabbis opposed it, and why one Nazir in particular became the Bible's great action hero and inspired everyone from Thomas Jefferson and Frederick Douglass. Who is that powerful man of mystery, and why are w...

Today’s Talmud page, Nedarim 2, introduces us to a new tractate that’s all about words and why they matter. Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin joins us with a preview of what to expect, and a meditation on why it's so important to make sure we all understand one another. What makes Nedarim one of the Talmud's most challenging and fascinating tractates? Listen and find out. Take One is a Tablet Studios producti...

Today’s Talmud page, Ketubot 112, brings us to the end of Tractate Ketubot. Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin joins us to recap what we’ve learned, and what powerful lessons the tractate still offers us today. Why do so many Jews hang their ketubot on the wall? Listen and find out. You can read Rabbi Bashevkin's essay on the conclusion of Tractate Ketubot. Take One is a Tablet Studios production. The show is...

Today’s Talmud page, Ketubot 111, gives us a thorny conversation between two rabbis on the subject of whether or not you're allowed to move to the Promised Land. How did their debate influence the history of Zionism? And what can it teaches us today as we argue about Israel? Listen and find out. Take One is a Tablet Studios production. The show is hosted by Liel Leibovitz, and is produced and edit...

Today’s Talmud pages, Ketubot 109 and 110, find the rabbis complaining about life in both cities and rural towns. Producer Josh Kross joins us to weigh the benefits of each lifestyle, and share what having a residence in each taught him about finding balance in life. So is city life better? Or should you go for some bucolic calm instead? Listen and find out. Take One is a Tablet Studios production...

Today’s Talmud pages, Ketubot 107 and 108, ask a poignant question: What do you need to survive? Tablet Magazine's Tanya Singer joins us to explain why jewelry and charity are essentials, not luxuries, and share a touching story about her father who had recently passed. Why did the rabbis think so highly of ornaments? Listen and find out. Take One is a Tablet Studios production. The show is hosted...

Today’s Talmud page, Ketubot 106, tells us a spooky story. It's about a rabbi who didn't mean to, but ended up interfering in some poor schlub's fair trial, and about the prophet Elijah who was so angered by this he decided to turn himself into a literal monster. Why would the kindly Elijah do something so terrifying? And what lesson about morality does the Talmud share with Nightmare on Elm Stree...

Today’s Talmud pages, Ketubot 103, 104, and 105, deliver an amusing little insight into the style of rabbinic argumentation. Our very own Presidentischer Rav, historian and former administration official Tevi Troy, joins us with some insights on what the rabbis can teach our contemporary politicians, and why so many alliances start with a few shots of whisky and end in discord. What are some of 16...

Today’s Talmud pages, Ketubot 100, 101, and 102, give us a crash course in naming names. Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin joins us with some insights into how the rabbis of the Talmud used names to honor loved ones and pass down tradition. Why are there no Talmudic rabbis named Moses? Listen and find out. Take One is a Tablet Studios production. The show is hosted by Liel Leibovitz, and is produced and edite...

Today’s Talmud page, Ketubot 99, ponders the complicated, sometimes fraught, and often fruitful relationship between clients and agents. Literary agent Anne Edelstein joins us to talk about helping her authors navigate their careers, a journey that requires profound psychological insights. So what is it, exactly, that an agent does? Listen and find out. Take One is a Tablet Studios production. The...

Today’s Talmud pages, Ketubot 96, 97, and 98, teach us that students must be deferential to their teachers. Mark Oppenheimer, recently retired after nearly two decades at Yale, joins us to opine about the wisdom of this comment, and suggest a very different way to engage with the young. Should a student call the teacher "professor so and so" or merely use the teacher's first name? Listen and find...

Today’s Talmud pages, Ketubot 93, 94, and 95, warmly advise us to just be nice to our spouse. Journalist and writer Faith Salie joins us to question the ways the rabbis thought of love and marriage, and share some tips of her own on domestic bliss. What's the secret to keeping a husband or wife happy? Listen and find out. Take One is a Tablet Studios production. The show is hosted by Liel Leibovit...

Today’s Talmud page, Ketubot 92, delivers what, at first blush, appears to be a dreary discussion of intricate legal matters. Soon, however, it blooms into a meditation on love, law, and why the two are necessarily intertwined. What tremendous insight did the late Rabbi Jonathan Sacks share about the unique course of Jewish history? Listen and find out. Take One is a Tablet Studios production. The...

Today’s Talmud pages, Ketubot 90 and 91, surprise us by arguing that non-Jews can have a Ketubah when they marry. Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin joins us to explain why the idea of the Ketubah transcends any religion, and what this universal idea has to teach us today on how to make a marriage work. So what's the secret to a good, long, happy marriage? Listen and find out. Take One is a Tablet Studios prod...

Today’s Talmud pages, Ketubot 88 and 89, introduce us to the Prosbol, the coolest Halachic concept you've never heard of. Producer Sara Fredman Aeder joins us to explain this marvelous rabbinic invention, and why it's still popular today. How did the rabbis encourage people to give out loans without fearing they'll never get their money back? Listen and find out. Take One is a Tablet Studios produ...

Today’s Talmud pages, Ketubot 86 and 87, provides important marriage therapy in just a few words. The Talmud discusses trust between a husband and a wife, and asks is there anything that the Rabbis wouldn’t do to ensure peace in the home. Listen and find out. Take One is a Tablet Studios production. The show is hosted by Liel Leibovitz, and is produced and edited by Darone Ruskay and Quinn Waller....

Today’s Talmud page, Ketubot 85, advises us to favor a good neighbor over a distant relative. Mark Oppenheimer, co-host of the Unorthodox podcast, joins us to explain why. What did the rabbis understand about living in close proximity to other humans that modern-day architects have since reaffirmed? Listen and find out. Take One is a Tablet Studios production. The show is hosted by Liel Leibovitz,...

Today’s Talmud pages, Ketubot 82 and 83 and 84, give us a masterclass in how to make love last. Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin joins us to explain how the Ketubah works, and why it was designed to keep love in the air and marriages sustainable. Is getting married just too darn expensive? Listen and find out. Take One is a Tablet Studios production. The show is hosted by Liel Leibovitz, and is produced and...