Take One Daf Yomi

Today’s Daf Yomi pages, Rosh Hashanah 34 and 35, bring us to the end of Tractate Rosh Hashanah. Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin joins us to sum up what we've learned, and give us a moving lesson about the sun and the moon, being and becoming. What's the holiest Jewish object you have in your house? Listen and find out.  Like the show? Send us a note at takeone@tabletmag.com. Follow us on Twitter at @takeone...

Today’s Daf Yomi page, Rosh Hashanah 33, ponders our responsibility to teach our children how to perform mitzvot. Producer Josh Kross joins us to tell a moving story of his son's second Bar Mitzvah. Why the do-over? Listen and find out.  Like the show? Send us a note at takeone@tabletmag.com. Follow us on Twitter at @takeonedafyomi and join the conversation in the Take One Facebook group. Take One...

Today’s Daf Yomi page, Rosh Hashanah 32, invites us to think about the true meaning of Rosh Hashanah. Rabbi Willie Balk joins us to shed light on the complicated nature of the holiday, and why it's both demanding and deeply joyous. How is Rosh Hashanah like a high school test? Listen and find out.  Like the show? Send us a note at takeone@tabletmag.com. Follow us on Twitter at @takeonedafyomi and...

Today’s Daf Yomi page, Rosh Hashanah 31, kicks things off on a heavy note, discussing the end of the world. What does it look like? When will it come? How do we know? And what can we do to prepare? Listen and find out.  Like the show? Send us a note at takeone@tabletmag.com. Follow us on Twitter at @takeonedafyomi and join the conversation in the Take One Facebook group. Take One is hosted by Liel...

Today’s Daf Yomi pages, Rosh Hashanah 29 and 30, inform us that one may say some blessings on behalf of others. Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin joins us to explain how the system works, and why it's soulful and inspired. Does this mean you can simply engage someone else to recite all of your brachot for you? Listen and find out.  Like the show? Send us a note at takeone@tabletmag.com. Follow us on Twitter a...

Today’s Daf Yomi pages, Rosh Hashanah 27 and 28, ponder which shofar shape is right for which holiday. Jeff Cahn, the executive director of Romemu in New York and a master shofar blower, joins us to share what goes through his mind and his heart when he's standing in front of the congregation and getting ready to blow his shofar. How do you practice with such an instrument? Listen and find out.  L...

Today’s Daf Yomi page, Rosh Hashanah 26, waxes poetic about the shofar. Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin joins us to riff on the majestic role the shofar, and music in general, play in Jewish spiritual life. What is the shofar blast supposed to make us feel? Listen and find out.  Like the show? Send us a note at takeone@tabletmag.com. Follow us on Twitter at @takeonedafyomi and join the conversation in the T...

Today’s Daf Yomi page, Rosh Hashanah 25, shares an astonishing story of two feuding rabbis learning to set aside their differences for the sake of communal unity. Rabbi Leon Wiener Dow joins us to expound on this heartwarming tale and the very urgent lessons it has for us today. What should our modern-day leaders learn from the wise, ancient rabbis? Listen and find out.  Like the show? Send us a n...

Today’s Daf Yomi page, Rosh Hashanah 24, tells us that when the new moon was sanctified by the rabbinic court, the entire Jewish people had to answer "Amen" in unison. Can collective prayer really impact the world today? Dr. Gary Onik joins us to share his own experience as a long-time cancer doctor who was diagnosed with incurable cancer himself. A lifelong atheist, he nonetheless took to the Int...

Today’s Daf Yomi pages, Rosh Hashanah 22 and 23, ask a thorny question: Is there a real structural difference between wisdom and prophecy? Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin returns to entertain this conundrum, and explain what it has to do with truth, knowledge, and justice. What did King Solomon get wrong about human affairs? Listen and find out. Like the show? Send us a note at takeone@tabletmag.com. Follow...

Today’s Daf Yomi pages, Rosh Hashanah 20 and 21, get to the bottom of the Jewish calendar, a complicated creation that's one part lunar and one part solar. Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin joins us to talk about the meaning of Jewish time, and how its symbolism continues to inspire us today. Why did the rabbis refer to the calendar as "the secret of pregnancy"? Listen and find out. Like the show? Send us a n...

Today's Daf Yomi page, Rosh Hashanah 19, begins by discussing Tzom Gedalia, a day of mourning for a high-ranking Jewish official assassinated by a Jewish zealot.  Rabbi Jeffrey Salkin joins us to argue that in these times of combustible politics and rampant division, we should double down on the lesson of Tzom Gedalia by instituting a day of fasting for the late slain Israeli Prime Minister Yitzak...

Today’s Daf Yomi page, Rosh Hashanah 18, reminds us that studying Talmud is a pursuit that contains multitudes. Martin Gaynor, a survivor of the Tree of Life shooting in Pittsburgh, joins us to tell the story of how he and a fellow survivor decided to start studying Daf Yomi to honor the memory of their friend, Jerry Rabinowitz, who was murdered in the attack. How does reading one page of Talmud a...

Today’s Daf Yomi page, Rosh Hashanah 17, contains a stark warning about flaunting our expertise and authority, and a heartwarming story about finding wisdom in unexpected places. What can the rabbis teach us as we snipe at each other on social media? Listen and find out. Like the show? Send us a note at takeone@tabletmag.com. Follow us on Twitter at @takeonedafyomi and join the conversation in the...

Today’s Daf Yomi pages, Rosh Hashanah 15 and 16, remind us that we're judged not just on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur but every hour of every day, which also means we have constant opportunities to mend our ways and heal the world. As today marks the yahrzeit of the late Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, we are pleased to share a recent recollection from former prime minister Tony Blair, recalling how the rab...

Today’s Daf Yomi pages, Rosh Hashanah 13 and 14, deliver a surprising moment when one rabbi rebukes another for asking a difficult question and posits the non-too-Talmudic sounding advice of simply taking things on authority every now and then. What does this advice have to do with our contemporary culture wars, and what can we learn from it as we struggle to fix our broken political and cultural...

Today’s Daf Yomi page, Rosh Hashanah 12, reminds us that our actions can literally change the world. But how? In a TED Talk he gave in 2017, the late Rabbi Jonathan Sacks addressed just this question, and as the anniversary of his passing approaches, we are honored to share it again. How can we all work together, without fear, and bring about real, sustainable change? Listen and find out. You can...

Today’s Daf Yomi page, Rosh Hashanah 11, gives us a moving meditation on infertility, and why the Torah equates conceiving a child with memory. Naomi Korb Weiss, who sits on the board of the Jewish Fertility Foundation, joins us to talk about her own struggle to conceive, and the stigma that still surrounds so many aspects of having and not having kids. How must we learn to fine-tune the way we ta...

Today’s Daf Yomi page, Rosh Hashanah 10, asks a deep question: On what month was the world created? Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin joins us to answer this cosmic conundrum with a meditation on time, the calendar, and the ways we shape the months just as the months shape us. What does the creation of Man have to do with how we tell time? Listen and find out. Like the show? Send us a note at takeone@tabletma...

Today’s Daf Yomi pages, Rosh Hashanah 8 and 9, pore over the meaning of liberty, the word and the concept. Rabbi Dr. Stuart Halpern joins us to talk about the liberty-themed biblical verse that inspired the Liberty Bell, and the ways the American icon stirred hearts and minds even as Americans were divided like never before. Did Muhammad Ali really put the crack in the Liberty Bell? Listen and fin...

Today’s Daf Yomi pages, Rosh Hashanah 6 and 7, entertain the bonds between coercion and community. Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin joins us to explore these seemingly disparate notions and their surprising relevance to Jewish life today. Is it really free will if one is forced into doing something for others? Listen and find out. Like the show? Send us a note at takeone@tabletmag.com. Follow us on Twitter a...

Today’s Daf Yomi page, Rosh Hashanah 5, invites us to think of Judaism's three main holidays as one cohesive unit. We here at Take One were inspired, and looked fondly at the other podcast we produce at Tablet Magazine, Unorthodox. Today, in a special crossover episode, it's the story of the shaggy-haired Jewish man who inspired one of the most famous and beloved characters in popular culture. Who...

Today’s Daf Yomi page, Rosh Hashanah 4, shares a Talmudic conspiracy theory about King Cyrus, and ponders what happens when the government goes rogue. Sharon Cameron, the author of the critically acclaimed new novel Bluebird, joins us to tell a story of a true and shocking CIA program to train unwitting assassins, and reflects on what happens when history seems stranger than fiction. Why did the A...

Today’s Daf Yomi page, Rosh Hashanah 3, sings the praises of the Persian king Cyrus, who was respected and beloved by the Jews. Robert Berman, the author of a new collection of Arabic idioms, joins us to talk about cross-cultural dialogues, and why language can succeed where force so often fails. What are some folk sayings that people all over the world seem to share? Listen and find out. Like the...

Today’s Daf Yomi page, Rosh Hashanah 2, kicks off a new tractate, Rosh Hashanah. Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin returns to give us a taste of what lies ahead. Why are there really four, not one, Rosh Hashanahs? Listen and find out. Like the show? Send us a note at takeone@tabletmag.com. Follow us on Twitter at @takeonedafyomi and join the conversation in the Take One Facebook group. Take One is hosted by L...