Take One Daf Yomi

Today’s Daf Yomi pages, Shabbat 40 to 43, cover a wide array of crucial questions, from why we're not allowed to take a hot shower on Shabbat to precisely what men should do with their members while urinating. Because we've been off for a few days, celebrating Pesach, Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin returns to help us catch up on the Talmudic majesty we've missed. What is muktzah, and how can it help us see...

Today’s Daf Yomi page, Shabbat 39, acknowledges what every amateur chef already knows: There's nothing more difficult to cook to perfection than the lowly egg. A minute here or there can make the difference between jammy perfection and a gray-hued mess, so producer Josh Kross, himself an egg enthusiast, joins us to interpret the rabbis' hard-boiled disquisition on the different approaches to egg-c...

Today’s Daf Yomi pages, Shabbat 37 and 38, find the rabbis mulling the precise nature of a Kupah, a smallish stove that was popular in their day. And while the specifics of their conversation may sound archaic, its essence couldn't be more timely: What they're really trying to figure out is what to do when a new technology is thrust into our lives, and how our gadgets shape so much about the way w...

Today’s Daf Yomi pages, Shabbat 35 and 36, raises one of the most loaded concepts in the entire Talmud: Bein Hashmashot, or Twilight. It's extremely significant for a host of religious obligations, yet the rabbis, in pure Talmudic fashion, couldn't decide on how long, precisely, twilight actually was. Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin joins us to shed light on this strange and fascinating concept. Why did som...

Today’s Daf Yomi pages, Shabbat 33 and 34, tell a wild story of a mighty rabbi and his son, so disgusted with the ways of this world that they chose to retreat and live in a cave for 13 years. When they emerge, however, trouble ensues. Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin returns to teach us about the perils of very smart and serious people believing themselves to be better than the rest of us, and about why mys...

Today’s Daf Yomi page, Shabbat 32, gives us a brief but fierce paragraph about those about to die, and what they should and shouldn't be doing as they are about to pass. This passage feels a bit too real in the midst of a deadly pandemic, and we welcome The New York Times writer Bari Weiss to discuss her piece about hospital chaplains and the holy work they do these days. Why is visiting the sick...

Today’s Daf Yomi page, Shabbat 30, gives us a peak into the birth of modern politics: King David, dying, asks God how much time he has left, and God, refusing to answer, informs the aged monarch that the reign of his son, Solomon, is already set to begin. It's like an epic episode of HBO's Succession, as well as the moment of transition from the ancient world's view of kings as omnipotent to our c...

Today’s Daf Yomi pages, Shabbat 28 and 29, features talk of the Tachash, a mysterious beast who may or may not have had a single horn, an enormous body, and a six-colored skin. Was he a Technicolor Jewish unicorn, or a Jewnicorn? Different commentators offered divergent interpretations, but in today's episode we take a page from one of our greatest Hasidic masters and read the Jewnicorn as a metap...

Today’s Daf Yomi page, Shabbat 27, features the debut of what is arguably the oddest and most difficult to comprehend of all the mitzvot: The prohibition to wear Shatnez, or clothes made of both wool and linen. Why this specific ban? We welcome AJ Jacobs, author of The Year of Living Biblically, to make sense of this curious commandment and tell us about the time he invited a Shatnez inspector to...

Today’s Daf Yomi page, Shabbat 26, begins with the Talmud's equivalent of a Law & Order episode, telling a gruesome tale of a woman who sets her daughter-in-law on fire. Thankfully, not all of us have such murderously acrimonious relationships with our-laws; Stephanie Butnick, co-host of Tablet's popular Unorthodox podcast, joins us to make sense of the grizzly story and give us some tips about ho...

Today’s Daf Yomi page, Shabbat 25, finds the rabbis in an existential kind of mood. What truly matters in life? Some say money, others say companionship, and others yet, well, go a more scatological path. Mark Oppenheimer, the self-styled Corduroy Rav and co-host of Tablet's popular Unorthodox podcast, returns to talk about how your desires shape your life. Would you trade a large sum of money for...

Today’s Daf Yomi pages, Shabbat 23 and 24, revolve around a fascinating question: Should we treasure life's beautifully mundane moments, or hold up for rare and splendid miracles? Rabbi Scott Hoffman joins us to talk about getting our priorities straight, especially in times of crisis. What can candles and menorahs teach us about our values? Listen and find out. Take one is sponsored this week by...

Today’s Daf Yomi pages, Shabbat 21 and 22, contain a well-known discussion of how to light the Hanukkah menorah. Which, coincidentally, has been the subject of a famous 1989 Supreme Court case, still considered a landmark shaping religious liberties for decades to come. Nathan Lewin, the legendary lawyer who argued the case and convinced the highest court in the land to allow the display of a meno...

Today’s Daf Yomi page, Shabbat 20, includes a famous paragraph on candle lighting we recite every Friday evening. Rabbi Rachel Ain of the Sutton Place Synagogue in New York joins us to meditate on this ancient custom and its surprisingly modern resonance. Why do we light two candles each Shabbat? Listen and find out. This episode is sponsored by the Institute for Jewish Spirituality. In this time...

Today’s Daf Yomi page, Shabbat 19, dives into a nautical question: Is it permitted to go a-sailing just before Shabbat? It's a conundrum that has inflamed Talmudic minds for millennia, and we welcome Lisa Ann Sandell, author and sailing enthusiast, to share her story of hi jinx on the high seas and her thoughts on taking to open waters. Did the rabbis believe sailing could ever be pleasurable? Lis...

Today's Daf Yomi page, Shabbat 18, revolve around a strange question: Should we let our utensils, too, rest on Shabbat? Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin returns to explain why this conundrum is far from theoretical, and what it tells us about how preparation and rest are always intertwined. What can those of us who spent the last few weeks getting ready for social distancing learn from the rituals of usherin...

Today’s Daf Yomi pages, Shabbat 16 and 17, tell a dramatic story of a particularly vehement disagreement between two of the Talmud's greatest rabbis, Hillel and Shammai. When one of them loses the debate, all go into mourning. Why? And what does this millennia-old quibble have to teach us about the importance of kindness and compassion? Listen and find out. Take one is sponsored this week by the I...

Today’s Daf Yomi pages, Shabbat 14 and 15, usher us into a discussion of a deeply complicated subject: the rules of purity. But what starts out like a seemingly esoteric topic soon grows eerily relevant in this time of coronavirus awareness: Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin joins us to explain how the Talmud's concept of transmission and infection uncannily mirrors that of the Centers for Disease Control and...

Today’s Daf Yomi page, Shabbat 13, revolves around a grizzly story of a pious man who studied Torah, served his rabbis, and still died suddenly at a very young age. His bereaved widow walks around from synagogue to synagogue demanding an explanation, until the prophet Elijah delivers a very thorny explanation that has to do with sexual conduct. Dr. Batsheva Marcus, a certified sex therapist, joins...

Today’s Daf Yomi page, Shabbat 12, makes a strange pronouncement: If you kill a louse on Shabbat, it's as if you've killed a camel. Producer Josh Kross, an animal lover and avid meat eater, joins to discuss the difference between the animals we cherish and those we're happy to consume, and what the Talmud can teach us about environmental ethics. What's the Talmud take on mindful eating? Listen and...

Today’s Daf Yomi page, Shabbat 11, gives us one of the most beautiful passages in all of the Talmud. "Even if all the seas would be ink, and the reeds that grow near swamps would be quills, and the heavens would be parchment upon which the words would be written, and all the people would be scribes," the rabbis tell us, "all of these are insufficient to write the unquantifiable space of government...

Today’s Daf Yomi pages, Shabbat 9 and 10, raise a question we're all asking right now, as so many of us are suddenly confined to our homes by the coronavirus and struggling to balance work and family: What's the best way to manage time? Warning us against trying to do too much, the wise rabbis propose a principle that calls on us to be here now and focus on what truly matters in life. What can the...

Today's Daf Yomi pages, Shabbat 7 and 8, raises a question that pierces the heart of every New Yorker: Can your home even be considered a real home if it's, you know, just too small? Stephanie Butnick, co-host of Tablet's popular Unorthodox podcast and a dweller of several very small apartments, returns to describe life with no space at all and argue that nothing says private domain more than havi...

Today’s Daf Yomi page, Shabbat 6, continues the discussion about private versus public domains, and lands on a peculiar question: Is the desert a real place? The rabbis seem unsure, so we called up Tzipi Perl Turner, friend of the show and proud resident of Arizona, to talk to us about life amid the hot desert sands and why it can be both challenging and rewarding. What did the rabbis get wrong ab...

Today’s Daf Yomi page, Shabbat 5, asks us to take a moment and think about our books. How should we treat them, and, more importantly, why should we not mistreat them? Author and editor Lisa Ann Sandell joins us to talk about why dog-earing a book is sometimes ok, why books make the best traveling companions, and why no gadget will ever take the place of the printed page. Should you scribble notes...