Talking Talmud

R. Pappa and R. Hina arrived in Hintzvu, where R. Idi bar Avin lived. When they got there, they were asked: Can the daughters of kohanim who are eligible to marry kohanim marry those who have been disqualified from the priesthood? R. Pappa and R. Huna answer differently, with different inferences, and R. Idi bar Avin gives his own answer (where was he when the other rabbis first arrived?). [Who's...

Chapter 9! A very long mishnah... Categories of women who were permitted to their husbands and prohibited to the yavam. And the reverse: prohibited to the husband and permitted to the yavam. Including kohanim and mamzerim as possible complications... Also, forbidden relationships that are prohibited on a rabbinic level - "Divrei Sofrim," secondary prohibitions that come to protect the Torah prohib...

More from Rabbi Yosei. [Who's Who: R. Yosei Ben Halafta] On prolonged labor, and how it relates to grafting, from a halakhic perspective. Plus, the tumtum, one who has indeterminate sexual organs, or ambiguous genitalia. Note skepticism regarding a tumtum's 7 children's paternity. And again, are all tumtums to be concluded to be male?

More on whether terumah in this day and age (post-Temple) is d'Orayta or deRabbanan. [What's What: Seder Olam (Rabbah), here, unusually, used to support p'sak.] Also, a discussion on the sanctity of the Land of Israel, and how it doesn't lapse. Plus, more on the androgynous, with the implications for an androgynous kohen's spouse, in terms of eating terumah. The Gemara seems to treat androgynous a...

More on terumah, in a new mishnah: a saris chamah kohen who marries the daughter of a Yisrael... Can she eat terumah?! Or if he's an androgynous. Or a tummy who is considered male.... What if the food is cakes of dried figs? Can you count them separately?

Returning to a baby born in the 8th month, which is considered a danger to the child, and perhaps the mother. Can such a child survive? Plus, the prolonging of a fetus in the womb. [Who's Who: Rava Tosfa'a] Also, defining and determining a "saris chamah," and why it's all moot nowadays.

More on King David and the Givonim. Also, the disturbing story of the sons of King Saul and their maltreatment of converts. Also, more on the men whose injured or damaged genitalia won't let them father children. And an unusual mishnah, where a tanna's inquiry gets two responses and an example before the mishnah returns to the details of halakhah.

Converts and their subsequent generations. What happens when a second-generation Egyptian convert marries a first-generation Egyptian convert? Is their child considered third generation or second generation? It seems to depend which party is the father and which the mother - whom does it follow? It's a machloket. With the example of an animal designated as a korban chatat that is pregnant, and how...

More on Ammon and Moav. Why are they excluded? Plus, why is a Jewish woman supposed to say within? Also, King David's prayers in Psalms, and some of the placement of the Ammonite and Moavite women, and his own lineage. Also, the complications that can result for an Ammonite family, though the women are kosher to marry those who are born Jewish. But when the halakhah contradicts the authoritative v...

Two mishnayot: Several parties are prohibited from marrying those who are born Jewish, but can still marry converts to Judaism or freed female slaves. Beginning with a male with damaged genitalia and shifting to the Givonim, who have a rabbinic decree against them, or at least those who are capable of having children. Also, converts from Ammon and Moav are forever prohibited from marrying women wh...

Some opening audio issue, but it resolves quickly. Why do we need 3 verses to teach us about terumah? The Gemara explains why we need all 3. Also, the next discussion of wounded or crushed testicles, and the implications for not only marriage, but also eating terumah, and so in. With some extensive discussion about the possible nature of the injury, and what happens if it's congenital.

Resh Lakish's explication of the text, in providing the source for ma'aser sheni becoming impure and then available for use to anoint one's body. Which aligns with what is done for the living and the dead in the same way. Plus, the various interpretations of the biblical term that accounts for the above as well. Also, another derivation from a verse - about impure kohanim who must purify before th...

A detour to some agricultural mitzvot, albeit still as compared to terumah. Ma'aser sheni, bikkurim, etc. Plus, a person in the acute period of mourning - an onen - who is exempt from mitzvot: prohibited or permitted in ma'aser sheni and/or bikkurim? Plus, the value of a mnemonic.

On not circumcising in the Midbar, after leaving Egypt. Categories of those with physical issues that may prevent one's eligibility to eat terumah.

A classic dispute between R. Akiva and R. Eliezer, with regard to explication of the biblical text. Also, delaying a sick baby's brit milah for 7 days, which has implications for the Korban Pesach, which is its own conundrum. Plus, 7 days on the calendar vs. 7 periods of 24 hours. Also, the uncircumcised and the purification sprinkling of the parah adumah, and the implications for Pesach, as well...

Closing the 7th chapter... On a strange situation where the difficult status grandson permits the grandmother to eat terumah, but the kohen gadol grandson disqualifies her, bringing some emotion into the scenarios. Chapter 8: An uncircumcised kohen cannot eat terumah, nor those who are ritually impure. A kohen who has injuries to his genitalia, but after circumcision, can eat from terumah, but the...

Those kohanim whose progeny are to be disqualified from eating terumah will disqualify their mother - according to R. Yosei. The machloket here pertains to how many generations after conversion the newcomers from select nations must wait to be considered full Jews (nations that have less than ideal history with Bnei Yisrael, as it happens). Plus, a very long mishnah of cases of sexual liaisons by...

About that 9-year-and-one-day-old boy, in the case when he has questionable status - his child cannot marry into the kehunah (with some machloket on the issue). The question of converts from various nations is a prominent concern here. Also, linking of halakhot to various verses, with different methods for doing so, specifically the explication of the "vav" in the verse.

A new mishnah - a bat Yisrael whose husband is a kohen, and he dies while she is pregnant - a case that raises all kinds of questions about the status that the pregnancy itself changes or doesn't. For example, who can eat terumah may be dependent on the phenomenon of her pregnancy. Which leads into a discussion of the pregnancy, and its impact. Plus, a second mishnah - on the forbidden relationshi...

Chapter 7! And a new mishnah: Who can't eat terumah, even once married to a kohen? Plus, defining nichsei m'log and nichsei tzon barzel. And the real-life ramifications of these properties coming into a marriage. Plus, the story of nichsei tzon barzel that weren't returned to the wife (widow) after all - but why not?

More on p'ru ur'vu... A man is commanded in this mitzvah, and women are not, according to the Tanna Kama, but R. Yochanan ben Beroka says women are obligated too. Which means the Gemara needs to figure out why his position is not upheld by halakhah. Plus, reading the text of the Torah without vowels. And the the Gemara tries to line up R. Yochanan with the opinion of R. Yochanan ben Beroka, but R....

More aggadah - familiar interpretations of Genesis, for example...where Avraham takes Hagar to wife after 10 years of no children with Sarah. The man's obligation of p'ru ur'vu becomes an issue only when he has not had any children for lo those long 10 years. She can remarry too though; it might not be her issue. Also, the Gemara's cases of problematic circumstances that don't require "chazakah" t...

A daf of aggadah...5 statements of R. Eliezer, including about the creation of Woman, and Adam's extreme means of recognizing her as his mate. Also, a statement if theodicy, perhaps, that the tribulations that other nations have caused Bnei Yisrael as a negative model for them. Plus, some characterizations of the sages and their wives. Also, decrees that seem to be against Jewish celebration of Ba...

Be fruitful and multiply - 2 interesting aggadot involving R. Yochanan. Do children born prior to one's conversion to Judaism count for the mitzvah? Also, recall R. Yochanan's 10 sons who died.... Plus, R. Akiva on learning Torah in one's old age, as compared to doing so in your youth. And what happened to his own students.

4 mishnayot! Practical details about kohanim and whom they can marry. For example, a kohen who is betrothed a widow, and is later appointed to be the kohen gadol, he's fine, they can marry. Plus, a story to make the point: R. Yehoshua ben Gamla. Also, how the kohen gadol cannot do yibum, only chalitzah. Also, the case of the aiylonit and the kohen gadol and the mitzvah of p'ru ur'vu. Plus, the koh...