Talking Talmud

Chapter 3. Who can shave and take a haircut on Chol HaMoed? Who can do laundry? And what items can be laundered? Plus, oddly, a newborn who can have a haircut on Chol HaMoed. Also, the positive commandment of celebrating the holiday as a community, and how it can override an individual's obligation in mourning, for example. Which begins to open up the conversation about mourning in the context of...

A Canaanite slave and the value for such a person to be a member of a Jewish household. Plus, 3 mishnayot. So, no large purchasing land or large animals, etc., unless it's for the needs of the holiday, for yourself, or to provide the most basic of income to the seller. And other activities that are prohibited, but context will determine whether there's room to permit them. Also, emmer wheat.

The atmosphere of Chol HaMoed, and what can be done by whom... Sometimes, even that which is technically permissable isn't advisable, especially depending on who you are. Also, one who is in the process of making wine, when interrupted... either one should continue over Chol HaMoed, or one should pause the process, both approaches being concerned about "davar ha-aved." Plus, one can harvest to pro...

Constructing a layman's railing, or plaster the oven, and other such labors at the amateur level, even if a professional might also do them, where the professional work is not acceptable on Chol HaMoed, but the homegrown version is permitted. Plus, the noisy construction that took place in Jerusalem until Yochanan the High Priest curtailed it. Note also the connection to "davar ha-aved" - to preve...

Can one build or refurbish a millstone on Chol Hamoed? How does intention play a role on Chol Hamoed?

The daf discusses how Bnei Yisroel were allowed do eat and celebrate during the dedication of the Beit HaMikdash. Why does a Bat Kol come to reassure the people that they were correct to eat on Yom Kippur. What does this daf tell us about sin, repentance, and the purpose of the Beit HaMikdash

3 mishnayot: Burial over Chol HaMoed, with a real difference of approach as to what it means to bury over the holiday. Also, digging a crypt or building a grave over Chol HaMoed in advance of a death is not allowed, but adjusting one that already has been prepared is acceptable. Plus, a laundry pond. Also, the issues pertaining to getting married over Chol HaMoed - a series of explanations why it'...

We finally leave agricultural law and now discuss tzaraat. Can a Kohen examine tzaraat on Chol Hamoed and why is this an issue when examining a mezorah is not a melachah

In an agricultural society, the farm makes sense as the focus of Chol HaMoed activity... Including uprooting kilayim - but did they really do that? Isn't that already done in Adar? Of course, the Gemara resolves it, but raises the question why the kilayim were specifically relevant to Chol HaMoed... On the side of cheap labor. But then how much do you have to uproot to rid yourself of kilayim? Plu...

More on cisterns... And their role in serving the public need for water as compared to an individual's need. So can a cistern really be dug on Chol HaMoed or not? Which leaves us with the "Anatomy of the Psak" on this. Also, the marking of graves, and the need to be careful with regard to tumah and taharah. Different parts of the body were specifically marked, for this practical halakhic considera...

The Beit Din of Rabban Gamliel, and the parameters of shemitah, and how they are derived. What can be done before Rosh Hashanah, including when it comes to saplings, and how might that differ from mature trees? What does it mean that Rabban Gamliel's court nullified these prohibitions? What mechanism of halakhic reasoning even allows for that?! Clearly, not everyone agrees. R. Yishmael and R. Akiv...

Another detail of introduction on Rashi's commentary on Moed Katan. Plus, shemitah, and how does that line up with avot and toladot, as compared to Shabbat. Also, how to determine which details of shemitah are to be prohibited and which are not, based on the principle of k'lal u-p'rat u-k'lal. Also, plowing before the Rosh Hashanah of shemitah.

An introduction to the new tractate, and its focus on Chol HaMoed. Also, the first mishnah, with a discussion of irrigating a field over Chol HaMoed, and also during a shemitah year, and what is permissible and what is not. Specifically, via natural springs, and not via collected rain water or a deep well. The Gemara focuses on the distinctions drawn in the mishnah, with the implication of how lab...

The final daf of Megillah! Several details about Torah reading and the scroll itself, in the name of Rav Shefatya. Also, the outrage of touching a Torah directly. Plus, rounding out the tractate. [Unfortunately, an update on Anchor, the app we use to record, seems to be doing the opposite of improving the audio. Please God, we will figure out what has changed as we go to record Moed Katan]

All the different Torah readings of all the holidays of the year. Including a mention of the second day of yom tov in the Diaspora. Plus, more on the ma'amadot and the Torah readings thereof. Also, the Torah reading of fast days, which includes a reading of the curses (against those who sin against God), and the way to read those passages.

Which shabbatot actually line up to have these 4 parshiyot read? Charting out the passages and the dates may be helpful. Also, when do we interrupt the regular order of the weekly parsha for the sake of the special parshiyot? And how far does that actually go? Is this a matter of the Torah reading or the Haftarah? Making the case in both directions. Plus, another mishnah on the special Torah readi...

On the Shechinah and Its travels with Bnei Yisrael. And also the path back, the rebuilding after the destruction that was wrought - which accounts for the Shechinah's ongoing presence, perhaps. Plus, the moving of mountains at the time of the giving of the Torah. Also, the mishnah of the 4 parshiyot - the 4 special shabbatot around Adar, with special Maftir readings.

Dedicated to the health and well-being of Yehudis bas Hinda, who, at 102, joins the rabbis of the daf with exceptional longevity (thank God). But what was the secret of each of these various rabbis' living to longevity? Each has a different reason (or several). Also, a new mishnah - including not making a shul into a shortcut. And how the sanctity of a synagogue remains even after the space is not...

Selling Torah scrolls. What can you do with the funds since you can't purchase other scrolls (not Neviim or Ketuvim)? And what about the cloths with which we (they) wrap(ped) the scrolls? And on through the various cases. Plus, selling a Torah scroll to marry off a daughter, and NOT selling a daughter off for food. Also, 2 more mishnayot, on what can be sold and not - holy objects that are owned b...

Chapter 4! Selling one property or item requires using those funds to purchase something that has a greater level of sanctity. From a town square to a synagogue to an aron kodesh and onward. Also, a discussion of the sanctity of Jerusalem. And more on this element of kedushat hamakom - sanctity of place. Plus, the story of Rami bar Abba and his desire to use the parts of an old synagogue for the n...

YEAR 3! The potential for heresy... from blessing God for everything, including the bad to see ding away the mother bird. And the decrees to protect shul, basically. Also, the texts that are read and not translated, or surprisingly read AND translated, or neither. What texts are considered inappropriate for a public reading?

The translator! And the experience of Torah reading in shul, back in the day. Noting that skipping text in a Torah reading was iffy... Plus, how the person who will lead the prayer connects to the person reading Haftarah. And what is the etiquette for reading the Torah, for leading prayer, for duchening (if a kohen). And what about a blind man? Also, the prohibition against a kohen with blemishes,...

Women and aliyot. Not what you think it's going to be... until then it is. Naming Kavod Tzibur. Plus, the Maftir aliyah. Naming Kavod Torah. Also, a new mishnah on those elements of liturgy that we don't do without a minyan. Plus, how we learn that a minyan is made of 10 men, and the controversy in that learning.

Dividing the Torah's text into aliyot, including very technical parameters of 3 verses in a particular section of the text, as a minimum - and what happens when those parameters cannot be met. Specifically, the Torah reading for Rosh Chodesh. Also, the story of Rav and the question of his prostrating (or not) on a stone floor in prayer, and the fact of his prominence in the community.

Chapter 3! Details pertaining to reading the Megillah... And reading the Torah. Including the original system of aliyot to the Torah. Also, how those aliyot are established within the Torah's text itself. Plus, the 10 batlanim (again).