Talking Talmud

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).

Another 2 mishnayot. First, mitzvot that need to be performed during the day... cannot be done prior to Netz HaChamah, the sunrise (after the earliest daybreak). Also, the mitzvot that need to be done during the day on specific days, and throughout the day.

The Megillah cannot be read out loud by heart and fulfill the reading of the megillah, but why not? What are we accomplishing by making sure we read the written words? And what about the Written Torah? Can it be read or written without a text in front of the reader or writer? What are the parameters for engaging with the Bible by heart?

2 mishnayot - when do mitzvot need to take place, from Megillah to a whole host of other mitzvot? What about a walled-city resident who goes to an unwalled town, or the reverse? Which leads into the nature of what we do that season, remembering Amalek and so on. Also, who can read the Megillah, and who cannot. And why "deaf" means something different from the expected "deaf-mute" who so often appe...

The Megillah cannot be read out loud by heart and fulfill the reading of the megillah, but why not? What are we accomplishing by making sure we read the written words? And what about the Written Torah? Can it be read or written without a text in front of the reader or writer? What are the parameters for engaging with the Bible by heart?

Chapter 2! Reading Megilat Esther out of order and other ways to not fulfill your obligation of hearing the megillah on Purim. And some ways to make sure you have fulfilled it. Including the materials used for a megillah via which one fulfills one's obligation (or not). Also, the blessings of the Amidah - out of order? Which brings us to a conversation about how the Amidah was established. [Who's...

More on the personalities of the Megillah. Starting with Haman and Mordechai and an extensive expansion on how Haman must do the king's will and honor Mordechai. Also, connecting the story of Yosef and Binyamin to that of Esther, beginning with the clothing.

On the last of the prophets, and the way the Gemara affiliates Mordechai with Malakhi. Which leads to an investigation of the big names of the day and their chronologies, specifically during this era of Shivat Zion. Again, with the conservation of biblical personalities. Also, the 4 exceptionally beautiful (apparently) women. What really links these 4? Plus, when Esther braves an audience with Aha...

The list of the 7 prophetesses, and the sources that prove them to be such: Sarah, Miriam, Devorah, Avigayil, Chana, Huldah, Esther. With lots of little tidbits about what it means to be a prophet, and nuggets if information about the women. Including one amora's apparent ambivalence with at least a couple of these prophetesses.

On Mordechai... and his generation. On Esther... and why she is called both Esther and Hadassah. And what was her relationship with Mordechai? Also, the modesty of Rachel and her generosity with regard to her sister Leah, and the inheritance of that same trait. Plus, the justification of Yaakov's trickery before Lavan. And how that led to the modesty of Esther.