Talking Talmud

When yom tov falls out on Shabbat, what should the Amidah prayer entail? As discussed in an era when the tefilah wasn't yet set. Also, more on the eruv tavshilin - to what extent do we penalize someone who didn't set up an eruv tavshilin? Plus, what is one supposed to do if one didn't prepare an eruv tavshilin? Also, what about dunking vessels or yourself to purify on Shabbat? Beit Hillel and Beit...

All of people's wealth is allocated to them during the time between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, except for the sums that are put toward Shabbat and the holidays and talmud Torah, which are not to be deducted from that allocation. Also, a dispute between Hillel and Shammai - how they treated each day and related to the preparations for Shabbat. Plus, the role of Shabbat as a covenant, even a priv...

Sending gifts on yom tov - if the principle was that anything that can be used on yom tov can be sent, then why does the Gemara say - anything that can be used on a regular day, not just yom tov, can be sent on yom tov?! Which introduces several cases of one who wears tefilin in the say of Erev Shabbat or erev yom tov, and when it gets dark, hides the fact that he's wearing tefilin. Of course, tef...

4 mishnayot on the daf, a series of disputes between Beit Hillel and Beit Shammai with regard to food preparation for yom tov. The first, salt, and other spices (to crush them) - and introducing a discussion of "shinui," doing apparent melakhah a little differently, in this case, the mortar and pestle - size, material, and so on. Plus, a difference in location (Bavel, in particular). Also, prepari...

Terumot and maaserot - the holiness that is in the food, and how to handle it. Including how the foods themselves are usually prepared for eating. Plus all kinds of food prep for yom tov. Also, fixing the amounts of these gifts - must the amounts be precise? Or approximate? Terumah, ma'aser, and terumat ma'aser are treated differently.

Again, more Beit Hillel vs. Beit Shammai. This time, what can be carried from the private domain to the public domain. Including a child, including a lulav. What is the focus of their dispute? Might it be about what is usually permitted and can be extended? Or is the dispute over a difference between Shabbat and yom tov? Also, giving gifts to the kohen on yom tov - another Beit Hillel/Beit Shammai...

[For reasons unclear, several audio issues returned in this episode. The content is still readily available. In the spirit of the season, please forgive us and the app.] Another dispute between Beit Hillel and Beit Shammai on what can and cannot be done on yom tov. Including mortar and pestle, including tanning. Also, an investigation into the amoraic handling of the tannaitic dispute, and how Bei...

Continuing from the attempted line up of the positions of Beit Hillel and Beit Shammai by R. Yochanan, including his willingness to reverse their positions (the Gemara pushes back). Plus, a new mishnah! With a new machloket between Beit Shammai and Beit Hillel, which may revolve around the questions of bereira, again (retroactive designation). And another mishnah too: you go to choose birds from t...

Carrying a ladder on yom tov - muktzah? Not muktzah? To what degree? An apparently straightforward machloket. The Gemara makes it clear that there are other issues as well - including others' perceptions (mar'it ayin), which leads to discussion of other cases of mar'it ayin. Also, the story of R. Hiya's sons, and their misinterpretation of the Mishnah.

This episode is for Wednesday's daf. || Cases of unclear, obscure, indeterminable statuses: ashes from the hearth, in various permutations. Plus, other cares that are permitted because one angle is permitted even though another angle of the same activity is prohibited. Also: the Koi/Koy, an animal that may be a chaya (wild animal) and may be a behamah (domesticated animal) but really neither, as i...

This is Tuesday's episode. || How do we know that a chicken has laid an egg? The Gemara connects laying/bearing with the time of conception, at least, in principle. The practical implications here are a little hard to bring to bear. Note also the implications of a male rooster being present. And how many barriers might deter the rooster. Plus, the case of one who slaughters a sacrifice on Shabbat...

On Rosh Hashanah - how timely! - that was consecutive with Shabbat, where they forgot to make an eruv tavshilin (and then couldn't prepare for Shabbat). Can't one make the eruv tavshilin on the first day of Rosh Hashanah? Because maybe it's not yom tov at all! (because of the doubt of the day). But that possibility only seems relevant for the other yom tov sheni issues - in the Diaspora, but not R...

Who's Who: Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai. Now, from the time of the decrees of R. Yochanan ben Zakkai, an egg that wasn't permitted on one day of Rosh Hashanah would indeed be permitted on the second day of Rosh Hashanah. Which leads to a discussion of the calendar differences between witnesses and the math of the calendar. Plus, a recognition of the difference between the Land of Israel, as compared...

When yom tov falls out on Friday or Sunday, and an egg is laid on the first day of the two consecutive holy days, can you eat it on the following day? Of course, the answer is a machloket, and the essence of he dispute seems to be whether the holinesses of the two days make one long holiness, or whether they are two distinct holinesses. Which also boils down to a discussion of preparation for Shab...

[Edited to add: My apologies - I thought this posted hours ago, and was surprised to discover it pending still. -AG] What makes the egg that is laid on yom tov problematic? Well, perhaps it compares to other decrees - for example, to not pick fruit in violation of the prohibited labors on Shabbat/yom tov. But the cases are not entirely parallel to begin with - and the decree wasn't in place on bot...

An introduction to this tractate, which is called, "Egg," but is really, fundamentally, about yom tov, the holidays. It therefore has overlap with the tractates of Shabbat, Eruvin, and more. Also: The opening mishnah - when an egg is laid on yom tov... Can you eat it? If so, when can you eat it? If not, what's the rationale for the prohibition? (Including the parallel to Shabbat) Plus, the authors...

A very full closing daf. Beginning with a focus on the day-to-day in the Beit HaMikdash, and distribution of the lechem ha-panim. Also, the blessings on the mitzvah of sukkah - including Shehechyanu. What's the order of these blessings? Which brings us to a dispute between Beit Hillel and Beit Shammai, including on the topic of tadir/eino tadir (how common is the practice?). Also, the case of yom...

How what happened in the Temple made it into our liturgy. Specifically, how the musaf sacrifice is represented in the musaf prayer service. Which is necessarily based on the complications of an ambiguous calendar, when t days if each Jewish month can shift, depending on the witnesses who come to the Temple to testify to the new moon. Including our practice today if reading both possible day's pass...

More on the daily shofar blasts in the Temple: the case of Rosh Hashanah that falls out on Shabbat. This is not the case the mishnah uses, but why not? Shouldn't the mishnah be including all the possible cases? This daf suggests otherwise. Also, where Yom Kippur falls out in Erev Shabbat (yes, in the time of the Gemara, it could happen) - how did those shofar blasts work out? Plus, a discussion ov...

On the simchat beit hashoevah - and the quite acrobatic dancing and celebration. To the extent of injury... in juggling dangerous items. Could that injury have been a punishment? Also, daily shofar blasts in the Beit HaMikdash - from 21 to 48, depending on the day.

On the evil inclination... There are 7 names for the evil inclination, and the Gemara goes through each if the seven, where and who called it what. Plus, a "sipur aggadah" about Abaye and the yetzer hara. Alsi, more on the yetzer hara, that evil inclination: according to this Gemara, God regrets creating 4 things. Given how often the perfection of creation is discussed, the notion that creation is...

The musicians in the Temple were the slaves of the Levites, or perhaps from distinguished families, or perhaps Levites themselves. Is the focus of the singing in the Beit HaMikdash these instruments, or actual singing? This Gemara turns our understanding of the music in the Temple on its head. Also, the famous comparisons that praise the joy of the simchat beit hashoevah, the beauty of Jerusalem,...

The 5th and final chapter of the tractate The music and joy of the simchat beit hashoevah - beginning with the flute, and carrying on for 5 or 6 days of Sukkot. The mishnah explains why 5 or 6 days in particular. The Gemara digs into the wording of the mishnah, and what the simchat beit hashoevah should be called. Which leads to a distinction between when the flute-playing for the simchat beit has...

A mystical text on the drain pipes in the Temple that were created during the six days of Creation. A challenging Gemara that, at base, reflects the position that everything is connected back to Creation. Also, a discourse on righteousness, and the value of doing charity and justice... and acting with kindness. The Gemara compares acts of justice and acts of kindness, to laud kindness as having 3...

A 3-mishnah daf. On Hallel and the mitzvah to rejoice - both last for all 8 days. Thee Gemara is careful on its understanding of the biblical text. What is the difference between the first night of Sukkot and the eighth, the night of Shemini Atzeret? Perhaps the rejoicing is that much greater after some time in the moment of simcha. Plus, the mitzvah of dwelling in the sukkah for all of the seven...