Talking Talmud

Chametz that is also terumah (or terumah that is also chametz) - what happens when it is misused? Which is to say, violating a prohibition and also incurring damages. Which will be a different value if the terumah is pure or impure. Also: One who is not a kohen who eats a k'zayit's amount of terumah has to pay back the amount and then a fifth of the total value on top of that. Though Abba Shaul di...

The Gemara's extensive probing of any which place that chametz could be in play. Beginning with chametz being used as collateral in a loan. And ending (this daf) with chametz being buried under a landslide. How far we go to make sure we don't use chametz on Pesach! Also: Destroying chametz and nullifying the rest of it, in case there is any more. Plus: Who owns the collateral?! And what is the rol...

More on "ta'am," conveying flavor. Now in the context of a ceramic pot, and chametz after Pesach - use it with food of a different type! Ah, but what if you used it for the same type of food? Rav and Shmuel dispute the matter. Plus: A strategy to prevent price gauging - relying on R. Shimon's opinion that one can benefit from chametz after Pesach. Also: An oven smeared with grease - now, what if y...

More comparisons between chametz and hekdesh - including the phenomenon of the prohibition of food, and including chametz that is hekdesh on Pesach. Plus: Another example of two prohibitions coming together - in the case of having to pay damage from an action that itself violated Shabbat or Yom Kippur. Also - mixtures of prohibited food together with permitted food. Verging into the concepts that...

Rejecting R. Yehudah's conclusion based on his own rationale, in the sharpest of terms. Also: Crumbling chametz and throwing it into the wind or the sea - does the crumbling apply to that which would thrown into the sea, or only into the wind, and throwing into the sea could be whole? A real grammatical conundrum. The parallel is grinding idols and scattering to the wind... or the sea, which just...

Intermingling of that wish is permitted with that which is forbidden - in complex ways. For example, baking bread with wood from an orlah tree. Or hekdesh. Which leads to issues of both me'ilah and the item losing its hekdesh status. But is burning different? The implications for the ashes that remain are telling. The prohibitions with regard to hekdesh go beyond the usual food prohibition. Also -...

Getting benefit from something, unintentionally. Abaye's example is a story of R. Yochanan ben Zakkai enjoying shade from the wall of the Beit HaMikdash, as he taught. Other examples from cleaning the Beit HaMikdash - how they actually did their work. Also: sights and sounds and smells - and the benefits or enjoyment that they bring - are more abstract, and less tangible... with smell being more d...

Milk and meat, as prohibited foods - where does the prohibition against benefit for in, or does it? The comparison to orlah, and why they are different, may be most significant. Also - "for medicinal purposes" will excuse and allow a lot of prohibited-for-benefit items. But not the Asherah. Which brings us to the Big 3 - mitzvot for which one should martyr oneself rather than transgress. Plus: Wha...

Our learning today is in honor of Deborah Spector on her birthday dedicated by her chevruta, Cindy Barnard. || More What's What on "kal va-chomer." Also - when it comes to removing chametz, if you don't do it, you've violated two negative commandments. A variety of biblical verses come together to prohibit the eating of various creatures, as a sample of many verses coming together to round out the...

More on the prohibitions against eating that counter R. Abahu's claim that a prohibition against benefit comes with the eating prohibition. Hizkiyah chimes in as well. And then the Gemara goes in to limit R. Abahu's claim extensively.

On R. Abahu's position that every prohibition against eating that is in the Torah carries with it a prohibition against getting benefit from that same food. How does this pan with out with the Gid HaNasheh (the sciatic nerve)? Moreover, does the gid ha-neshesh contribute to the flavor of the food? Also, what about the prohibition against non-Jews eating from the limb of a live animal. Note the int...

Anytime that you are allowed to eat chametz, you're also allowed to get benefit from it in a variety of ways (or all ways). What happens in that in-between time of the 5th hour, as per the debate when you must stop eating chametz (4th or 5th hour)? Also, what is this formulation of "permitted to eat" and "to feed"? Also, selling chametz to a non-Jew during that same time that you can still eat cha...

The case of the needle in the cow. Which brings us to imposing limitations on the case, and establishing the principles of what is susceptible to tumah (hibat ha-kodesh - the belovedness of the consecrated). Also - a discussion on the difference of oil vs wine, with regard to either of them as terumah, on the first day of Chanukah, no less. How either of these can be used in ways that go beyond th...

What levels of tumah for which kinds of foods (consecrated, terumah, chullin)? And what happens to kadosh (consecrated) items that come in content with impurity? The combination and contamination within one vessel. Plus the non-food impurity rendered by a t'vol yom. Also - the scenario of a needle in a cow, which is metal... What is pure, what is impure? Doesn't it matter where the needle is found...

More on the 7 Machshirim - mnemonics. Now, the biblical verses on this Impurity, which support the discussion of the daf. And to what extent are the details of the impurity of liquid learned from the verses and to what extent inferred via kal va-chomer logic. How does R. Akiva read the verse? Where is the impurity being transferred to? Also, R. Yossi's disagreement with R. Akiva. What's What: Much...

What's What: The 7 (!) Liquids of Machshirim. More on impurity.... Continuing the discussion of whether the liquids in the slaughter house in the Beit HaMikdash can become impure - including wine and oil, not just the blood and water. Also, trying to line up the sages and their opinions - Levi, Rav, and more. Plus: R. Pappa on the question of tumah d'Orayta, and his position that the purity here i...

Impurity, now in the context of liquid. All of which, in the slaughtering part of the Beit HaMikdash, were pure. But is that because they couldn't be impure or for other reasons? Also, liquid as a perquisite to food items that can become impure becoming impure. Plus - supporting Rav's interpretation (trying to) that blood can be impure from a d'Orayta level.

One of the less practical elements of the Talmud, in lining up opinions that have already been authorized... Specifically R. Meir, in this case. Also, a recommendation for Point by Point Daf (dafyomi.co.il) - for outlines. What's What: Pigul. Notar. Also, moldy food and its relation to the tumah status (which can't be applied to something that is so far gone it's not food). The role of the dog in...

The sugya of R. Hanina S'gan ha-Kohanim. Basic principles of tumah and taharah - purity/impurity. Who's Who: Hanina S'gan ha-Kohanim. And, almost a What's What: The levels or degrees of tumah. Also - the mishnah itself, regarding the kohanim and impurity and Erev Pesach, including a t'vul yom (one awaiting the time for dunking). Plus the rabbinic decrees on mixing levels of tumah - including food...

Trying to make sense of the halakhah, and how it lines up with the disputants' positions. Which brings us to a discussion of terumah (and kodshim) and how to dispose of it on Erev Shabbat, when the first day of Pesach is Saturday night, and you can't burn on the 14th, because it's Shabbat. It's an open question for a time, which in turn raises the concern that Eliyahu might show up on Shabbat to a...

People do not confuse night and day, even when they don't know what time it is. Similarly, when the time of day is close to dawn or dusk, you know... The investigation into this question delves into witness checking - to confirm testimony, to validate their reliability - with time as one of the means of checking accuracy. How much leeway do we need to establish a specific hour (in the absence of c...

The previous daf focuses on the time for Bedikat Chametz. On this daf, we delve into some of the rationale underlying the timing, with an eye to making sure that the rabbis' views are consistent across topics. Which, itself, is an interesting premise. Also - the discussion of what hour in the day (sha'ot zemaniot) to finish eating and then burning chametz. With an unidentified (thus far) hour betw...

The question of a majority and certainty, and how it has impact on the assumptions that determine whether and how one needs to check for chametz. But what if you see a mouse bring chametz into one of two houses? What's the certainty? And what do you have to do? The Gemara notes that mice don't leave crumbs, as compared to a child who might have done the same thing - and leaving crumbs. Plus other...

NOTE: This daf deals with infant loss in a graphic way. From the mishnah, if, after you've done Bedikat Chametz, there's a weasel that brings the food from place to place, despite your search, you don't need to worry about that final transfer. This, once you've checked, you've checked, or the search would literally be never-ending. The Gemara's underlying discussion about things that are certain a...

Pesachim 8 - How and where to check for chametz during the official check. Does a wine cellar need to be searched? Oil storage? Liquor (or beer)? Fish? Salt? Candles? Wood? Dates? Shouldn't there be just a rule of thumb for storehouses! Also: Those on their way to do mitzvot are not harmed. But sometimes they do! Commonplace danger seems to be left to the responsible activity of the mitzvah-doer....