The Daily Mishnah with Benedict

The tractate of Shabbat opens with laws which seem completely obscure - carrying into and out from a private residence, reading by a light, teaching children. We'll see that it is setting out a framework to approach the broader topic. For the source sheet, look here: https://tinyurl.com/MishnaShabbat

Find out about gender-fluidity, human rights and gender-inderminacy in the Talmud, in the last chapter of Bikkurim. For the source sheet, look here: https://tinyurl.com/MishnaBikkurim .

Find out about gender-fluidity in the Talmud, in the last chapter of Bikkurim. For the source sheet, look here: https://tinyurl.com/MishnaBikkurim .

How are bikkurim like a sefer torah? How important is the Land of Israel? For the source sheet, look here: https://tinyurl.com/MishnaBikkurim .

Questions of social status are followed by questions of intellectual and financial status, as we move towards the conclusion of the Mishnah of Bikkurim. For the source sheet, look here: https://tinyurl.com/MishnaBikkurim .

Even King Agrippas walks with his own first-fruits on his shoulder. Find out about how the ceremony works! For the source sheet, look here: https://tinyurl.com/MishnaBikkurim .

Find out about how we brought first-fruits into the temple: the procession, the flutes, the reception in Jerusalem. For the source sheet, look here: https://tinyurl.com/MishnaBikkurim .

More on the "koy", perhaps a relative of the goat or deer or mountain goat families, which is neither a true wild animal nor a true domestic. Perhaps to remind us that we never truly own the lands that we cultivate - one of the big themes of the order of Seeds that we are close to finishing. For the source sheet, look here: https://tinyurl.com/MishnaBikkurim .

Moving from etrogs to bipeds to a weird animal called a "koy", perhaps a relative of the goat or deer or mountain goat families, which does not exist any more. For the source sheet, look here: https://tinyurl.com/MishnaBikkurim .

More analysis: the Mishnah reminds itself of the similarities and differences between first-fruits and other offerings, and then goes sideways into differences between etrog trees and other trees. For the source sheet, look here: https://tinyurl.com/MishnaBikkurim

Time-out for analysis: the Mishnah reminds itself of the similarities and differences between first-fruits, tithes, and terumah. For the source sheet, look here: https://tinyurl.com/MishnaBikkurim .

Can you bring bikkurim twice? Can you bring bikkurim from across the Jordan? For the source sheet, look here: https://tinyurl.com/MishnaBikkurim .

What if you no longer own the field where the first-fruits grew? What if the well has dried up? Can the subsequent owner bring the first-fruits For the source sheet, look here: https://tinyurl.com/MishnaBikkurim .

Does a convert bring first-fruits? Is a convert connected to the Land? What about a woman or a hermaphrodite?  For the source sheet, look here: https://tinyurl.com/MishnaBikkurim .

Who is eligible to bring the first-fruits? Turns out that you need to be rooted on the land and, perhaps not by coincidence, the first mishnah does talk about roots. For the source sheet, look here: https://tinyurl.com/MishnaBikkurim .

How do we deal with the first-fruits? Tune in here for an introduction to the tractate of Bikkurim For the source sheet, look here: https://tinyurl.com/MishnaBikkurim .

Summary of Chapter 3 of Hallah - taste, timing, life and death. For the source sheet, look here: https://tinyurl.com/MishnaHallah .

Summary of Chapter 2 - where does Hallah apply and what are the important quantities? For the source sheet, look here: https://tinyurl.com/MishnaHallah .

What about dog-food? Do we need to take hallah from it? And how is hallah similar to teruma? For the source sheet, look here: https://tinyurl.com/MishnaHallah .

How do mixtures of ownership or mixtures of oil and flour and water affect the mitzvah of hallah? For the source sheet, look here: https://tinyurl.com/MishnaHallah .

Today's Daily Mishnah explores the nature of the five species of grain and focuses on parallels between Pesach, maaser, and Hallah. For the source sheet, look here: https://tinyurl.com/MishnaHallah

The final section of Maaser Sheni presents an historical update from the times of the Hasmoneans and then moves seamlessly into the new tractate of Hallah. For the source sheet, look here: https://tinyurl.com/MaaserSheni and here: https://tinyurl.com/MishnaHallah For a set of slides which summarises the principles of tithes, go to the presentation here: https://tinyurl.com/MaaserSheniSlides , scro...

Turning halakha into poetry, the final sections of Maaser Sheni present a midrash from the Sifrei on the "confession of the tithes" in Deuteronomy 26:12-15. For the source sheet, look here: https://tinyurl.com/MaaserSheni For a set of slides which summarises the principles of tithes, go to the presentation here: https://tinyurl.com/MaaserSheniSlides, scrolling to the end.

Can we transfer ownership over commodities at a distance? Find out how the rabbis traded commodities while on a long sea voyage. For the source sheet, look here: https://tinyurl.com/MaaserSheni For a set of slides which summarises the principles of tithes, go to the presentation here: https://tinyurl.com/MaaserSheniSlides, scrolling to the end.

How does the "removal" of tithes in the fourth and seventh years of the cycle work? For the source sheet, look here: https://tinyurl.com/MaaserSheni For a set of slides which summarises the principles of tithes, go to the presentation here: https://tinyurl.com/MaaserSheniSlides, scrolling to the end.