The Daily Mishnah with Benedict

Can we destroy terumah? And for what purposes? The tractate closes with a return from the world of the temple to the world of the synagogue, the hospital, the street and the study hall. It turns out that terumah can be burnt for the public good, as it can in a house or mourning or a house of celebration. For the source sheet, look here: https://tinyurl.com/SourcesTerumot For a set of slides which...

The tractate of Terumot closes off with more closing-off and boundary issues: what to do with leftovers, how to clean up liquid in barrel, how to deal with food which is neither human nor animal when feeding a cow which does not exactly belong to a Cohen but is not quite Yisrael either. For the source sheet, look here: https://tinyurl.com/SourcesTerumot For a set of slides which summarises the Mis...

The tractate of Terumot closes off with closing-off issues: what to do with leftovers, how to clean up grain in a silo. For the source sheet, look here: https://tinyurl.com/SourcesTerumot For a set of slides which summarises the Mishnah, go to the presentation here: https://tinyurl.com/SlidesTerumot , scrolling to the end.

Moving seamlessly from pressed figs in fish to boiling wine, the Mishnah closes with an enumeration of the special qualities of the grape and the olive. For the source sheet, look here: https://tinyurl.com/SourcesTerumot For a set of slides which summarises the Mishnah, go to the presentation here: https://tinyurl.com/SlidesTerumot , scrolling to the end.

Cooking and pickling are the same actions! And the Mishnah is still interested in what the result tastes like - taste is everything - and which kinds of food have enough taste or enough moisture to transmit their essence to other foods or to absorb from them. For the source sheet, look here: https://tinyurl.com/SourcesTerumot For a set of slides which summarises the Mishnah, go to the presentation...

What about pickling different kinds of food together? The Mishnah is still interested in what the result tastes like - taste is everything - and in which kinds of food have enough taste or enough moisture to transmit their essence to the other pickles in the bucket. For the source sheet, look here: https://tinyurl.com/SourcesTerumot For a set of slides which summarises the Mishnah, go to the prese...

What if we pickle terumah with ordinary food or drop terumah flavouring into wine? The Mishnah is mainly interested in what the result tastes like - taste is everything. For the source sheet, look here: https://tinyurl.com/SourcesTerumot For a set of slides which summarises the Mishnah, go to the presentation here: https://tinyurl.com/SlidesTerumot , scrolling to the end.

What if we cook terumah with ordinary food? It turns out that the rabbis, like some aesthetes today, are mainly interested in what the result tastes like. For the source sheet, look here: https://tinyurl.com/SourcesTerumot For a set of slides which summarises the Mishnah, go to the presentation here: https://tinyurl.com/SlidesTerumot , scrolling to the end.

Not all plants are alike and planting out terumah is not always a problem. Chapter 9 closes by identifying which plants have which consequences. For the source sheet, look here: https://tinyurl.com/SourcesTerumot For a set of slides which summarises the Mishnah, go to the presentation here: https://tinyurl.com/SlidesTerumot , scrolling to the end.

What happens if we plant out terumah? Are the resulting crops terumah too? And what if the harvest is planted out in turn? Does the cycle ever stop? For the source sheet, look here: https://tinyurl.com/SourcesTerumot For a set of slides which summarises the Mishnah, go to the presentation here: https://tinyurl.com/SlidesTerumot , scrolling to the end.

When confronted with two less-than-ideal choices, in a life-changing situation, what should we do? Chapter 8 of Terumot suddenly shifts focus from uncertainty about the status of a cask of wine to uncertainty about an attack by Gentile marauders. For the source sheet, look here: https://tinyurl.com/SourcesTerumot For a set of slides which summarises the Mishnah, go to the presentation here: https:...

The eighth chapter of Terumot flip-flops between existential uncertainty and questions of life and death. When confronted with two less-than-ideal choices, what do we do? For the source sheet, look here: https://tinyurl.com/SourcesTerumot For a set of slides which summarises the Mishnah, go to the presentation here: https://tinyurl.com/SlidesTerumot .

What if our terumah has been sipped by a snake? The eighth chapter of Terumot closes with questions of life and death and gives us, along the way, a fascinating insight into Mishnaic medicine and zoology. For the source sheet, look here: https://tinyurl.com/SourcesTerumot For a set of slides which summarises the Mishnah, go to the presentation here: https://tinyurl.com/SlidesTerumot .

Today's Daily Mishnah opens the eighth chapter of Terumot with more questions of existential uncertainty: what if the cohen is not a cohen, or a slave is no longer a slave? For the source sheet, look here: https://tinyurl.com/SourcesTerumot For a set of slides which summarises the Mishnah, go to the presentation here: https://tinyurl.com/SlidesTerumot .

Today's Daily Mishnah closes the seventh chapter of Terumot with questions of existential uncertainty: if we have two piles of food, one of terumah and one of ordinary food, and we can't remember which is which, what do we do if there an accident? For the source sheet, look here: https://tinyurl.com/SourcesTerumot For a set of slides which summarises the Mishnah, go to the presentation here: https...

Today's Daily Mishnah opens the seventh chapter of Terumot with a mirror image of the first three mishnayot of Chapter 6. But, whereas Chapter 6 dealt with eating terumah by accident, Chapter 7 will look at eating it on purpose. For the source sheet, look here: https://tinyurl.com/SourcesTerumot For a set of slides which summarises the Mishnah, go to the presentation here: https://tinyurl.com/Slid...

Today's Daily Mishnah continues the sixth chapter of Terumot with accidents and more: what happens if we eat terumah by mistake or steal it or both? For the source sheet, look here: https://tinyurl.com/SourcesTerumot For a slide which summarises the Mishnah, go to the end of the presentation here: https://tinyurl.com/SlidesTerumot .

Today's Daily Mishnah opens the sixth chapter of Terumot with more accidents: what happens if we eat terumah by mistake? For the source sheet, look here: https://tinyurl.com/SourcesTerumot For a slide which summarises the Mishnah, go to the end of the presentation here: https://tinyurl.com/SlidesTerumot .

Today's Daily Mishnah provides more brain-teasers on mixtures and quantities but closes out Chapter 5 of Terumot on the question of intent - noting that what we intend to do is just as important, in the eyes of the halachah, as what we actually achieve. In fact, our knowledge and intention are crucial to the tractate of Terumot as a whole and the question of intent appears repeatedly. For the sour...

Today's Daily Mishnah continues with a set of brain-teasers on mixtures and quantities - when terumah falls into ordinary food, what do we do? For the source sheet, look here: https://tinyurl.com/SourcesTerumot For a slide which summarises the Mishnah, go to the end of the presentation here: https://tinyurl.com/SlidesTerumot .

Today's Daily Mishnah opens the fifth chapter of Terumot and focuses on mixtures - when terumah falls into ordinary food, what do we do? For the source sheet, look here: https://tinyurl.com/SourcesTerumot For a slide which summarises the Mishnah, go to the end of the presentation here: https://tinyurl.com/SlidesTerumot .

Today's Daily Mishnah closes the fourth chapter of Terumot and builds on what we've learned about numbers and mixtures - when can terumah fall into ordinary food without tainting it and giving all of it the status of terumah? As ever, opinions differ. For the source sheet, look here: https://tinyurl.com/SourcesTerumot

Today's Daily Mishnah builds on what we've learned about numbers and moves into mixtures - how much terumah can fall into ordinary food without giving all the food the status of terumah? As ever, opinions differ. For the source sheet, look here: https://tinyurl.com/SourcesTerumot  

Today's Daily Mishnah continues to focus on numbers and looks at the question of how much terumah one is allowed to give - what is the maximum? As usual, there are conflicting views.  For the source sheet, look here: https://tinyurl.com/SourcesTerumot

Today's Daily Mishnah begins Chapter 4 of Terumot and begins to look at numbers: how much teruma do we need to take what happens if we take it in stages? For the source sheet, look here: https://tinyurl.com/SourcesTerumot