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Welcome to the Daily Daf Differently. In this episode, Rabbi Carl Perkins looks at Masechet Ketubot, Daf 17. How honest should we be when asked to describe a bride at her wedding? How indeed should we sing the praises of the bride? And what do we have to play at a wedding, anyway, if we’re […]

Welcome to the Daily Daf Differently. In this episode, Rabbi Carl Perkins looks at Masechet Ketubot, Daf 16. Is a marriage an expression of love between two people, or is it a business transaction? There’s nothing like the dissolution of a marriage to make it seem more like the latter. On this page, we begin […]

Welcome to the Daily Daf Differently. In this episode, Dr. Joshua Kulp looks at Masechet Ketubot, Daf 15. If we are not sure what happened in a given case, should we legally assume that what most likely happened is what actually happened? In other words, do we follow the majority? The rabbis do not provide […]

Welcome to the Daily Daf Differently. In this episode, Dr. Joshua Kulp looks at Masechet Ketubot, Daf 14. The second part of this chapter is largely about how does a legal system deal with cases of doubt, in which we cannot know which party is telling the truth. Here I discuss a few principles that […]

Welcome to the Daily Daf Differently. In this episode, Dr. Joshua Kulp looks at Masechet Ketubot, Daf 13. The mishnah says that the woman was seen “talking” with a certain man and yet it clearly describes suspicions that she had sex with him. I discuss the use of sexual euphemisms in Ketubot and even in […]

Welcome to the Daily Daf Differently. In this episode, Dr. Joshua Kulp looks at Masechet Ketubot, Daf 12. The mishnah seems to allude that in Judea husbands may have had sex with their betrothed wives before marriage. I compare this mishnah with other tannaitic sources and conclude that in Judea far from being lax about […]

Welcome to the Daily Daf Differently. In this episode, Dr. Joshua Kulp looks at Masechet Ketubot, Daf 11. This daf discusses the conversion of a minor. In Second Temple and in tannaitic times conversion was not a process that required a court. This was an innovation of the amoraim, and it may have first occurred […]

Welcome to the Daily Daf Differently. In this episode, Dr. Joshua Kulp looks at Masechet Ketubot, Daf 10. There are six stories on this daf about men who come in front of rabbis with a virginity claim against their wives. In each case the man seems to lose his claim. I discuss the function of […]

Welcome to the Daily Daf Differently. In this episode, Dr. Joshua Kulp looks at Masechet Ketubot, Daf 9. R. Elazar says that a man who claims to have found his virgin wife’s “opening, open” is believed and she is prohibited to him. I discuss the background of this law in the development of the laws […]

Rabbis Michael Knopf and Jesse Olitzky are lifelong friends, pop culture fanboys, and lovers of all things Jewish. Join them every other week for a conversation about what’s going on in pop culture from a Jewish perspective and about Judaism through the lens of pop culture. Rabbis Knopf and Olitzky just finished binging the fourth […]

Welcome to the Daily Daf Differently. In this episode, Dr. Joshua Kulp looks at Masechet Ketubot, Daf 8. On this daf the “blessing of the mourners” is discussed. These were blessings recited either in the town square on the return from the burial or during Birkat Hamazon. I will discuss what these blessings were and […]

Welcome to the Daily Daf Differently. In this episode, Dr. Joshua Kulp looks at Masechet Ketubot, Daf 7. Betrothal and then marriage: When were the two conflated into one ceremony? We will also discuss the formula of the “birkat erusin” the blessing recited upon betrothal. The opening and closing music for this podcast is Ufros […]

Welcome to the Daily Daf Differently. In this episode, Dr. Joshua Kulp looks at Masechet Ketubot, Daf 6. Sex with/for a female virgin on Shabbat: Permitted or not? The opening and closing music for this podcast is Ufros from The Epichorus album One Bead. To view the text of Ketubot, Daf 6 on Sefaria, please […]

Welcome to the Daily Daf Differently. In this episode, Dr. Joshua Kulp looks at Masechet Ketubot, Daf 5. Why is it is so important that the first sex occurs right before the court sits? Why the urgency for the husband to come to the court should he have a virginity claim? The opening and closing […]

Welcome to the Daily Daf Differently. In this episode, Dr. Joshua Kulp looks at Masechet Ketubot, Daf 4. This daf is about mourning that occurs during the week of marriage. Specifically we will address the topic–over whom does one mourn? The opening and closing music for this podcast is Ufros from The Epichorus album One […]

Welcome to the Daily Daf Differently. In this episode, Dr. Joshua Kulp looks at Masechet Ketubot, Daf 3. Among the topics we will cover today is the folklore concerning the so-called “Right of the First Night”–the right of the ruling governor to have sexual relations with a woman on the night of her marriage. The […]

Welcome to the Daily Daf Differently. In this episode, Dr. Joshua Kulp looks at Masechet Ketubot, Daf 2. Today we will introduce the topic of Virginity Claims and especially the difference between the biblical version and the rabbinic version. The opening and closing music for this podcast is Ufros from The Epichorus album One Bead. […]

Welcome to the Daily Daf Differently. In this episode, Rabbi Joshua Heller looks at Masechet Yevamot, Daf 122. We can trace, in the positions of Rabbi Akiva, the evolution and expansion of types of testimony which are accepted to show that a husband has died to allow the wife’s remarriage. Are non-Jews a bridge too […]

Welcome to the Daily Daf Differently. In this episode, Rabbi Joshua Heller looks at Masechet Yevamot, Daf 121. If someone falls into the water, under what you assume that they drowned? Even some of the most rigid rabbis bend with changing realities in coming up with the answer. Also, how is getting through Daf Yomi […]

Welcome to the Daily Daf Differently. In this episode, Rabbi Joshua Heller looks at Masechet Yevamot, Daf 120. I was suprised to find out that CSI- Crime Scene Investigation, is still on. Our sages wrestled with a lot of the same questions of how to identify a body, what physical evidence is considered sufficient, and […]

Welcome to the Daily Daf Differently. In this episode, Rabbi Joshua Heller looks at Masechet Yevamot, Daf 119. When do you use circumstantial evidence to decide that an unlikely possibility is actually worth worrying about? Why should the chances of a co-wife having a baby matter more than those of a mother-in-law? The opening and […]

Welcome to the Daily Daf Differently. In this episode, Rabbi Joshua Heller looks at Masechet Yevamot, Daf 118. It’s Schrodinger’s husband- one wife says he’s alive, the other says he’s dead. Why would someone lie about such a thing to harm another person, even though they are harming themselves at the same time? What do […]

Welcome to the Daily Daf Differently. In this episode, Rabbi Joshua Heller looks at Masechet Yevamot, Daf 117. How suspicious should we be of someone’s motivations based on the questions they ask, or the concerns that they express? Do you have to be Sherlock holmes to conclude that someone whose first concern is for the […]

Welcome to the Daily Daf Differently. In this episode, Rabbi Abby Sosland looks at Masechet Yevamot, Daf 116. What kind of argument would a husband and wife have that would make a woman’s testimony suspicious? The rabbis consider every possible scenario! The opening and closing music for this podcast is Ufros from The Epichorus album […]

Rabbis Michael Knopf and Jesse Olitzky are lifelong friends, pop culture fanboys, and lovers of all things Jewish. Join them every other week for a conversation about what’s going on in pop culture from a Jewish perspective and about Judaism through the lens of pop culture. Obi-Wan Kenobi is one of the most important characters […]