Talking Talmud
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Gittin 70: Don't Eat Standing Up
July 25, 2023 05:14 - 14 minutes - 13.7 MBTalmudic ronouncements about what diminishes a person's strength - with verses from Psalms as prooftexts. Plus, what not to do while standing. Plus, an assortment of things that will bring a person to death, if done in a particular order. Also, the case of the person who has some kind of temporary insanity and the implications for a get that is commissioned by him.
Gittin 69: More Than Old Wives' Tales
July 24, 2023 21:39 - 12 minutes - 11.6 MBTalmudic medical remedies, which may or may not work (we don't know). Certainly, there was some scientific method, while others seem much farther flung. For example, writing Levi backwards, as compared to curing bleeding from the mouth, depending on whether it sticks to a straw, and therefore is understood to have an ailment of the lung or alternatively of the liver. Note also that the gemara supports the remedy with a claim from a mishnah. Also, remedies for the heart. And others that may sm...
Gittin 68: King Solomon and the Demon
July 23, 2023 11:48 - 25 minutes - 23.7 MBA story with R. Sheshet - in his visit to the exilarch, where he has concerns about the uprightness of the servants, who were not careful with kashrut (in particular, eating a limb from a live animal). With sends them into a fairly graphic show-and-tell, whereby R. Sheshet makes his point, the exilarch accepts it, and the servants try to harm him in return. But he triumphs each time. Also, a deep investigation of the stories about King Solomon and his encounters with demons, 3 stories of whic...
Gittin 67: The Ways of the Sages
July 22, 2023 21:31 - 9 minutes - 9.25 MBHow does R. Yehudah HaNasi side with R. Yosi against R. Meir and Hanina Ish Ono? Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi defends himself, and that leads into a characterization of each of the Tannaim. Plus, a new focus on R. Shimon, and his connection to R. Akiva. Also, in the end, a verbal direction for a shaliach to write a get does work, but should not be done (with explanation why not). Plus, the first mishnah of the new chapter - what happens if the man designating the writing of a get is not in his right ...
Gittin 66: Demons and Shadows
July 21, 2023 15:37 - 19 minutes - 18.3 MBA series of mishnayot. 1. At first, when someone was to be taken out to be executed, they'd write a get on his behalf, even if he was abbreviated in his instructions. And that was extended to others. Plus, a story about Geneiva - another appearance in Gittin! Also, pre-death gifts in the context of gittin. 2. Concern about shedim, demons, who might trick one into giving a get. 3. A healthy person who designates a scribe to write a get, but doesn't say anything about delivering it - is that mo...
Gittin 65: Stipulations That Work and Some That Don't
July 20, 2023 10:44 - 20 minutes - 18.9 MBTwo mishnayot! But first, a quick note on the tearing of the get document. Plus, how minors can acquire property... with 3 stages of development. Also, a new mishnah, with several cases - including the important detail that a minor cannot designate a shaliach, and R. Elazar's point that a woman (then) could be divorced against her will. Also, another mishnah with implications regarding eating from terumah. Plus, the implications of a get going into effect at a place specified.
Gittin 64: Old Enough for a Get
July 19, 2023 04:22 - 18 minutes - 17.2 MBTwo mishnayot: 1. A woman who appoints a shaliach to accept her get for her needs two sets of witnesses to ensure the divorce goes through. Likewise, when are the main parties in a transaction believed over a third (objective) party, and when the reverse? 2. The case of the na'arah hame'orsah - a minor girl who is betrothed and needs a get to be free of the betrothed. Her father needs to accept the get. Plus, a minor girl who can safeguard her get can get divorced.
Gittin 63: A Messenger to Accept a Get
July 18, 2023 04:13 - 22 minutes - 20.4 MBWhen a woman tells a shaliach to go get her get, and he goes the husband, tells him, and the husband hands it over "as she said," but R. Nachman maintains that she's still not divorced. The Gemara then discusses why he says this, and also where his analysis may go wrong (and she would be divorced). Where the wording and process are essential. Also, may a woman appoint a shaliach to accept a get? It's a machloket. But don't we need to be stringent and be careful lest she not really be divorced...
Gittin 62: Shalom, Shalom!
July 17, 2023 03:28 - 19 minutes - 17.8 MBMore on the interactions between Jews and non-Jews -- specifically in the context of shemitah. How much encouragement can a Jew give a non-Jew? Plus, how a Jew must avoid a double greeting Plus, a story with Geneivah, the sage who causes some consternation, including now, using a double-greeting. Also, a new chapter (6), with a new mishnah, and a return to divorce and messengers bringing bills of divorcement as designated, and receiving them on behalf of the wife. With very specific instructi...
Gittin 61: Trusting Your Fellow Jew
July 16, 2023 03:57 - 19 minutes - 18.1 MBOn the interactions between Jews and non-Jews. Also, a new mishnah, on lending utensils to this who are not careful about Shevi'it. Also, the case of a mother-in-law, a son-in-law, and demai (food that may not have been tithed). Note the lack of "cancel culture."
Gittin 60: Writing Down the Torah (Or Not)
July 15, 2023 18:30 - 19 minutes - 18 MBThe people who lived in the Galil wanted to know if they could read from the Torah for public reading from a chumash (a scroll of only one of the 5 books of the Torah). Turns out, it wasn't an easy question. Plus, can a scroll of one parsha be written for the sake of teaching children? The answer depends on whether you think the Torah was given as a while or piecemeal. Plus, Queen Helene's sheet of gold with the parsha of Sotah on it, for the kohen. But what about writing down the Oral Torah?...
Gittin 59: Moshe Rabbenu, Rebbi, and Rav Ashi
July 14, 2023 19:26 - 26 minutes - 24.3 MBThe daf describes the continuity of leadership from Moshe Rabbenu to Rebbi to Rav Ashi. Two mishnahs and the Gemara introduces the idea of Darchei Shalom.
Gittin 58: The Depths of Jewish Identity and the Depths to Which We Sink
July 13, 2023 18:08 - 21 minutes - 19.9 MBWrapping up the dapim about the destruction of the Temple. First, on a beautiful (Jewish) child in prison in Rome, as visited by R. Yehoshua ben Hananya. [Who's Who: R. Yishmael Ben Elisha] Plus, another story of destruction, as siblings who were separated and enslaved were nearly forced to marry each other for the sake of their beauty. Also, a story to illustrate a verse from the prophet Mikhah, on how insidious corruption had become and can be. PS: We've overcome the app problem, thank God...
Gittin 57: Titus, Balaam, Jesus, and Rome
July 12, 2023 09:33 - 25 minutes - 23.2 MBOn Onkelos -- the famous translator, who converted to Judaism. The Gemara here presents his investigations prior to conversion, wherein he consults some dead and ostensibly wicked non-Jews: Titus, Balaam, Jesus. Titus advises him to fight the Jews, not join them. Also, concern about the small size of the Land of Israel, and the way it's going to expand as needed. Plus, other famous converts - Na'aman, Nevuzadran, Haman's descendants, Sisera's descendants, Sennacharib's descendants... Shmaya ...
Gittin 56: R. Yochanan ben Zakkai vs. Rome
July 11, 2023 11:21 - 30 minutes - 28 MBAnother very long daf with the stories about the destruction of the Second Temple. Encountering some of the personalities of that era... During the time described, there was a serious famine, which is important backdrop. Also, Rabbi Tzadok fasted for a very long time in his prayer for the salvation of Jerusalem. Which brings us to the story of Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai, and how he fundamentally saved Judaism being destroyed along with the Temple. Note the conflict among the Jews - Zealots an...
Gittin 55: Bar Kamtza and Rabbinic Apathy
July 10, 2023 21:28 - 32 minutes - 29.9 MBNOTE: Apologies for the late release. This time, massive machine error, in a complicated way. Hopefully now resolved... A new mishnah - a deaf-mute woman who was married off by her father when she was a minor... Can she get divorced? What happens with regard to terumah? Plus, a beam is stolen and used in the construction of a building... Which leads us to Takanat HaShavim - people can pay money rather than destroy the construction. Also, Takanat HaMizbeah. Plus, a sin-offering obtained by the...
Gittin 54: Intent
July 09, 2023 21:11 - 26 minutes - 24.5 MBA long discussion comparing R. Meir and R. Yehudah, on damages, when committed inadvertently. Plus, what if a man paid another back with terumah? Where is the penalty for one who acts be-shogeg? How does the dispute play out? The penalty? Also, what happens when there's pigul at the hands of the kohen?
Gittin 53: Unrecognizable Damages
July 08, 2023 22:36 - 17 minutes - 16.2 MBA new mishnah! One who renders another's produce impure or mixed in ways that it can't be used... Plus, unrecognizable damage - is it tested as damage for payment or not? Also, a talmudic treatment of the dispute between Rabbi Meir and Rabbi Yehudah, over when one is penalized for a violation, for example, of unrecognizable damage, or even Shabbat. And the Gemara's resolution of that apparent contradiction.
Gittin 52: The Responsibilities of an Apotropos
July 07, 2023 14:45 - 24 minutes - 22.5 MBOrphans who rely on a caretaker - with implications whether that caretaker is appointed him by the father, by the court, or no formal appointment, as yet. That person is responsible for making sure that their fields are tithed appropriately. Plus, the apotropos needs to swear that he hasn't taken anything he shouldn't have. Plus, the responsibility when it comes to mitzvot. [Who's Who: Rabbi Meir] Plus, a story of how R. Meir protected orphans from malfeasance by an apotropos. Also, how the p...
Gittin 51: Swearing to Prove One's Honesty
July 06, 2023 08:42 - 14 minutes - 13.5 MBA case of a person who has 2 daughters and 1 son as heirs - the case has its own complications, but the crux of the matter is how much of a given was it that the daughters would inherit from the estate to provide for the daughters' dowries? Also, when one volunteers to return lost property, the finder doesn't have to swear that he's returning everything he found (or who would ever return anything). Why is swearing (or not) a matter of tikkun olam? Plus, how to handle a singular opinion.
Gittin 50: Settling Debts
July 05, 2023 06:57 - 20 minutes - 18.7 MBHow to handle different kinds of people who are owed money, one of which is a woman collecting her ketubah, in a case where heirs also want to connect their inheritance. Also, what happens when property has a lien on it and the debit still wants to pay someone else back or make a gift. Plus, death-bed legacies.
Gittin 49: Women Want to Get Married
July 04, 2023 05:30 - 22 minutes - 20.8 MBMore on collecting compensatory damages from the best quality of land. Plus, the comparison to paying for damage done to consecrated objects, which sounds like an obvious case of "paying from the best," but it's not that simple, after all. Also, a focus on why paying the ketubah from ziborit, the worse quality of land, is tikkun olam, and actually a protection for the woman. Plus, how much commentary on the expectations of Talmudic society, and the question if what is innate and what is socie...
Gittin 48: Owning an Ancestral Field l
July 03, 2023 20:28 - 21 minutes - 19.7 MBOne who purchases a field from his father, but then the Jubilee year complicated the issues of inheritance vs. purchase. Which leads to a dispute between Rabbi Meir and R. Yehudah with R. Shimon. Also, a new chapter: paying compensatory damages must be paid out of the best land, while loans and IOUs are paid from intermediate land, and the ketubah is paid from the worst quality of land -- established because of "tikkun olam" (but is that all the cases, or just the last one?).
Gittin 47: Resh Lakish's Last Day among the Gladiators
July 02, 2023 12:46 - 21 minutes - 20 MBIf one sells oneself and one's children to non-Jews, the children can be redeemed after the father dies, which leads into a famous story about Resh Lakish and his origins as what is often translated as a gladiator, perhaps a brigand. And how he came to be a great chavruta/bar plugta (regular arguing partners) with R. Yochanan. Plus, the way Resh Lakish died basically destitute. Also, a new mishnah: when one sells his field in the land of Israel to a non-Jew, which invalidates the agricultural...
Gittin 46: 'Your Silence Is Better Than Your Speech'
July 01, 2023 21:53 - 21 minutes - 19.9 MB3 mishnayot - on tikkun olam. 1. A man who divorces his wife because of a bad reputation, which turns out to be false - they still can't remarry. But what happens if the divorce is because of a vow? 2. A husband who divorces an aylonit - what happens when she remarries and has children with the second husband? 3. One who sells himself and his children into slavery to non-Jews, is not to be redeemed, though the Gemara softens this.
Gittin 45: Rabbi Nachman's Righteous Daughters
June 30, 2023 16:06 - 22 minutes - 21.3 MBA slave ran away from his owner in the Diaspora and made his way to the land of Israel, where the owner pursued him to bring him back. Does that work, or does he need to free the slave? Plus, the story of Abaye who has lost his donkey and identifies it only by its white belly, which is accepted as an identifying mark only because of who he is, not because it's that specific, as so many donkeys have white bellies. Also, a new mishnah: captives and the value for which they are to be redeemed. A...
Gittin 44: Selling Slaves to Non-Jews, Despite the Penalty
June 29, 2023 20:50 - 28 minutes - 26.2 MBA slave owned by a Jew who is sold to a non-Jew, never mind the penalty in place from the mishnah (on yesterday's daf). The Gemara provides different reasons for why a slave might end up with a new non-Jewish owner - including a Jewish owner trying to pay off debt, or the Sicarii taking the slave as property... Plus, the question of tithing in the context of another taking the property - what happens to the slave who comes alongside? Also, when a slave is sold with the specifics in a document...
Gittin 43: Penalizing the Seller of Slaves
June 28, 2023 20:05 - 16 minutes - 14.9 MBWhat happens when a half-slave gets betrothed to a fully free woman? Or vice versa? Plus, does a half-slave have heirs? Also, playing out the halakhah of a contradictory mishnah. Plus, a new mishnah - with a penalty to one who sells a slave to a non-Jew, and the factor of the Diaspora.
Gittin 42: Terumah via the Slave's Owner
June 27, 2023 15:21 - 18 minutes - 17.3 MBA person who is still half a slave and half freed, as done by the master... Can he aquire himself for himself? What about when a master gives his property to two slaves? Can they free each other? 2 beraitot establish a dispute on the issues. Also, what are the limitations on the case of the slave - specifically, of course, terumah.
Gittin 41: Freeing Slaves for Tikkun Olam
June 26, 2023 04:10 - 23 minutes - 21.7 MB2 mishnayot: 1. A slave whose owner uses him as a payment of debt to another person, but then is freed before he functions as that payment. What happens?? A tikkun olam decree to keep the peace - and ensure that the slave remains free. Plus, rereading the mishnah by the Gemara - in two ways (by Rav and Ulla). 2. A slave who is half-freed and half-slave... an in-between status that is not easily resolved. How should this person function? It's a dispute between Beit Hillel and Beit Shammai, and...
Gittin 40: Jangling Coins to Freedom
June 25, 2023 20:31 - 22 minutes - 20.8 MBWhen a slave-owner's conduct has impact on the slave's status. To what extent can a man free a female slave in order to marry her? Plus, the stories of R. Dimi, who traveled between Israel and Babylonia - to address the case where heirs are pushed to free the slaves if their benefactor. Also, a slave owned by 2 people, one of whom frees his half of the slave, but the other owner does not go along with freeing him. To the extent that he transfers his ownership to a minor - rather than free his...
Gittin 39: Why It Takes a "Get" to Free
June 24, 2023 20:36 - 16 minutes - 15.3 MBWhen one renounces ownership of a slave, the slave goes free, but still needs a get shichrur, bill of manumission - and then he can marry a Jewish woman. Plus, what happens when a death leaves slaves without clear owners. Also, why there is a "get" for divorce and also a "get" to free a slave.
Gittin 38: Slavery and Its Discontents
June 23, 2023 08:58 - 26 minutes - 24.6 MBAn uncomfortable daf, given our modern sensibilities regarding slavery. Note that the Amoraim themselves owned slaves; it wasn't just a biblical practice. Note also, these are "avadim Canaanim," non-Jews who come to live among Jews, and are required to keep some Jewish practices (or perhaps shouldn't be kept as a slave). Some stories, and the halakhic positions that emerge from them. Plus, what if freeing one's slaves violates a Torah commandment? How do we understand the freeing of a slave t...
Gittin 37: Prozbul Part 2
June 22, 2023 04:07 - 21 minutes - 20.2 MBThe daf continues to discuss Prozbul and how it relates to a plant in a pot. Then we have a new Mishnah which continues with the topic of loans and Shmeitah.
Gittin 36: Prozbul
June 21, 2023 06:21 - 15 minutes - 14.8 MBThe daf discusses everything and anything you want to know about the Prozbul.
Gittin 35: A Widow’s Vow
June 20, 2023 04:34 - 13 minutes - 12.8 MBA disagreement between Shmuel and Rav widow’s taking an oath or a vow to collect her Ketubah followed by a series of stories illustrating this Halacha. The daf ends with a clarification of the Mishnah.
Gittin 34: Rabbinic Will
June 19, 2023 06:29 - 19 minutes - 18 MBThe daf shares a series of stories when the rabbis needed to help make sure a Get was given and received. Amud has 2 mishnayot. The first Mishnah discussed the importance of names in the Get. The second Mishnah takes us back to Nedarim and Ketubot
Gittin 33: Tikkun Olam
June 18, 2023 06:35 - 15 minutes - 14.2 MBThe daf describes why Rabban Gamliel need to make a takana for Tikkun Olam. What does Tikkun Olam mean in the world of the Talmud.
Gittin 32: Voiding the Get
June 17, 2023 19:02 - 14 minutes - 13.5 MBOnce the Get is with a Shaliach can the Get be voided by the husband and how must the husband express that wish to void the Get? The daf also discusses if that same Get can be used again once the husband voided the Get.
Gittin 31: An Easterly Wind Blows
June 16, 2023 09:17 - 22 minutes - 20.7 MBWhat information can we trust as not changing? For example, that the husband stays alive, after he's sent a get. So too one who separates tithes. Plus, there's a time frame on that kind of given - often only the first 24 hours. Note the brevity of the mishnah. Also, a discussion of the east wind. And winds coming from other directions, and how strong they can be, as well as how much impact they can have. Plus, Geneivah, who on the one hand seems to have learned a lot of Torah, but he's known ...
Gittin 30: You Can Assume People Stay Alive
June 15, 2023 21:26 - 11 minutes - 10.7 MBA new mishnah! On the concept of "chazakah" - including trusting that people are still alive. But what if the person dies? There are questions of inheritance... including questions of borrowing and lending in the context of the kehunah. Also, getting permission from a debtors heirs to continue the terms of a loan. Plus kindness to the orphaned heirs to help them pay back the debt.
Gittin 29: Verifying a Shaliach
June 14, 2023 20:08 - 17 minutes - 16.6 MB2 mishnayot: first, a shaliach who gets sick. What's he supposed to do to make sure the get reaches the wife? He can appoint another shaliach in his place - depending on the husband's designation of him as a shaliach. Also, establishing the power of the shaliach.
Gittin 28: Schrodinger's Get
June 13, 2023 19:09 - 24 minutes - 22.7 MBWhen a shaliach brings a get from the husband to the wife, the assumption is that status quo ante - the husband is presumed to remain alive, and other similar conditions (eg, one's right to eat terumah). Plus, a key dispute that reflects personal approach, within the debate. Plus, why only men did semicha (laying on if hands) for the sin-offering, and women did not. [Who's Who: R. Yehudah ben Prata] Also, different cases, including a besieged town and a ship at sea... when does one presume th...
Gittin 27: A Shaliach's Worst Nightmare?
June 12, 2023 05:09 - 16 minutes - 14.9 MBWhat happens if the shaliach for a get loses the get? It depends how much time passes before he finds it, assuming he does. Could the get have been replaced in the interim, for example? What happens if the players in the get have the same names as others who are getting divorced. Also, Rabbi Zeira finds a contradiction to our mishnah in a baraita. Which turns out to be a bit lesser as compared to a mishnah contradicting a mishnah... But the baraita is the clearer contradiction this time. Whic...
Gittin 26: "Because of the Decree"
June 11, 2023 19:42 - 12 minutes - 11.5 MBA new mishnah! And a template for a divorce, as well as other transactions, and the question of what blanks would need to filled with the right names and the date and so on. But templates don't really work for gittin. Plus, how the get is actually written. Also, what does it mean that the sages decreed... They wanted to prevent quarreling. They wanted to prevent conflicts over the same name. Or putting the divorcing couple on the spot. Plus, "agunah" (in contrast to modern examples). How iron...
Gittin 25: Retroactive Clarification
June 10, 2023 21:18 - 16 minutes - 15.6 MBWhen a man wants to divorce a wife, and he has at least two, and he doesn't want to specify which one, and devises a plan for, let's say, whichever one comes to greet him first - the Gemara says, no. The get needs to be written in her name - they can't discover after the fact which wife was, lo and behold, the divorced one. But there many other circumstances where retroactive clarification does work.
Gittin 24: When a Woman Is Her Own Shaliach
June 09, 2023 15:07 - 15 minutes - 14.3 MBWhat happens when the woman is her own shaliach for her get? She needs to show up to a stipulated court, and when does the divorce kick in? Also, what if the get is written in the name of the woman, but someone else has the same name - can it be used for the person with the same name? Plus, every time a get is invalidated, she still can't marry a kohen.
Gittin 23: Is R. Sheshet Too Harsh on Why Blind People Can't Deliver a Get?
June 08, 2023 20:59 - 17 minutes - 15.9 MBThree mishnayot: Who can write a get? Basically, everyone, even the unexpected categories of people - including a woman writing her own get. The implication of that is that the writing matters less than the signing of the document. Note, of course, that the get must be written for her sake. Also, everyone can deliver a get, except for 5 categories of people including one who is blind and one who is a non-Jew. But what if one of these ineligible people changes status? There are circumstances t...
Gittin 22: The Case of Carrying Hide on Shabbat to Write a Get on It
June 07, 2023 14:26 - 17 minutes - 16.5 MBA discussion about ma'aser in the context of perforated pots - where the perforation is in the land of Israel, but the pot is outside the land. What gives plants their primary nourishment - ground or air? We might have resolved the science of this by today, but they were figuring it all out, still. It becomes a real puzzle when to tithe, but the focus is definitely on the land of Israel. Also, the injunction against writing a divorce on a substance that invites forgery. Which brings us to 3 d...
Gittin 21: Practical Get
June 06, 2023 19:45 - 14 minutes - 13.6 MBA note on the viability of a courtyard "accepting" a bill of divorce on behalf of the woman being divorced. Also, the opinion against writing a get on living things, and the biblical support for this approach. Plus, the counter-use of the same verses for the opposite view. Also, a new mishnah on the get itself - can't be attached to the ground - and when it can be detached from the ground itself. Plus, all the details that go into it.