Take One Daf Yomi

Today’s Daf Yomi page, Shabbat 81, tells a fiery little story about a pair of rabbis stuck on a bewitched boat and forced to utter God's name to undo the spell. Ilana Kurshan, author of If All the Seas Were Ink, a stellar memoir of studying the Talmud, joins us to unpack the mysteries of that omnipotent and mighty name, and how our thinking about it has evolved. Why do we refer to God as Hashem, or the name? Listen and find out.

Today’s Daf Yomi pages, Shabbat 79 and 80, invite us to look at our stuff and rearrange it according to a hierarchy of holiness. Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin returns to share some thoughts about why you can't recycle sacred writings and how even inanimate objects can teach us a valuable lesson about always aspiring to be better. How are tefilin holier than a Mezuzah? Listen and find out.

Today’s Daf Yomi pages, Shabbat 77 and 78, tells us a brief anecdote containing a poignant life lesson. Reading a classic Hassidic tale, we meditate on growth through difficulty, and on what Judaism has to teach us about overcoming adversity. Why should some hardships make us burst into dance? Listen and find out.

Today’s Daf Yomi page, Shabbat 76, is a beautiful meditation on wine, from drinking it to blessing it to basking in its glory. Producer Josh Kross returns to offer a soliloquy on drinking mindfully. What's the deal with diluting wine? Listen and find out.

Today’s Daf Yomi page, Shabbat 75, finds the rabbis in an ecumenical mood. While we're not allowed to emulate the ways of other religions, they tell us, learning from them and understanding their ways is allowed, maybe even advisable. Ashley McKinless, co-host of the popular podcast Jesuitical, joins us to talk about finding beauty and meaning in other traditions. Why should we pay attention to the intricacies of our friends' and neighbors' religious practices? Listen and find out.

Today’s Daf Yomi page, Shabbat 74, unlocks one of the most profound mysteries of the Jewish universe: Why gefilte fish? Jeffrey Yoskowitz, co-author of The Gefilte Manifesto, joins us to shed some light on the much-maligned dish's origins, and why we can't get enough of it. Why is gefilte the ultimate Shabbat dish? Listen and find out.

Today’s Daf Yomi pages, Shabbat 72 and 73, finally give us the 39 labors we're not allowed to perform on Shabbat. Why did it take so long? Why go through more than 70 pages before getting to the point? Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin returns to shed light on this seminal question, and help us understand the real meaning of Shabbat. How is the Talmud like a Quentin Tarantino movie? Listen and find out.

Today’s Daf Yomi pages, Shabbat 70 and 71, bring up a fascinating concept: Yediah, or knowing. Are we responsible for the sins we commit if we don't really know that we've committed them? Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin joins us to explore the intricacies of this complicated question. How do we resolve the tension between divine intervention and free will? Listen and find out.

Today’s Daf Yomi page, Shabbat 69, shares an anecdote that feels deeply relatable these days, about a man who wanders in the desert and loses all track of time. Dr. Erica Brown joins us to talk about the centrality of time in Judaism, and what to do when, sheltered in place, time itself becomes a challenge. How do we find a sense of direction when the days just seem to melt into one another? Listen and find out.

Today’s Daf Yomi page, Shabbat 68, introduces an astonishing concept, that of the captive child. Just as a child kidnapped from his parents holds no responsibility for the way he was raised, the rabbis tell us, so do those of us who have never studied the intricacies of Jewish law not necessarily liable if and when we break them. Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin joins us to talk about this intriguing and seminal concept. How do we learn to forgive ourselves? Listen and find out.