Take One Daf Yomi

Today’s Talmud page, Bava Batra 162, deals mainly with how to make sure your documents aren't forged. But as the history of philosophy teaches us, sometimes a little fakery is necessary for brilliant ideas to break through. Who was the great thinker Johannes de Silentio, and how come you've never heard of him yet know his work? Listen and find out.Like the show? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Send us a note at takeone@tabletmag.com. Follow us on Twitter at @takeonedafyomi and join the conversation in the Take One Facebook group.We think that you may also enjoy Liel's new book How the Talmud Can Change Your Life: Surprisingly Modern Advice from a Very Old Book, available directly from the publisher, or wherever you purchase books.Listen to the Testimonies Archive, a partnership between Tablet Studios and the USC Shoah Foundation, for eyewitness audio accounts from Israel in the wake of the Oct 7 Hamas attacks.Check out all of Tablet’s podcasts at tabletmag.com/podcasts.

Today’s Talmud page, Bava Batra 161, gives us what may very well be the first ever documented appearance of... emoji. Why did some rabbis sign their names using pictograms? And how can emoji sometimes succeed where all words fail? Listen and find out.Like the show? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Send us a note at takeone@tabletmag.com. Follow us on Twitter at @takeonedafyomi and join the conversation in the Take One Facebook group.We think that you may also enjoy Liel's new book How the Talmud Can Change Your Life: Surprisingly Modern Advice from a Very Old Book, available directly from the publisher, or wherever you purchase books.Listen to the Testimonies Archive, a partnership between Tablet Studios and the USC Shoah Foundation, for eyewitness audio accounts from Israel in the wake of the Oct 7 Hamas attacks.Check out all of Tablet’s podcasts at tabletmag.com/podcasts.

Today’s Talmud pages, Bava Batra 159 and 160, contain a ruling that the Talmud considers one of the most difficult cases of civil law. What can it teach us about family? And was Don Corleone really living out some core Talmudic values? Listen and find out.Like the show? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Send us a note at takeone@tabletmag.com. Follow us on Twitter at @takeonedafyomi and join the conversation in the Take One Facebook group.We think that you may also enjoy Liel's new book How the Talmud Can Change Your Life: Surprisingly Modern Advice from a Very Old Book, available directly from the publisher, or wherever you purchase books.Listen to the Testimonies Archive, a partnership between Tablet Studios and the USC Shoah Foundation, for eyewitness audio accounts from Israel in the wake of the Oct 7 Hamas attacks.Check out all of Tablet’s podcasts at tabletmag.com/podcasts.

Today’s Talmud pages, Bava Batra 155, 156, 157, and 158, usher us into Thanksgiving. Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin joins us to explain the strange but undeniable connection between America's favorite holiday and one of the Talmud's most demanding tractates. Why is Bava Batra perfect Thanksgiving reading? Listen and find out.Like the show? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Send us a note at takeone@tabletmag.com. Follow us on Twitter at @takeonedafyomi and join the conversation in the Take One Facebook group.We think that you may also enjoy Liel's new book How the Talmud Can Change Your Life: Surprisingly Modern Advice from a Very Old Book, available directly from the publisher, or wherever you purchase books.Listen to the Testimonies Archive, a partnership between Tablet Studios and the USC Shoah Foundation, for eyewitness audio accounts from Israel in the wake of the Oct 7 Hamas attacks.Check out all of Tablet’s podcasts at tabletmag.com/podcasts.

Today’s Talmud page, Bava Batra 154, delivers a key lesson in political philosophy disguised as a meditation on inheritance. What's the real difference between conservatives and progressives? And why do both do best when they walk hand in hand? Listen and find out.Like the show? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Send us a note at takeone@tabletmag.com. Follow us on Twitter at @takeonedafyomi and join the conversation in the Take One Facebook group.We think that you may also enjoy Liel's new book How the Talmud Can Change Your Life: Surprisingly Modern Advice from a Very Old Book, available directly from the publisher, or wherever you purchase books.Listen to the Testimonies Archive, a partnership between Tablet Studios and the USC Shoah Foundation, for eyewitness audio accounts from Israel in the wake of the Oct 7 Hamas attacks.Check out all of Tablet’s podcasts at tabletmag.com/podcasts.

Today’s Talmud pages, Bava Batra 152 and 153, the rabbis continue to contemplate our wishes as we lay dying. Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin joins us to talk about the Kittel, the special white and shroud-like garment when we wear not only as we're buried, but also for special festivals like Passover and Yom Kippur. Why wear the same outfit on the saddest and happiest of occasions? Listen and find out.Like the show? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Send us a note at takeone@tabletmag.com. Follow us on Twitter at @takeonedafyomi and join the conversation in the Take One Facebook group.We think that you may also enjoy Liel's new book How the Talmud Can Change Your Life: Surprisingly Modern Advice from a Very Old Book, available directly from the publisher, or wherever you purchase books.Listen to the Testimonies Archive, a partnership between Tablet Studios and the USC Shoah Foundation, for eyewitness audio accounts from Israel in the wake of the Oct 7 Hamas attacks.Check out all of Tablet’s podcasts at tabletmag.com/podcasts.

Today’s Talmud pages, Bava Batra 150 and 151, are a touching tribute to the sanctification of life. Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin joins us to explain the concept of a Shechiv Mera, a person on his deathbed, and why we should pay special attention to his final wishes. What can these deathbed decisions teach us about the meaning of life? Listen and find out.Like the show? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Send us a note at takeone@tabletmag.com. Follow us on Twitter at @takeonedafyomi and join the conversation in the Take One Facebook group.We think that you may also enjoy Liel's new book How the Talmud Can Change Your Life: Surprisingly Modern Advice from a Very Old Book, available directly from the publisher, or wherever you purchase books.Listen to the Testimonies Archive, a partnership between Tablet Studios and the USC Shoah Foundation, for eyewitness audio accounts from Israel in the wake of the Oct 7 Hamas attacks.Check out all of Tablet’s podcasts at tabletmag.com/podcasts.

Today’s Talmud page, Bava Batra 149, begins with a heartbreaking scene of a father on his deathbed navigating halachic inheritance laws so that he could leave behind his fortune to his son. But study the biographies of these two, and a dark, troubled, and ultimately inspiring story emerges, a story of a man who had done very bad things yet went on to repent. What can Issur the Convert teach us about never, ever losing hope? Listen and find out.Like the show? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Send us a note at takeone@tabletmag.com. Follow us on Twitter at @takeonedafyomi and join the conversation in the Take One Facebook group.We think that you may also enjoy Liel's new book How the Talmud Can Change Your Life: Surprisingly Modern Advice from a Very Old Book, available directly from the publisher, or wherever you purchase books.Listen to the Testimonies Archive, a partnership between Tablet Studios and the USC Shoah Foundation, for eyewitness audio accounts from Israel in the wake of the Oct 7 Hamas attacks.Check out all of Tablet’s podcasts at tabletmag.com/podcasts.

Today’s Talmud page, Bava Batra 148, asks a thorny question: What happens if someone, on their deathbed, promises to give away all their property but then miraculously recover? Much more than a hypothetical, the question gets to the very bottom of fairness, teaching us much about the promises we must keep and the ones we can safely break. What lesson do the rabbis have for Elton John? Listen and find out.Like the show? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Send us a note at takeone@tabletmag.com. Follow us on Twitter at @takeonedafyomi and join the conversation in the Take One Facebook group.We think that you may also enjoy Liel's new book How the Talmud Can Change Your Life: Surprisingly Modern Advice from a Very Old Book, available directly from the publisher, or wherever you purchase books.Listen to the Testimonies Archive, a partnership between Tablet Studios and the USC Shoah Foundation, for eyewitness audio accounts from Israel in the wake of the Oct 7 Hamas attacks.Check out all of Tablet’s podcasts at tabletmag.com/podcasts.

Today’s Talmud page, Bava Batra 147, finds the rabbis talking about... the wind, and how it sometimes blows this way and sometimes that, and sometimes makes some people sad and others happy and at other times vice versa. Producer Josh Kross joins us to explain why the passage is actually a perfect political metaphor for our fractured time. What can the Talmud's discussion of the wind teach us about building stronger communities? Listen and find out.Like the show? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Send us a note at takeone@tabletmag.com. Follow us on Twitter at @takeonedafyomi and join the conversation in the Take One Facebook group.We think that you may also enjoy Liel's new book How the Talmud Can Change Your Life: Surprisingly Modern Advice from a Very Old Book, available directly from the publisher, or wherever you purchase books.Listen to the Testimonies Archive, a partnership between Tablet Studios and the USC Shoah Foundation, for eyewitness audio accounts from Israel in the wake of the Oct 7 Hamas attacks.Check out all of Tablet’s podcasts at tabletmag.com/podcasts.