Bava Kama 17 and 18 – Circumstances Beyond Our Control

Today’s Talmud pages, Bava Kama 17 and 18, discusses the different amount of damages one must pay when your chicken directly impacts someone else’s vessels or bread, versus the amount of damages one must pay when it is the pebbles or wind that are stirred up by your chicken that later damages ones vessels or bread. This Talmudic conversation recalls that feeling of having to deal with circumstances beyond our control. To reflect on that feeling, we are sharing a segment from the most recent episode of the Unorthodox podcast in which Stephanie Butnick spoke with her dear friend LeElle Slifer about her experience of being in the United States on October 7, while her extended family was in Israel, and many were taken hostage from Kibbutz Be'eri. How does someone try to take control of the world around them when they are faced with such horrors? 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.

Take One is a Tablet Studios production. The show is hostedby Liel Leibovitz, and is produced and edited by Darone Ruskay, Quinn Waller and Elie Bleier. Our team also includes Satephanie Butnick, Josh Kross, Robert Scaramuccia, and Tanya Singer. 

Check out all of Tablet’s podcasts at tabletmag.com/podcasts.