Take One Daf Yomi

Today’s Daf Yomi page, Yoma 66, reminds us of the sheer power of language, a power on full display when the Kohen Gadol entered the Holy of Holies and uttered the explicit name of God. To reflect on what words can do, we bring you a conversation with poet Christian Wiman that aired on our podcast Unorthodox, where he discussed how some words, when written or said in just the right way, can move us in ways we didn’t think possible. How and why does language connect us to the divine? Listen and find out.Like the show? Send us a note at takeone@tabletmag.com. Follow us on Twitter at @takeonedafyomi and join the conversation in the Take One Facebook group.Take One is hosted by Liel Leibovitz and produced by Josh Kross, Sara Fredman Aeder, and Robert Scaramuccia.Check out all of Tablet’s podcasts at tabletmag.com/podcasts.

Today’s Daf Yomi page, Yoma 65, asks what happens if some money is put aside for sacrificial use and is then stolen or lost before being miraculously retrieved. Does it count towards next year's offerings? Professor Ethan Leib joins us to talk about the legalistic and spiritual aspects of this not-so-simple question. What does this rabbinic disputation teach us about being able to always change our luck? Listen and find out. Like the show? Send us a note at takeone@tabletmag.com. Follow us on Twitter at @takeonedafyomi and join the conversation in the Take One Facebook group.Take One is hosted by Liel Leibovitz and produced by Josh Kross, Sara Fredman Aeder, and Robert Scaramuccia.Check out all of Tablet’s podcasts at tabletmag.com/podcasts.

Today’s Daf Yomi pages, Yoma 63 and 64, kick things off with a meditation on causality that sounds like something straight out of a trippy science fiction novel. Author Gavriel Savit joins us to talk about Judaism's view of alternate universes, and how it inspires him as a fantasy writer. What advice does the Talmud have for aspiring Tolkiens? Listen and find out. Like the show? Send us a note at takeone@tabletmag.com. Follow us on Twitter at @takeonedafyomi and join the conversation in the Take One Facebook group.Take One is hosted by Liel Leibovitz and produced by Josh Kross, Sara Fredman Aeder, and Robert Scaramuccia.Check out all of Tablet’s podcasts at tabletmag.com/podcasts.

Today’s Daf Yomi pages, Yoma 61 and 62, are all about one of Yom Kippur's most intriguing rituals, that of sacrificing one goat while sending another into the wilderness. Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin returns to explain the inner logic of the scapegoat, and why it still matters today. Why must both goats, the one sacrificed and the one set loose, be exactly identical? Listen and find out. Like the show? Send us a note at takeone@tabletmag.com. Follow us on Twitter at @takeonedafyomi and join the conversation in the Take One Facebook group.Take One is hosted by Liel Leibovitz and produced by Josh Kross, Sara Fredman Aeder, and Robert Scaramuccia.Check out all of Tablet’s podcasts at tabletmag.com/podcasts.

Today’s Daf Yomi page, Yoma 60, contains a long discussion of which garments the High Priest wore while conducting the different services on Yom Kippur. Mark Oppenheimer joins us to talk about the connection between the way we dress and the way we feel, and explain why Judaism sometimes takes a turn towards the sartorially fancy. What is the symbolism of the Kohen Gadol's white garments? Listen and find out. Like the show? Send us a note at takeone@tabletmag.com. Follow us on Twitter at @takeonedafyomi and join the conversation in the Take One Facebook group.Take One is hosted by Liel Leibovitz and produced by Josh Kross, Sara Fredman Aeder, and Robert Scaramuccia.Check out all of Tablet’s podcasts at tabletmag.com/podcasts.

Today’s Daf Yomi page, Yoma 59, finds the rabbis quoting a popular folk saying. Professor A.J. Berkovitz joins us to shed light on the rabbinic system of knowledge, which revolved around studiousness and expertise but realized that wisdom resides in all corners of society and was open to learning from ordinary people as well as experts. What might today's professors learn from the rabbis' approach to learning and teaching? Listen and find out. Like the show? Send us a note at takeone@tabletmag.com. Follow us on Twitter at @takeonedafyomi and join the conversation in the Take One Facebook group.Take One is hosted by Liel Leibovitz and produced by Josh Kross, Sara Fredman Aeder, and Robert Scaramuccia.Check out all of Tablet’s podcasts at tabletmag.com/podcasts.

Today’s Daf Yomi page, Yoma 58, brings up the sacrifice the Kohen Gadol, or High Priest, offered to God on behalf of unwitting communal sins. Rabbi Sari Laufer joins us to explain this moving ritual, and how it helps turn a host of individuals into a community. Might Facebook qualify as a modern-day unwitting communal sin? Listen and find out. Like the show? Send us a note at takeone@tabletmag.com. Follow us on Twitter at @takeonedafyomi and join the conversation in the Take One Facebook group.Take One is hosted by Liel Leibovitz and produced by Josh Kross, Sara Fredman Aeder, and Robert Scaramuccia.Check out all of Tablet’s podcasts at tabletmag.com/podcasts.

Today’s Daf Yomi pages, Yoma 56 and 57, asks a searing question: Does God love us even when we're impure? Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin joins us to address this seminal theological conundrum. What does the High Priest's sprinkling of blood on Yom Kippur have to do with helping us understand the Creator's idea of mercy? Listen and find out. Like the show? Send us a note at takeone@tabletmag.com. Follow us on Twitter at @takeonedafyomi and join the conversation in the Take One Facebook group.Take One is hosted by Liel Leibovitz and produced by Josh Kross, Sara Fredman Aeder, and Robert Scaramuccia.Check out all of Tablet’s podcasts at tabletmag.com/podcasts.

Today’s Daf Yomi pages, Yoma 54 and 55, dive into one of the Jewish people's greatest mysteries: Exactly what happened to the Ark of the Covenant after the Temple was destroyed? Yeshiva University professor Steven Fine joins us to explain the various theories that have inspired Jews and non-Jews alike for millennia, and why we remain obsessed with this question. So did Indiana Jones get it right? Listen and find out. Like the show? Send us a note at takeone@tabletmag.com. Follow us on Twitter at @takeonedafyomi and join the conversation in the Take One Facebook group.Take One is hosted by Liel Leibovitz and produced by Josh Kross, Sara Fredman Aeder, and Robert Scaramuccia.Check out all of Tablet’s podcasts at tabletmag.com/podcasts.

Today’s Daf Yomi page, Yoma 53, opens up one of the strangest and most terrifying deaths in a book, the Bible, thick with them: the striking down of the two sons of Aaron, Moses's brother. Why did they have to die? Rabbi Shmuel Hain joins us to explain their sin, its interpretation in rabbinic literature, and why the ongoing fascination with Aaron's sons reflected the rabbis' insecurities about their own role as teachers and students. Why is humility more important than learnedness, and how is being modest better than being correct? Listen and find out. Like the show? Send us a note at takeone@tabletmag.com. Follow us on Twitter at @takeonedafyomi and join the conversation in the Take One Facebook group.Take One is hosted by Liel Leibovitz and produced by Josh Kross, Sara Fredman Aeder, and Robert Scaramuccia.Check out all of Tablet’s podcasts at tabletmag.com/podcasts.