Take One Daf Yomi

Today’s Daf Yomi pages, Eruvin 98 and 99, remind us again that it is forbidden to throw away sacred writings. We talk about book collections, and why so many of us hold on even to books they know they'll never read. Do books have magical powers? Listen and find out.

Today’s Daf Yomi pages, Eruvin 96 and 97, raise a curious question: Why are we commanded to wear tefillin every day of the week but not on Shabbat? Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin returns to ponder this conundrum and find in it a seminal principle to live by. Does absence truly make the heart grow fonder? Listen and find out.

Today’s Daf Yomi page, Eruvin 95, has Tefillin on the mind (and on the arm). Rabbi Mordechai Lightstone returns to shed light on this most ancient and still most potent of all spiritual technologies. Why did the Lubavitcher Rebbe promote the wearing of Tefillin so passionately? Listen and find out.

Today’s Daf Yomi page, Eruvin 94, gets down and intimate: What, it asks, happens when your courtyard opens up onto the public domain? Andrew Marantz,  staff writer for the New Yorker, joins us to talk about the things we do online, and whether we can still expect a shred of privacy on social media and elsewhere. Are our metaphors to blame for our failure to see the Internet for what it truly is? Listen and find out.

Today’s Daf Yomi page, Eruvin 93, wonders what happens when guests come in and cause all sorts of inconveniences. Rabbi Rebecca Rosenthal joins us to talk about why guests can be both annoying and a true pleasure, and what obligations we have to make them feel welcome. How can an ancient ruling about eruvin make us better hosts? Listen and find out.

Today’s Daf Yomi pages, Eruvin 91 and 92, ask a poignant question: Are we permitted to modify our laws based on how we've behaved during a time of danger? Rabbi Jon Spira-Savett joins us to discuss the ways in which COVID impacted his congregation, and talk about what life might look like after the plague. Are there any innovations brought about by the pandemic that might continue to inspire us even after it is gone? Listen and find out.

Today’s Daf Yomi pages, Eruvin 89 and 90, finds two rabbis engaged in a philosophical conversation about the very way we see reality. Rabbi Avi Straussberg joins us to explain why this particular debate -- involving a ship sailing in a clear blue sea -- matters, and what it can teach us about life today. Is the ocean half empty or half full? Listen and find out.

Today’s Daf Yomi page, Eruvin 88, asks a cheeky question: If you stole something, do you get to keep it? Ben Schachter, an artist and the author of Akhnai Pizza, a new graphic novel based on one of the Talmud's most famous tales, joins us to ponder this problem, especially as it pertains to copyright, intellectual property, and ideas. How can we encourage remix culture while still making sure artists get supported and paid? Listen and find out.

Today’s Daf Yomi page, Eruvin 87, inquries whether a lake could count when determing an eruv. Rabbi Tzvi Sinenski joins us to tell a story about the late great Rabbi Norman Lamm, and how he wrestled with precisely this question to establish the eruv on Manhattan's Upper West Side. Does an eruv count even if you can't see it? Listen and find out.

Today’s Daf Yomi page, Eruvin 86, contains an unlikely recommendation: revere the rich. Professor Lila Corwin Berman joins us to shed some light on how Jewish philantrophy changed drastically over the last few decades, and what that means for the Jewish community's most fortunate and for everyone else. What happened that gave the top one percent of donors more power than ever before? Listen and find out.