Take One Daf Yomi

Today’s Talmud pages, Shevuot 10 and 11, explain what was done with the leftovers animals in the Temple, those fit to be sacrificed but never used. What insights can we learn from the rabbis to help us do better than the $160 billion worth of food we throw away every year while 50 million Americans go hungry? Listen and find out.

Today’s Talmud pages, Shevuot 8 and 9, raise one of the most difficult questions to ever face the rabbis: Why is a woman giving birth considered a sinner? Is she required to bring a sin offering to repent for that first sin, so long ago, by the first mother, Eve, eating from the Tree of Knowledge? Or is there some deeper lesson here about hope, connection, and gratitude? Listen and find out.

Today’s Talmud page, Shevuot 7, introduces us to a very special category of sins, those we enter into fully aware of what we're doing yet somehow lose all track of our wrongdoing the more we engage in it. How is that possible? And what brilliant and compassionate atonement payment plan does the Torah prescribe? Listen and find out.

Today’s Talmud page, Shevuot 6, finds the rabbis talking about what happens when you compare two great kings. Dr. Tevi Troy, our very own Presidentischer Rav, returns to explain how the Talmud's dual approaches to power informed Ronald Regan in his struggle with the Soviet Union. How to handle a global adversary and win? Listen and find out.

Today’s Talmud page, Shevuot 5, finds the rabbis talking about Tzara'at, the affliction that was punishment for slanderous gossip. What can this ancient disease teach us moderns about guarding our tongue? Listen and find out.

Today’s Talmud page, Shevuot 2, kicks off a brand new tractate. Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin joins us to tell us a little bit about what we have in store for the next few weeks. Why must we be careful when taking the name of God? Listen and find out.

Today’s Talmud page, Makkot 24, brings our tractate to a close. Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin joins us to sum up what we've learned, and explain Judaism's wonderful attitude to punishment and reward. Why did Rabbi Akiva laugh when he saw Jerusalem destroyed? Listen and find out.

Today’s Talmud page, Makkot 23, issues a stern warning against lashon harah, or malicious speech. But hey, we all gossip, so what's so bad about that, anyway? And what great arguments did the rabbis give to convince us to think before we open our mouths? Listen and find out.

Today’s Talmud page, Makkot 22, finally sheds light on one of the tractate's central questions, namely just how many lashes must a person sentenced to lashing receive. Why did the rabbis subtract one lash from the number indicated in the Torah? And what could their behavior teach us as we think of crime and punishment? Listen and find out.

Today’s Talmud page, Makkot 21, dives into the controversial issue of tattoos. Are tatted Jews really prohibited from being buried in Jewish cemeteries? And what surprisingly moving lesson do the rabbis teach us about finding compassion even as we falter and sin? Listen and find out.