Take One Daf Yomi

Today’s Daf Yomi page, Berakhot 62, contains one of the Talmud's most astonishing stories. One of the rabbis sneaks under his teacher's bed, and observes as the teacher and the teacher's wife make love. He is discovered, and his defense teaches us a lesson that's more urgent today as it's ever been. Dr. Batsheva Marcus, a certified sex therapist inspired by this story, joins us to talk about what this strange tale of voyeurism can teach us about talking to our kids about sexuality. Why is sex like the Torah, and what does it have to do with keeping kids off of porn? Listen and find out.

Today’s Daf Yomi page, Berakhot 61, finds the rabbis in an existential state of mind. They're talking about the creation of Man, or, more accurately, of Man and Woman. Rabbi Sari Laufer joins us to shed some light on the Talmud's approach to gender, warn us against judging ancient texts according to modern standards, and teaches us a lesson on introspection and how to contemplate our essential meaning. What to make of the Talmudic warning against men walking behind women? Listen and find out.

Today’s Daf Yomi page, Berakhot 60, tells an eerie story of the great Rabbi Akiva and a night that begins darkly and ends with miracles. Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin returns with a lesson about one of the Talmud's most famous rabbis, and about how life is anything but a dull, linear story. What can Akiva teach us about coming to terms with the hardships of our life? Listen and find out.

Today’s Daf Yomi pages, Berakhot 58 and 59, begin with a beguiling story of a wise blind rabbi and culminates in a searing moral about why we should never let the pomp and circumstance of life distract us. Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin returns to explain why it's silence, not sensationalism, that reveals to us life's greatest mysteries. What does any of this have to do with the death of Superman? Listen and find out.

Today’s Daf Yomi pages, Berakhot 56 and 57, continue the journey into the unconscious with a host of strange things you may see in your dreams, and an explanation of what each one means. Writer and psychotherapist Alter Yisrael Shimon Feuerman returns to make sense of this surreal landscape, and explain why the Talmud believes a $300 therapist is better than one that charges only $100. What does it mean when you dream of cats? Listen and find out.

Today’s Daf Yomi page, Berakhot 55, takes a sharp turn in an odd direction: No longer concerned with what blessing to say over which food, it now enters the magical, mystical field of dreams. Writer and psychotherapist Alter Yisrael Shimon Feuerman joins us to explain how, millennia before Freud, the Talmud already understood the mysteries of the unconscious mind. Why did the rabbis believe that you must know not only the Torah but also yourself? Listen and find out.

Today’s Daf Yomi page, Berakhot 54, raises one of the most difficult edicts in all of the Talmud: We must, it informs us, recite a blessing of gratitude when bad things happen just as we would give thanks over good things. Tablet's Jake Siegel, a former captain in the U.S. Army, joins us to talk about struggling with the existence of evil while serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, and coming to terms with God's role in allowing evil to persist. What blessing should we say when things get dark? Listen and find out.

Today’s Daf Yomi page Berakhot 53, asks an obvious but surprisingly difficult question: Should we say "amen" when we hear schoolchildren recite blessings? It's a question our culture should seriously contemplate, enamored as we are with elevating the very young, from Greta Thunberg to Billie Eilish, to stardom. Are we doing our children a disservice when we expect them to be social, cultural, and political leaders? Listen and find out.

Today’s Daf Yomi page Berakhot 51, brings us a debate over the the intricacies of the havdalah prayers. Friend of Tablet Harold Lindenthal brings us the story of his father, Rabbi Haskel Lindenthal, and a deeper insight into the prayers at the end of Shabbat. What is the real meaning of the order? Listen and find out.

Today’s Daf Yomi page, Berakhot 51, gives us a long and jaunty meditation on a favorite subject: the art of preparing and delivering the perfect toast. The show's producer and a master at speaking while holding a flute of champagne, Josh Kross, returns to give us some pointers and explain why raising a glass to your loved ones is a sacred act. What to say when you have the attention of the room? Listen and find out.