Take One Daf Yomi

Today’s Talmud pages, Sanhedrin 87 and 88, return to the notion of Ben Sorer u'Moreh, the rebellious son who the Torah instructs must be put to death. But on today's pages, the rabbis add a twist: His parents may save him simply by forgiving him. Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin joins us to explain this legal exception, and what it has to tell us about the resilience of the Jewish people. Why must we all believe in hope at first sight? Listen and find out.

Today’s Talmud page, Sanhedrin 86, asks what precisely do we mean when we call someone a "brother." Does a brother have to be related to us by blood? Or are there other, loftier things that bind us to each other? Listen and find out.

Today’s Talmud page, Sanhedrin 85, has the rabbis locking horns trying to explain a complicated phrase, before alighting on a very surprising, and very relevant, conclusion. Why is keeping things simple sometimes the wisest option? Listen and find out.

Today’s Talmud page, Sanhedrin 84, discusses the severe punishment due to those who strike their parents. Hadas Yaron, star of the new show Kugel, a prequel to the smash-hit Shtisel, joins us to discuss why the shows are so successful. What is it about a troubled father-daughter relationship we find so captivating? Listen and find out.

Today’s Talmud pages, Sanhedrin 82 and 83, remind us of our personal responsibility to act when, God forbid, God's very name is being desecrated. Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin joins us to talk about the lessons we can learn from the Biblical hero Pinhas, and why we must never wait for someone else to do what we know we must do ourselves. What profoundly Talmudic insight inspired Teddy Roosevelt? Listen and find out.

Today’s Talmud pages, Sanhedrin 80 and 81, bring up a form of punishment that has been previously all but missing from the discussion: prison. Why do the rabbis rarely mention incarceration as a form of punishment? And what can we learn from them to reform our own profoundly broken criminal justice system? Listen and find out.

Today’s Talmud page, Sanhedrin 79, focuses on the relations between actions and intentions. Is a person who intended to kill one person and killed another instead guilty of murder? And why did the rabbis disagree on this puzzling question? Listen and find out.

Today’s Talmud page, Sanhedrin 78, informs us that if ten people beat an eleventh to death together they are exempt from punishment. What's the moral logic of this controversial statement? And what does it teach us about waging war on Hamas and its many willing executioners? Listen and find out.

Today’s Talmud page, Sanhedrin 77, dives deep into the matter of taking responsibility. At what point are we liable for another person's suffering or death? And why does the distinction matter so much, morally as well as legally? Listen and find out.

Today’s Talmud pages, Sanhedrin 75 and 76, deliver a terrific introduction to the Stam, the Talmud's anonymous voice. What is it, and how does one moving story of a lovesick man unlock the Talmud's literary mysteries? Listen and find out.