Take One Daf Yomi

Today’s Talmud pages, Bava Metzia 44 and 45, ponder whether it's right to punish someone for merely contemplating committing a sin. Tablet Magazine's Armin Rosen joins us to discuss this idea and how it inspired some of science fiction's finest works. Can our thoughts sometimes be even more consequential than our actions? Listen and find out.Like the show? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Send us a note at takeone@tabletmag.com. Follow us on Twitter at @takeonedafyomi and join the conversation in the Take One Facebook group.We think that you may also enjoy Liel's new book How the Talmud Can Change Your Life: Surprisingly Modern Advice from a Very Old Book, available directly from the publisher, or wherever you purchase books.Listen to the Testimonies Archive, a partnership between Tablet Studios and the USC Shoah Foundation, for eyewitness audio accounts from Israel in the wake of the Oct 7 Hamas attacks.Check out all of Tablet’s podcasts at tabletmag.com/podcasts.

Today’s Talmud page, Bava Metzia 43, gets very specific about how we ought to calculate the compensation someone ought to pay when they misappropriate something that then either grows or diminishes in value. What's the correct answer, and what does it have to teach us today? Listen and find out.Like the show? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Send us a note at takeone@tabletmag.com. Follow us on Twitter at @takeonedafyomi and join the conversation in the Take One Facebook group.We think that you may also enjoy Liel's new book How the Talmud Can Change Your Life: Surprisingly Modern Advice from a Very Old Book, available directly from the publisher, or wherever you purchase books.Listen to the Testimonies Archive, a partnership between Tablet Studios and the USC Shoah Foundation, for eyewitness audio accounts from Israel in the wake of the Oct 7 Hamas attacks.Check out all of Tablet’s podcasts at tabletmag.com/podcasts.

Today’s Talmud page, Bava Metzia 42, delivers a bit of financial advice so sage and timeless that, thousands of years later, it is still cited by investment gurus as the Golden Standard. What is it? And why do so many Wall Street hot shots ignore it, with disastrous results? Listen and find out.Like the show? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Send us a note at takeone@tabletmag.com. Follow us on Twitter at @takeonedafyomi and join the conversation in the Take One Facebook group.We think that you may also enjoy Liel's new book How the Talmud Can Change Your Life: Surprisingly Modern Advice from a Very Old Book, available directly from the publisher, or wherever you purchase books.Listen to the Testimonies Archive, a partnership between Tablet Studios and the USC Shoah Foundation, for eyewitness audio accounts from Israel in the wake of the Oct 7 Hamas attacks.Check out all of Tablet’s podcasts at tabletmag.com/podcasts.

Today’s Talmud page, Bava Metzia 41, delivers a strange ruling: A person, it tells us, doesn't have to cause another financial loss or damages in order to be guilty of misappropriation. What, then, does misappropriation truly mean? And what does it have to do with a recent and highly controversial decision by McDonald's? Listen and find out.Like the show? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Send us a note at takeone@tabletmag.com. Follow us on Twitter at @takeonedafyomi and join the conversation in the Take One Facebook group.We think that you may also enjoy Liel's new book How the Talmud Can Change Your Life: Surprisingly Modern Advice from a Very Old Book, available directly from the publisher, or wherever you purchase books.Listen to the Testimonies Archive, a partnership between Tablet Studios and the USC Shoah Foundation, for eyewitness audio accounts from Israel in the wake of the Oct 7 Hamas attacks.Check out all of Tablet’s podcasts at tabletmag.com/podcasts.

Today’s Talmud pages, Bava Metzia 39 and 40, talk about the assignment of property when people are taken captive. Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin joins us to discuss the Rabbis’ perspective on what matters most when Jews are taken prisoner. How do we take care of both survivors and captives? Listen and find out.Like the show? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Send us a note at takeone@tabletmag.com. Follow us on Twitter at @takeonedafyomi and join the conversation in the Take One Facebook group.We think that you may also enjoy Liel's new book How the Talmud Can Change Your Life: Surprisingly Modern Advice from a Very Old Book, available directly from the publisher, or wherever you purchase books.Listen to the Testimonies Archive, a partnership between Tablet Studios and the USC Shoah Foundation, for eyewitness audio accounts from Israel in the wake of the Oct 7 Hamas attacks.Check out all of Tablet’s podcasts at tabletmag.com/podcasts.

Today’s Talmud page, Bava Metzia 37 and 38, uses the case of a prolific thief to teach something far more fundamental about justice and Jewish law. Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin joins us to discuss how the law is for everyone, from the lowest of the thieves to the holiest among us. Should we consider the law the ceiling or the floor of our responsibilities? Listen and find out.Like the show? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Send us a note at takeone@tabletmag.com. Follow us on Twitter at @takeonedafyomi and join the conversation in the Take One Facebook group.We think that you may also enjoy Liel's new book How the Talmud Can Change Your Life: Surprisingly Modern Advice from a Very Old Book, available directly from the publisher, or wherever you purchase books.Listen to the Testimonies Archive, a partnership between Tablet Studios and the USC Shoah Foundation, for eyewitness audio accounts from Israel in the wake of the Oct 7 Hamas attacks.Check out all of Tablet’s podcasts at tabletmag.com/podcasts.

Today’s Talmud page, Bava Metzia 36, uses a somewhat complicated transactional discussion about paid and unpaid bailees to deliver a gorgeous lesson for the ages about the importance of always trying and doing and being our best. Why should we never, ever cut corners and shirk our duties? Listen and find out.Like the show? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Send us a note at takeone@tabletmag.com. Follow us on Twitter at @takeonedafyomi and join the conversation in the Take One Facebook group.We think that you may also enjoy Liel's new book How the Talmud Can Change Your Life: Surprisingly Modern Advice from a Very Old Book, available directly from the publisher, or wherever you purchase books.Listen to the Testimonies Archive, a partnership between Tablet Studios and the USC Shoah Foundation, for eyewitness audio accounts from Israel in the wake of the Oct 7 Hamas attacks.Check out all of Tablet’s podcasts at tabletmag.com/podcasts.

Today’s Talmud page, Bava Metzia 35, speaks of the relation between debtor and creditor. Is it enough for a creditor to lend his wealth to debtors because he is an "upright person"? The producers of our sister podcast, Unorthodox, visited the Social Grocery Store in Tel Aviv just last week, a food pantry filled with upright volunteers that serve asylum seekers and migrants struggling to get by. Wondering what the bond is between wealth and righteousness? Listen and find out.Like the show? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Send us a note at takeone@tabletmag.com. Follow us on Twitter at @takeonedafyomi and join the conversation in the Take One Facebook group.We think that you may also enjoy Liel's new book How the Talmud Can Change Your Life: Surprisingly Modern Advice from a Very Old Book, available directly from the publisher, or wherever you purchase books.Listen to the Testimonies Archive, a partnership between Tablet Studios and the USC Shoah Foundation, for eyewitness audio accounts from Israel in the wake of the Oct 7 Hamas attacks.Check out all of Tablet’s podcasts at tabletmag.com/podcasts.

Today’s Talmud page, Bava Metzia 34, unpacks the mystery of the shomer hinam, a person who agreed to watch over something free of charge and then, maybe, coveted the item for himself. Is it still a sin if he agrees to pay for it in full? And what does this seemingly dry, legalistic case teach us about remaining pure-hearted and kind? Listen and find out.Like the show? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Send us a note at takeone@tabletmag.com. Follow us on Twitter at @takeonedafyomi and join the conversation in the Take One Facebook group.We think that you may also enjoy Liel's new book How the Talmud Can Change Your Life: Surprisingly Modern Advice from a Very Old Book, available directly from the publisher, or wherever you purchase books.

Today’s Talmud pages, Bava Metzia 32 and 33, weigh in on the question of who deserves more respect: Our parents or our teachers. It's a hot-button political issue in our never-ending culture wars, and the rabbis offer a definitive, and surprising, take. What is it? Listen and find out.Like the show? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Send us a note at takeone@tabletmag.com. Follow us on Twitter at @takeonedafyomi and join the conversation in the Take One Facebook group.We think that you may also enjoy Liel's new book How the Talmud Can Change Your Life: Surprisingly Modern Advice from a Very Old Book, available directly from the publisher, or wherever you purchase books.Listen to the Testimonies Archive, a partnership between Tablet Studios and the USC Shoah Foundation, for eyewitness audio accounts from Israel in the wake of the Oct 7 Hamas attacks.Check out all of Tablet’s podcasts at tabletmag.com/podcasts.