Take One Daf Yomi

Today’s Talmud page, Bava Kama 90 discusses the penalties that one must pay to another if they slap them. There are different levels of penalty that must be paid depending on the type of slap, and the location on the body that is slapped. Tablet’s Courtney Hazlett returns to explore the story of the slap heard around the world, that being the slap by Will Smith of comedian Chris Rock at the 2022 Academy Awards. We discuss the ways that a slap is far more complicated than other forms of physical aggression, as it was an attempt to degrade far more than to cause physical injury. How do the Rabbis see the act of humiliation in comparison to other forms of assault? 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.Take One is a Tablet Studios production. The show is hosted by Liel Leibovitz, and is produced and edited by Darone Ruskay, Quinn Waller and Elie Bleier. Our team also includes Satephanie Butnick, Josh Kross, Robert Scaramuccia, and Tanya Singer. 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 Kama 89 asks whether a woman can use the financial value of her marriage contract to pay restitution to someone she has damaged. The Rabbis go on to discuss the potential difference between an actual possession and a promise of a possession listed in words. This idea reminds us of the financial bubble that came out of the growth of the sub-prime mortgage crisis and the mortgage-backed securities that followed. How can we ensure that our words don’t form a bubble of their own? 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 Advicefrom a Very Old Book, available directly from the publisher, or wherever you purchase books.Take One is a Tablet Studios production. The show is hosted by Liel Leibovitz, and is produced and edited by Darone Ruskay, Quinn Waller and Elie Bleier. Our team also includes Satephanie Butnick, Josh Kross, Robert Scaramuccia, and Tanya Singer. 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.

Covering Their Tracks is the extraordinary story of a young man’s escape from a moving train bound for the Auschwitz concentration camp during the Holocaust, and his fight to hold the French national rail company, the SNCF, accountable for their actions as they later bid for lucrative high-speed rail contracts in the United States.For more information visit http://tabletmag.com/coveringtheirtracks or search for Covering Their Track wherever you get your podcasts.

Today’s Talmud pages, Bava Kama 87 and 88 asks what Jewish ethics permit us to do when we are on the retaliating end of atrocities. This is an especially important question in the aftermath of October 7. We welcome Rabbi Dr. Shlomo Brody, author of Ethics of Our Fighters: A Jewish View on War and Morality to discuss the complicated balance between indiscriminate killing and maintaining our defense. What does halacha teach us about the ways that we fight that keep in mind both the idea that all human beings are made in the image of God and our need for retaliation? 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 Advicefrom a Very Old Book, available directly from the publisher, or wherever you purchase books.Take One is a Tablet Studios production. The show is hostedby Liel Leibovitz, and is produced and edited by Darone Ruskay, Quinn Wallerand Elie Bleier. Our team also includes Satephanie Butnick, Josh Kross, RobertScaramuccia, and Tanya Singer. Listen to the Testimonies Archive, a partnershipbetween Tablet Studios and the USC Shoah Foundation, for eyewitness audioaccounts 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 Kama 85 and 86 follows a discussion where the question of what happens when someone receives a harsh punishment, and the decision must be made on how to dole out such a horrible punishment. This topic is very timely, as the State of Alabama is preparing to execute Kenneth Smith, after his conviction on the charges of murder. In response to his immanent death, religious leaders have reached out to the Governor of Alabama asking that the form of execution be changed from asphyxiation with nitrogen gas to a more humane manner. How can we balance the rule of law with a quality or mercy? 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 Advicefrom a Very Old Book, available directly from the publisher, or wherever you purchase books.Take One is a Tablet Studios production. The show is hostedby Liel Leibovitz, and is produced and edited by Darone Ruskay, Quinn Wallerand Elie Bleier. Our team also includes Satephanie Butnick, Josh Kross, RobertScaramuccia, and Tanya Singer. Listen to the Testimonies Archive, a partnershipbetween Tablet Studios and the USC Shoah Foundation, for eyewitness audioaccounts 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 Kama 84 focuses on one of the most famous phrases in Biblical justice, “An Eye For An Eye”. While this concept may seem barbaric and encourage severe responses to actions that you befall, the Rabbis saw it in a different light. They indicate that because we all feel things differently, pain included, it is impossible to ensure that an even punishment is given in this format, and thus it is necessary to look at the concept differently. Is this adage a call for revenge, or for empathy? 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 Advicefrom a Very Old Book, available directly from the publisher, or wherever you purchase books.Take One is a Tablet Studios production. The show is hostedby Liel Leibovitz, and is produced and edited by Darone Ruskay, Quinn Wallerand Elie Bleier. Our team also includes Satephanie Butnick, Josh Kross, RobertScaramuccia, and Tanya Singer. Listen to the Testimonies Archive, a partnershipbetween Tablet Studios and the USC Shoah Foundation, for eyewitness audioaccounts 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 Kama 83 begins with Yehuda HaNasi proclaiming that one should speak either the sacred language of Hebrew, or the language of the environment, at that time, Greek. Tablet Magazine’s Courtney Hazlett returns today to share her journey in learning Hebrew. While she began to learn in preparation for her Bat Mitzvah, she has double downed on her commitment to learning the language in response to October 7. What is so powerful about speaking in the holy language of the Torah? 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 Advicefrom a Very Old Book, available directly from the publisher, or wherever you purchase books.Take One is a Tablet Studios production. The show is hostedby Liel Leibovitz, and is produced and edited by Darone Ruskay, Quinn Wallerand Elie Bleier. Our team also includes Satephanie Butnick, Josh Kross, RobertScaramuccia, and Tanya Singer. Listen to the Testimonies Archive, a partnershipbetween Tablet Studios and the USC Shoah Foundation, for eyewitness audioaccounts 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 Kamma 82, issues a strange warning against... education? Rabbi Ari Lamm joins us to explain what the rabbis meant when they spoke of Greek Wisdom, and how Jewish culture and values have always had to struggle with divergent and popular ideas. What can the rabbis' wisdom teach us about the current state of secular education? 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 Advicefrom a Very Old Book, available directly from the publisher, or wherever you purchase books.Take One is a Tablet Studios production. The show is hostedby Liel Leibovitz, and is produced and edited by Darone Ruskay, Quinn Wallerand Elie Bleier. Our team also includes Satephanie Butnick, Josh Kross, RobertScaramuccia, and Tanya Singer. Listen to the Testimonies Archive, a partnershipbetween Tablet Studios and the USC Shoah Foundation, for eyewitness audioaccounts 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 Kama 80 and 81 begin by discussing what animals one was allowed to take in as pets in their homes. It then moves on to discuss other horrible calamities that may befall a community, including the mosquito. The Environmental Protection Agency recently approved a new technology that would stop mosquitoes from procreating, which might finally end this scourge on our society. Will we finally be able to enjoy a picnic without worrying about getting bitten? 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 Advicefrom a Very Old Book, available directly from the publisher, or wherever you purchase books.Take One is a Tablet Studios production. The show is hostedby Liel Leibovitz, and is produced and edited by Darone Ruskay, Quinn Wallerand Elie Bleier. Our team also includes Satephanie Butnick, Josh Kross, RobertScaramuccia, and Tanya Singer. Listen to the Testimonies Archive, a partnershipbetween Tablet Studios and the USC Shoah Foundation, for eyewitness audioaccounts 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 Kama 78 and 79 ask why a thief must pay a larger fine than a robber. The Talmud goes on to explain that a robber is only transgressing against other people, but the action of the thief is a sin against God as well as he tries to hide his actions by stealing at night. What can we learn about our actions from the fines put upon a thief versus that of a robber? 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.Take One is a Tablet Studios production. The show is hosted by Liel Leibovitz, and is produced and edited by Darone Ruskay, Quinn Waller and Elie Bleier. Our team also includes Satephanie Butnick, Josh Kross, Robert Scaramuccia, and Tanya Singer. 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.