Take One Daf Yomi

Today’s Daf Yomi page, Eruvin 66, dives down into a sensitive subject: What does it take to build a community where Jews and non-Jews live together peacefully? Alan Newman, the author of the new novel A Good Heart, joins us to talk about Christian-Jewish relations, and what life in small town America taught him about making friends across different communities of faith. How might the Talmud inspire contemporary Christian-Jewish relations? Listen and find out.

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Today’s Daf Yomi page, Eruvin 65, explores the age old question: Should you be early to bed and early to rise, or is it better to stay up late? The rabbis, no surprise, are of at least two minds, and modern science confirms that their ambiguity was well-merited. So who's better, early birds or night owls? Listen and find out.

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Today’s Daf Yomi pages, Eruvin 63 and 64, pose a provocative question: Does drinking make you holier? Ruby Namdar, author, Talmud scholar, and a man fond of his drink joins us to parse this rich and strange question and what it teaches us about the rabbis' state of mind. Should you write while you drink, or drink while you write? Listen and find out.

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Today’s Daf Yomi pages, Eruvin 61 and 62, ask pointed questions about how the whole idea of an eruv pertains to our non-Jewish neighbors, which is really another way of asking how do we conceive of insiders and outsiders in our midst. Charlotte Fonrobert, professor of religious studies at Stanford University, joins us to discuss what the eruv can teach us about setting up sovereign spaces and navigating complex political realities. What inspiration can the idea of an eruv give us in our troubled political time? Listen and find out.

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Today’s Daf Yomi page, Eruvin 60, ends with one of the rabbis, Rabbi Idi, strangely dismissing the whole enterprise of prophecy. Why would a sage and a scholar speak this way? A.J. Berkovitz,  assistant professor at Hebrew Union College, joins us to explain the Talmud's complicated relationship with revelation, and what important lessons it can still teach us today. How does dissing prophecy make us better students? Listen and find out.

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Today’s Daf Yomi page, Eruvin 59, examines what happens when a small town grows into a big city and neighborhoods change in a process we now often call gentrification. Producer Josh Kross, a city dweller who recently set up residence in the country, joins us to talk about how to be respectful when moving to a new community. What's the best way to avoid being a jerk to new neighbors? Listen and find out.

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Today’s Daf Yomi page, Eruvin 58, begins with a mysterious warning against using tools that are too efficient and blooms into a meditation on human experience. Why should we listen even to those who are decidedly not experts? Listen and find out.

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Today’s Daf Yomi pages, Eruvin 56 and 57, find the rabbis in the mood to exalt the deliciousness of vegetables. Why are leeks and radishes important? And why should you eat more than meat? Mark Oppenheimer returns to teach us a lesson on the importance of a healthy and plant-based diet. How is what you eat related to how you vote? Listen and find out.

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Today’s Daf Yomi pages, Eruvin 54 and 55, ask a pressing question: What does the Bible teach us about how we should practice politics? Rabbi Ari Lamm returns to introduce us to the world's first politician, and teach us two Hebrew words that are essential if we'd like to heal our broken political system. What bit of inspiration does the Talmud have in this grim political moment of ours? Listen and find out.

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Today’s Daf Yomi page, Eruvin 53, finds the rabbis in a mood to talk about what makes good teachers and good students. Professor Agi Legutko of Columbia University joins us to discuss whether or not the Talmud's ancient pedagogical philosophy holds up. How do the best teachers approach their craft? Listen and find out.

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Today’s Daf Yomi page, Eruvin 52, presents us with an image of a man standing with one foot inside the boundaries of the eruv and another outside. Why do the rabbis conjure such a strange case? Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin returns to argue that the rabbis were so obsessed with geographic boundaries because they realized that holiness, like community, was only possible if practiced in a specific and clearly defined place. What mystical meaning did the great hassidic master Rabbi Tzadok find in thinking about eruvin? Listen and find out.

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Today’s Daf Yomi page, Eruvin 51, brings up the importance of trusting your friends, especially when you're feeling a bit out of your element. Lily and Annabelle, two nine-year-old friends, join us to discuss the power of friendship and share stories of that time when they just couldn't have made it through without the other's help. What does being a friend really feel like? Listen and find out.

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Today’s Daf Yomi pages, Eruvin 49 and 50, the rabbis caution us not to lose sight of the community-building aspect of an eruv. Brian Benjamin, a New York State Senator, joins us to share how he and his colleagues struggled to keep New Yorkers working together during Covid-19, and what is still to be done to make the state a cohesive community. What can the idea of an eruv teach us about running a modern city? Listen and find out.

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Today’s Daf Yomi pages, Eruvin 47 and 48, the rabbis discuss personal space, and just how much of it a person really needs. Stephanie Butnick returns to offer insights into life in a very small New York City apartment during months of Covid lockdown, and how two people managed to negotiate their own personal space and each other's. How did a long quarantine change the meaning of home for many New Yorkers? Listen and find out.

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Today’s Daf Yomi page, Eruvin 46, contains a striking permission for a tractate so thick with rules and regulations: When in doubt about some question pertaining to an eruv, just follow the more lenient opinion. Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin returns to explain this unexpected ruling, and shed light on what's so special about an eruv that the rabbis would permit leniency as the default. How does an eruv build a community? Listen and find out.

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Today’s Daf Yomi page, Eruvin 45, gives permission to sometimes violate the strictures of the eruv if one is rushing to save a life. Dr. Teresa Amato, director of Emergency Medicine at one of the New York City hospitals that treated more Covid-19 patients than any other in the nation, joins us to share stories from the front lines of the war against the plague, and recount which rules and procedures had to be broken, bent, or ignored to care for the mass of patients requiring urgent care. What did nurses and doctors who are observant Jews did when duty called on Shabbat? Listen and find out.

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Today’s Daf Yomi page, Eruvin 44, asks a thorny question: Can you use a live human being to demarcate an eruv? Producer Josh Kross returns to offer a lively soccer analogy and muse on why sometimes, being a team player means simply trusting your friends even if they're asking you to literally put your body on the line. What do you think about when Cristiano Ronaldo is about to kick a ball right into your crotch? Listen and find out.

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Today’s Daf Yomi pages, Eruvin 42 and 43, kick things off with a sporting discussion about counting steps to properly mark an eruv. Little did the ancient rabbis know, but step-counting would soon become the basis for a multi-million dollar industry of workout apps and gadgets, from the Fitbit to the Peloton bike. But while these gizmos help you keep off the pounds, they also speak in a language that is often, well, religious. How is the rabbis' workout philosophy different from the one currently on offer? Listen and find out.

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Today’s Daf Yomi pages, Eruvin 40 and 41, finds the rabbis having a heated conversation about the importance of political norms and respecting the unwritten rules of keeping a community vibrant and cohesive. Seth Mandel, executive editor of The Washington Examiner, joins us to talk about the current and sorry state of political norms in Washington, D.C., and offer up some wisdom our politicians desperately need to learn from the Talmud. How bad is the state of our political process, and how can we make it much better? Listen and find out.

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Today’s Daf Yomi page, Eruvin 39, is all about yom tov sheni, or the second day of the holiday we celebrate everywhere outside of Israel. But why do we celebrate it? And is it time, now that we have powerful apps that can tell us precisely when holidays begin and end, to put an end to this custom? Or were the wise rabbis trying to teach us something more valuable, a lesson about holding on to tradition with all of our might? Listen and find out.

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Today’s Daf Yomi page, Eruvin 38, asks a question that may sound familiar to anyone who is feeling overwhelmed by life throwing too many challenges their way: What do you do when you get pulled in too many different directions? It's a lot like trying to drive a camel and a donkey at the same time, the rabbis tell us, each animal doing its own thing. Professor Hannah Lebowits joins us to discuss how the notion of eruv can shed light on our particularly challenging moment in time, and why it teaches us to think communally rather than individually. How does an eruv prepare us for light during Covid-19? Listen and find out.

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Today’s Daf Yomi page, Eruvin 37, finds the rabbis talking about retroactive designation, or whether or not it's OK to reason your way in retrospect. Which, if you've ever watched a sci-fi or fantasy film, is what the genre does all the time, changing the rules and the history as it goes along. Film critic Jordan Hoffman joins us to discuss this phenomenon, known as ret-conning, and whether or not its a blessing or a shande. Which very famous Star Wars plot point would've greatly upset the rabbis? Listen and find out.

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Today’s Daf Yomi pages, Eruvin 35 and 36, take on one of the biggest problems that inform and inspire all of religious life, the problem of doubt. Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin returns to explain why doubt is an essential part of faith, and help us understand how doubt can inspire rather than frustrate us. How should we rethink our attitude to doubt? Listen and find out.

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Today’s Daf Yomi pages, Eruvin 33 and 34, begin by asking what sounds like the Jewish version of Schrodinger's Cat: If you put the food you need for an eruv in a closet, lock it up, and then lose the key, is the eruv still valid? Rabba Shani Gross joins us to unlock this complicated question, and explain why it just may be the most pressing conundrum of our time. How's that locked closet a metaphor for Covid-era lockdowns, and what can we learn from it? Listen and find out.

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Today's Daf Yomi page, Eruvin 32, continues the crucial and complex conversation about the limits of personal responsibility and transgression. Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin returns to guide us through the thicket of sin and stumbling that makes up so much of our moral lives. Is it ever OK to knowingly transgress so as to save a friend from committing an even bigger transgression? Listen and find out.

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Today’s Daf Yomi page, Eruvin 31, urges us to take agency over what matters in life. And what could matter more than our own education? Eric Cohen, executive director of The Tikvah Fund, joins us to talk about how Covid-19 inspired a slew of new educational offerings, and about why high school students are capable of learning and thinking about much loftier things than we give them credit for. Are the kids alright? Listen and find out.

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Today's Daf Yomi page, Eruvin 30, introduces one of the most important principles to emerge out of Jewish wisdom: Don't yuck my yum. Chef Einat Admoni joins us to talk about why all dishes, even those you can't stand, have a secret and rich inner life of their own, and how an open mouth and an open mind can change your life. What's the one dish Americans just don't get but really should? Listen and find out.

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Today's Daf Yomi pages, Eruvin 28 and 29, find one of the rabbis reminiscing about the wonderful remedies his nurse-mother used to offer when he was ill. Tablet's editor in chief, Alana Newhouse joins us to offer a spirited defense of folk wisdom, and lament the ways in which the traditional male establishment still ignores the insights women have wisely accumulated for years. How did a single nurse stump the best doctors and discovered a cure for jaundice? Listen and find out.

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Today’s Daf Yomi pages, Eruvin 26 and 27, inform us that for an eruv to truly turn disparate private domains into one shared public domain, food should be involved. And not just any food—only the kind that sustains us and gives us comfort. Producer Sara Fredman Aeder joins us to talk about how a few perfect cakes brought her community together in the time of Covid-19, and muse about the connections between baking and being together with others. Why is the right pastry the perfect pathway into friendship? Listen and find out.

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Today’s Daf Yomi page, Eruvin 25, raises the question of the often complicated relationships between Jews by choice and their non-Jewish families. Rebecca Cynamon-Murphy kept an audio diary right before her conversion, touching, in large part, on this very subject. What’s the hardest thing about her family traditions for a Jew by choice to leave behind? Listen and find out.

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Today’s Daf Yomi page, Eruvin 24, comes just in time to wave farewell to summer with a brisk discussion of swimming and swimming pools. Mark Oppenheimer returns to talk to us about that great suburban fantasy, a pool of one’s own. Why so little love for above-ground pools, anyway? Listen and find out.

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Today's Daf Yomi page, Eruvin 23, sparks a debate that may sound strange to us: is a shul a place of residence? Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin joins us to discuss the changing status of synagogues through the ages, and propose a radical rethinking of how we approach our houses of worship today. Is it alright to stretch out on the pews and enjoy a good night’s sleep? Listen and find out.

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Today's Daf Yomi pages, Eruvin 21 and 22, raise the question of divine reward: What, in other words, do we get if we’re very good and obey all the commandments? Rabbi Dr. Stuart Halpern joins us with a meditation on prizes, punishments, and personal responsibility. Is it true that good things always happen to good people? Listen and find out.

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Today’s Daf Yomi pages, Eruvin 19 and 20, raise one of Judaism’s most difficult questions: Do we believe in hell? Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin returns with a soulful and evocative reading of eternal damnation. What can we do in life to avoid getting to the Bad Place? Listen and find out.

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Today’s Daf Yomi page, Eruvin 18, tell us a truly fantastic story: At some point after the whole business with the apple and the snake, Adam gave birth to a bunch of demon children. Shira Telushkin joins us to talk about these primordial pests, and explain why the world of the Talmud is thick with otherworldly creatures. Are demon children simply what you get if you don’t properly educate your kids? Listen and find out.

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Today’s Daf Yomi page, Eruvin 17, dives into some of the laws of warfare. Rabbi Avi Shafran, a signatory of a recent letter calling on Jews to abandon the pugilism of partisan politics, joins us to discuss why Jews should look up to Sinai, not Washington, when making their political decisions. Why is our hyper-divisive culture anathema to Jewish values? Listen and find out.

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Today's Daf Yomi page, Eruvin 16, deals with the rules of keeping an eruv while camping. Aimee Friedman, author and notable hater of all things outdoorsy, joins us to consider the thorny relationship between some Jews and nature. What to do if you’re in a tent and hear noises late at night? Listen and find out.

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Today's Daf Yomi pages, Eruvin 14 and 15, continue to dive deeper and deeper into the concept of the eruv. Rabbi Yaakov Taubes joins us to recap everything we’ve learned in the tractate so far, and give us an insightful look into what eruvin are really for. Why is an eruv the first thing a community usually builds? Listen and find out.

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Today’s Daf Yomi pages, Eruvin 12 and 13, teach us about the majestic power of editing. Lisa Sandell, an editor of young adult books, joins us to discuss the editorial process and how it can make—or destroy—a book. What do the best writers understand about their editors? Listen and find out.

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Today’s Daf Yomi page, Eruvin 11, gives us a heartwarming story of one great rabbi humbly and eagerly learning from another. Rabbi Dr. Ari Lamm joins us to shed light on what even the most erudite and confident among us have to learn from others, and how that impacts the very nature of learning itself. What key Talmudic message about learning was hidden in the TV show Scrubs? Listen and find out.

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Today’s Daf Yomi page, Eruvin 10, gives us an insider’s look into how the Talmud raises—and answers—questions. Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin joins us to shed light on how Jewish law conceptualizes questions versus conclusions. What’s the best way to decide how to live your life? Listen and find out.

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Today's Daf Yomi page, Eruvin 9, riffs on the importance of being kind to the folks next door. Harvard professor Nancy Rosenblum, author of Good Neighbors: The Democracy of Everyday Life in America, joins us to talk about what we owe—and don’t owe—our neighbors, and how the public sphere is influenced by our neighborly relations. Are neighbors more or less important in a time of quarantine? Listen and find out.

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Today's Daf Yomi pages, Eruvin 7 and 8, raise a question that has haunted American politics from the very first: How to resolve conflicts elegantly and gracefully. Tevi Troy, former Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Services and the author of Fight House: Rivalries in the White House from Truman to Trump, joins us to share some of the most notable examples of big political disagreements handled one, and some handled less astutely. Which president really knew how to keep his advisors from getting too belligerent? Listen and find out.

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Today’s Daf Yomi page, Eruvin 5 and 6, have the rabbis debating what, precisely, qualifies as a public space. Justin Davidson, New York Magazine's Pulitzer Prize-winning architectural critic, joins us to talk about how politicians, activists, and urban planners grappled over the exact same question, and what the implications of their discussions had been on our lives. How will cities change in the aftermath of a pandemic demanding social distancing? Listen and find out.

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Today’s Daf Yomi page, Eruvin 4, concerns itself with the mikvah, the ritual bath where Jewish women and men are commanded to purify themselves. Writer and editor Avital Chizhik-Goldschmidt joins us to explain the magic of fulfilling this commandment. How can dipping cleanse not just the body but also the soul? Listen and find out.

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Today’s Daf Yomi page, Eruvin 3, begins with a strange admission: Even though all units of distance are supposed to be precisely the same, the rabbis tell us that there's a happy cubit and a sad one. Historian and author Gil Troy joins us to talk about his latest book, a collaboration with legendary refusnik leader Natan Sharansky, and tell us why some places are indeed inherently happy and some profoundly sad, and what we can do to bring light even to the grimmest of spots, like the Gulag where Sharansky spent nearly a decade. How can Jews help each other to stay in happy places in perpetuity? Listen and find out.

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Today's Daf Yomi page, Eruvin 2, is the first in a tractate that's widely considered one of the most difficult, intricate, and, thankfully, rewarding in the entire Talmud. Rabbi Adam Mintz joins us to explain the concept of eruv, the logic behind it, and its contributions to keeping the Jewish people together. Why is there a box of matzo lying around the lobby of a synagogue on Manhattan's Upper West Side? Listen and find out.

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Today's Daf Yomi pages, Shabbat 156 and 157, bring to its conclusion the Talmud's longest tractate. Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin joins us to sum up the wisdom we've learned over the last few months, and deliver a much-needed reminder of the beauties and difficulties of being an adult. Why was so much of the tractate spent on technicalities and so little on the magic of our day of rest? Listen and find out.

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Today’s Daf Yomi page, Shabbat 154 and 155, teach us that God has a soft spot in His heart for dogs. Lily, 9, and Hudson, 7, join us to talk about their love of dogs, and dispense advice on how to be kinder to your pooch. What's the most important thing you can do to make your dog happy? Listen and find out.

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Today’s Daf Yomi page, Shabbat 153, delivers a stunning teaching from the rabbis: Repent one day before your death. Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin returns to help us unlock this quizzical statement, and teach us how to repent better. How does your need to make amends change as you mature and grow? Listen and find out.

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