Daily Daf Differently

Welcome to the Nintieth episode of Daily Daf Differently. In this episode, Rabbi Jeremy Kalmanofsky takes a very different take then usual. Today we’ll talk not about a specific page of the Talmud but about the shape of the Talmudic page and how it came to look this way. After beginning in oral transmission and then […]

Welcome to the Eighty Nineth episode of Daily Daf Differently. In this episode, Rabbi Jill Jacobs looks at Masechet Shabbat Daf 90. On Day 90 and 91, we move from the lofty vision of Matan Torah to the mundane details of the quantities of materials that one may carry from the public to the private […]

Welcome to the Eighty Eighth episode of Daily Daf Differently. In this episode, Rabbi Jill Jacobs looks at Masechet Shabbat Daf 89. This episode focuses on the angels objecting to human beings taking the Torah back to earth, where surely it will be tainted. But this is a necessary condition of the Torah coming to […]

Welcome to the Eighty Seventh episode of Daily Daf Differently. In this episode, Rabbi Jill Jacobs looks at Masechet Shabbat Daf 88. Continuing from yesterday’s topic, today the rabbis imagine the moment of Matan Torah as a moment when the supernatural happens, and when life and death sit in the balance. Rabbi Jill Jacobs is […]

Welcome to the Eighty Sixth episode of Daily Daf Differently. In this episode, Rabbi Jill Jacobs looks at Masechet Shabbat Daf 87. Today we focus on the moment of Matan Torah (revelation), which represents the ultimate human-divine encounter. In this moment, God transfers some of the responsibility of the world to humanity. Rabbi Jill Jacobs […]

Welcome to the Eighty Fifth episode of Daily Daf Differently. In this episode, Rabbi Jill Jacobs looks at Masechet Shabbat Daf 86. Today’s daf asks “When is a person ready to receive Torah?” According to the rabbis, one needs to be ready both spiritually and physically. And that leads to some fascinating speculation about sex […]

Welcome to the Eighty Fourth episode of Daily Daf Differently. In this episode, Rabbi Harry Pell looks at Masechet Shabbat Daf 85. This episode continues with the theme of planting multiple species in a small garden, and in the process reminds us why the Talmud is more of an educational experience than a series of […]

Welcome to the Eighty Third episode of Daily Daf Differently. In this episode, Rabbi Harry Pell looks at Masechet Shabbat Daf 84. Masechet Shabbat, Daf 84 opens with the challenge of planting multiple species in a small garden, and ends by implicitly raising the question of how best to analyze the purpose of any given […]

Welcome to the Eighty Second episode of Daily Daf Differently. In this episode, Rabbi Harry Pell looks at Masechet Shabbat Daf 83. Masechet Shabbat, Daf 83 is chock full of great Talmudic material, form the question of whether a disassembled idol still imparts impurity, to the question of how we know that ocean-going ships do […]

Welcome to the Eighty First episode of Daily Daf Differently. In this episode, Rabbi Harry Pell looks at Masechet Shabbat Daf 82. Masechet Shabbat, Daf 82 shares best practices for conduct in the bathroom, which I have taken the liberty of cross-checking with a medical doctor. It also gives us the chance to bid farewell […]