Welcome to the Hundred and Eighty Fifth episode of Daily Daf Differently. In this episode, Rabbi Ethan Linden looks at Masechet Eruvin Daf 30.

We make use of legal fictions in Judaism all the time. We sell our chametz on Passover, and we carry on Shabbat in places wherein we would usually be forbidden from doing so by means of an eruv. But maybe these legal fictions are a problem. Maybe we shouldn’t be pretending quite so much. On this daf, the debate about legal fictions breaks out, with Beit Shammai’s Washington Generals going up against Beit Hillel’s Harlem Globetrotters.

Rabbi Ethan Linden is the rabbi of Shir Chadash Conservative Congregation in New Orleans, Louisiana. He is the author of the (made-up) book: Tractate Mardis Gras: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Parades. Prior to coming to New Orleans, Ethan was the Assistant Director of Camp Ramah in New England and the Rabbinic Advisor for the Student Conservative Minyan at the Harvard Hillel.

The opening and closing music for this podcast is Ufros from The Epichorus album One Bead.