Welcome to the Three Hundred Thirtieth episode of Daily Daf Differently. In this episode, Rabbi Michael Pitkowsky looks at Masechet Pesachim Daf 71.

When the Temple was in existence, the holiday experience for many Jews was centered around the offering of sacrifices in the Temple. There was an offering that was brought on every holiday and sometimes a specific sacrifice such as the Korban Pesach. For most of these sacrifices the priests were the ones to benefit most from the sacrifice. Today’s daf addresses how non-priests celebrated the festival. What were their avenues for expressing joy and thanks to God? This question opens up the discussion about how holidays are observed and celebrated in a post-destruction world when there is no Temple even for the priests.

Rabbi Michael Pitkowsky is the Rabbinics Curriculum Coordinator at the Academy for Jewish Religion and an Adjunct Assistant Professor at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America. Michael lives in the Riverdale neighborhood of the Bronx with his wife and two children and is a member of CSAIR. He can be found blogging at menachemmendel.net/blog and on Twitter @mpitkowsky.

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