Talking Talmud

By Yardaena Osband & Anne Gordon

What's Talking Talmud about?

Learning the daf? We have something for you to think about. Not learning the daf? We have something for you to think about! (Along with a taste of the daf...)

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Talking Talmud episodes:

04.26.2024
Bava Metzia 58: God Owns the Consecrated Animals
Consecrated items for which one bears responsibility are subject to price fraud, but when one is not responsible, price fraud is irrelevant. But what does it mean for the consecrated property to belong to God? What about the human dimension?...
04.25.2024
Bava Metzia 57: The Temple Won't Take Advantage (Because It's Allowed)
When is the capacity to take advantage of another not relevant? And if there's no risk of exploitation, is there any recourse to cancel the transaction for other reasons? Note the exceptions of consecrated property (hekdesh) and land... Also, what...
04.24.2024
Bava Metzia 56: When Onaah Does Not Apply
A Mishnah lists cases where onaah does not apply and the Gemara discusses the scriptural sources for these categories.
04.23.2024
Bava Metzia 55: Worth a Perutah, Need a Fifth
2 mishnayot - Mishnah 1: Determining the differential to be considered exploitative, the amount to swear, and the amount to admit to owing money. Plus, 5 cases that depend on the equivalent of one perutah. Also, Mishnah 2: 5 halakhic...
04.22.2024
Bava Metzia 54: The Fifth
The daf discusses a variety if different aspects about the chomesh.
04.21.2024
Bava Metzia 53: Deconsecrating Maaser Sheini
The daf discusses what to do if one’s maaser sheini produce is worth less thana perutah and need to deconsecrate it onto coins.
04.20.2024
Bava Metzia 52: Eroded Coins
A new mishnah! The erosion of minted coins, and its diminished value, with the potential for fraud in using it, as the metal is worn away. Subject to a dispute between our mishnah and a beraita. Also, the Gemara in...
04.19.2024
Bava Metzia 51: Who Can Claim Fraud
A mishnah discusses if there is a time limit to claim price fraud. Also discussed if fraud can be committed by a person irrespective of a business or both? Rav and Shmuel debate if a seller can make a stipulation...
04.18.2024
Bava Metzia 50: Fraud at a Sixth
Establishing ona'ah at pricing that is a sixth over the value - with that time frame to consult and complain as temporary recourse. When is the sale considered final? Is that time limit really necessary? Also, once there's fraud, does...
04.17.2024
Bava Metzia 49: A Halakhic Better Business Bureau
Reneging on a verbal commitment toward a sale - illustrative stories. Also, a new mishnah! On "ona'ah" - cases of taking advantage of another in a measurable way that is already determined to be problematic. Plus, terms whereby a customer...
04.16.2024
Bava Metzia 48: Divine Retribution
The daf explores the idea of Mi Sh’Para and what happens of someone reneges on a sale and the beit din cannot enforce the sale.
04.15.2024
Bava Metzia 47: The Significance of a Handkerchief
Defining "kinyan sudar" - a handkerchief version of halipin. Plus, "kinyan agav," where the act of acquisition is secondary and along the way of the acquisition of something else, usually movable items along with a purchase of land. Also, using...
04.14.2024
Bava Metzia 46: The Exchange Without the Stock
More on exchange - including the question of using a coin as an indication of a formal act of acquisition. For it to work, he has to already have the coins in hand. Otherwise, it's too close to a sale....
04.13.2024
Bava Metzia 45: The Power of Exchange
One who redeems ma'aser sheni on coins, and the desacralizes the coins to use them to buy the food in Jerusalem - how those coins can be exchanged, a dispute between Beit Shammai vs. Beit Hillel. Plus, the sourcing of...
04.12.2024
Bava Metzia 44: Commodity vs. Currency
The third perek finished with a discussion about whether intent to misappropriate a deposit is misappropriation. The fourth perek begins with a mishnah discussing how objects are acquired.
04.11.2024
Bava Metzia 43: Drinking the Stash
2 mishnayot! Additional cases of an object left with a guardian, and how various variables change the guardian's liability. Note the differences between a store keeper, a money changer, and a guardian. Plus, the complications of a change in value...
04.10.2024
Bava Metzia 42: To Be a Proper Guardian
A new mishnah! When a guardian doesn't take good care to protect coins... when is he liable? With a focus on the verses that insist on proper supervision. Also, the blessing that only appears in that which is not obviously...
04.09.2024
Bava Metzia 41: Moving the Barrel
The daf discusses the last mishnah on 40 about whether a barrel being watched may be moved. A disagreement is presented between Rav and Levi if an act is considered misappropriation only if there is actual depletion of the object’s...
04.08.2024
Bava Metzia 40: Shrinking Produce
Two mishnahs detail how a shomer may deduct from the quantity of produce or liquids left with the shomer when it is returned to the owner.
04.07.2024
Bava Metzia 39: Apotropos - Guardian and Custodian
More on the property of captives. When it's time to harvest from a captives crops, the court appoints a supervisor to take care of that, and then a relative takes care of future planting, and so on. But that kind...
04.06.2024
Bava Metzia 38: The Property of Captives
A new mishnah! One who gives produce to another to watch - if it's lost or off, etc., the guardian can't touch the produce because he doesn't own it. But if he can sell it beforehand, he can preserve the...
04.05.2024
Bava Metzia 37: The Thief Who Admits He Stole
A new mishnah! When a thief acknowledges the theft, but he's not sure from whom. Likewise, a deposit. Plus, a discussion of how far can one take the deceit? Also, what how can a thief pay back when he doesn't...
04.04.2024
Bava Metzia 36: When a Guardian Hands Off to Another Guardian
When a guardian transfers the item he's watching to another guardian, without the knowledge or permission of the owner. Plus, a story about an elderly woman who watches the gardener's hose - how long does it take to establish trust...
04.03.2024
Bava Metzia 35: Of Jewels and Cows and Land Transactions
The guardian who has lost something left in his protection can take an oath or pay back the value of the item that's been lost. Or in this case, when there are witnesses that the watched item was stolen. The...
04.02.2024
Bava Metzia 34: HaMafkid
The third perek of Bava Metzia is a classic yeshiva perek of HaMafkid. The perek deals laws of watching or borrowing someone’s object and what happens if that object is lost, stolen, or broken. The halachot of this perek are...
04.01.2024
Bava Metzia 33: Your Father, Your Teacher
A mishnah asks whose lost item is more important for one to return - your father or your teacher. The Gemara discussed the merits of studying mikra, mishnah, and talmud and where one should concentrate one’s learning.
03.31.2024
Bava Kamma 32: The Ban on Animals' Suffering
If one finds an animal's in a barn... when is one obligated to return it to the owner of the barn. Plus, a kohen doesn't have to become impure for returning a lost object. Plus, nobody needs to listen to...
03.30.2024
Bava Metzia 31: You Can Say That Again
When you've returned a lost animal, and the animal runs away again, and you find it again, you have to return it multiple times - as understood from the biblical verse. Plus, the fact that the person who finds answers...
03.29.2024
Bava Metzia 30: Taking Care with Others' Stuff
Found items of different materials - silver, copper, wood, and so on - can be used by the finder in different ways, depending on the substance. Plus, when can a finder disregard the lost item? Also, the sages' discussion of...
03.28.2024
Bava Metzia 29: Lost Tefillin and More
A dispute between Rabbi Tarfon and Rabbi Akiva, about whether one can use the funds from the sale of a found animal that isn't monetarily helpful. Also, one who finds scrolls... read them! Or roll them, if need be. Plus,...
03.27.2024
Bava Metzia 28: Lost & Found
More on distinguishing marks - and whether they are a Torah requirement or a rabbinic one. Also, how long must one hold on to a lost object? Also, pilgrims to Jerusalem could reclaim their lost items from a particular place....
03.26.2024
Bava Metzia 27: Returning Lost Objects Is a Mitzvah (But Not Quite Always)
The biblical text for the requirements of returning lost objects, including which objects require returning. How, then, does the question of distinguishing marks come into play? The discussion begins with the documents of divorce, which may or may not be...
03.25.2024
Bava Metzia 26: A Few Considerations
The daf has a few mishnahs dealing with a few halachot around lost objects? Does the location where a lost object is found determine ownership or if it lost? Does a lost object need a minimum value for it to...
03.24.2024
Bava Metzia 25: Dropped Coins
A new mishnah - with a list of when a finder has to proclaim and declare the found item(s), so that the original owner can come forward. With debates over whether an item has a siman (demarcating the item) is...
03.23.2024
Bava Metzia 24: Be Nice and Give It Back
A story about Mar Zutra the Pious, when a silver cup was stolen, and Mar Zutra finds the guilty party. Unidentifiable items go to the finder - if the finder found isolated objects, but several together require declaring the find...
03.22.2024
Bava Metzia 23: Incidental Simanim
The daf discusses objects found that may or may not have a purposeful siman.
03.21.2024
Bava Metzia 22: Hospitality
Several sages were in an orchard, and a worker there gave them samples of fruit, but Mar Zutra did not eat. And then it seems that the orchard owner (Mar bar Isak, for a mini-Who's Who) may not really have...
03.20.2024
Bava Metzia 21: Ye'ush and Siman
The daf begins the second perek of the masechet which starts with a mishnah discussing lost objects and when the finder does or does not have to find the owner. Two key concepts are involved: ye'ush and siman. The Gemara...
03.19.2024
Bava Metzia 20: Lost & Found: The Documents Edition
A new mishnah, still on returning lost documents. Beginning with letters that attest to a commitment of obligation or a repossession of property by the court, and more. Plus, when the matters are not clear and they will be set...
03.18.2024
Bava Metiza 19: What is the Norm?
The daf describes a variety of scenarios where documents are found and the different types of fraud that can be committed with a found document
03.17.2024
Bava Metzia 18: Lost (and Found) Documents
A new mishnah! One who finds documents - bills of divorce, papers that free slaves, receipts, etc. - don't return them to the apparent recipient, in case they weren't actually given. Also, when the documents include names belonging to more...
03.16.2024
Bava Metiza 17: Can a Ketubah Be a Get?
Bringing property disputes to court, especially when one part denies part of the terms or what is owed. Plus, the role of witnesses. But we do people trust that the disputant/denier isn't lying? Plus, a concrete case. Also, if one...
03.15.2024
Bava Metzia 16: People Share the World... And Stuff Happens
A robber who wants to go back and uphold the sale - so that he'll no longer be called a robber. Or so he'll be known as reliable and trustworthy). The question is what is the practical difference between these...
03.14.2024
Bava Metzia 15: So Much Unfairness of a Robber's Payback
The case of one who buys land from a robber - what happens when the land has been improved? Who pays for that? Note that the robber may be able to pay back his theft with his land. Also, what...
03.13.2024
Bava Metzia 14: Protecting Your Property Purchases
The case of repossessing property that has been sold, with or without a guarantee to the buyer. Plus, two accounts of each case, each of which turns the case around. Also, to what extent does the seller have the responsibility...
03.12.2024
Bava Metzia 13: When Promissory Notes Don't Clarify Matters
Found documents (eg, promissory notes) that show a lien on property - in the Gemara's commentary on the mishnah, trying to determine the specifics of the case of the mishnah. Plus, the impact of the case of the loan -...
03.11.2024
Bava Metzia 12: Household Acquisition
Two mishnahs on this daf. The first deals with children, slaves, and one’s wife finding an ownerless object and to whom does it belong. The second deals with the case of a found document with a loan and to whom...
03.10.2024
Bava Metiza 11: The Will to Acquire
A new mishnah - on the acquisition effected by a courtyard. How does the transfer of ownership take effect? What if the "courtyard" is an open field? What if the owner isn't present to demonstrate intent and/or to guard it?...
03.09.2024
Bava Metzia 10: Falling On What You Want to Acquire
One who does a formal act of acquisition to acquire something for someone else - the Gemara now says that won't work, in contrast to the previous Gemara. The comparison to a debtor and creditor explains why. Plus, a rider...
03.08.2024
Bava Metzia 9: Don't Push a Donkey
How does one NOT acquire an animal, using formal acts of acquisition that are effective in other circumstances. With a focus on animals. Also, how the formal act of acquisition for some property can be combined with the one for...

What's Talking Talmud about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

Talking Talmud episodes:

Bava Metzia 58: God Owns the Consecrated Animals

Bava Metzia 57: The Temple Won't Take Advantage (Because It's Allowed)

Bava Metzia 56: When Onaah Does Not Apply

Bava Metzia 55: Worth a Perutah, Need a Fifth

Bava Metzia 54: The Fifth

Bava Metzia 53: Deconsecrating Maaser Sheini

Bava Metzia 52: Eroded Coins

Bava Metzia 51: Who Can Claim Fraud

Bava Metzia 50: Fraud at a Sixth

Bava Metzia 49: A Halakhic Better Business Bureau

Bava Metzia 48: Divine Retribution

Bava Metzia 47: The Significance of a Handkerchief

Bava Metzia 46: The Exchange Without the Stock

Bava Metzia 45: The Power of Exchange

Bava Metzia 44: Commodity vs. Currency

Bava Metzia 43: Drinking the Stash

Bava Metzia 42: To Be a Proper Guardian

Bava Metzia 41: Moving the Barrel

Bava Metzia 40: Shrinking Produce

Bava Metzia 39: Apotropos - Guardian and Custodian

Bava Metzia 38: The Property of Captives

Bava Metzia 37: The Thief Who Admits He Stole

Bava Metzia 36: When a Guardian Hands Off to Another Guardian

Bava Metzia 35: Of Jewels and Cows and Land Transactions

Bava Metzia 34: HaMafkid

Bava Metzia 33: Your Father, Your Teacher

Bava Kamma 32: The Ban on Animals' Suffering

Bava Metzia 31: You Can Say That Again

Bava Metzia 30: Taking Care with Others' Stuff

Bava Metzia 29: Lost Tefillin and More

Bava Metzia 28: Lost & Found

Bava Metzia 27: Returning Lost Objects Is a Mitzvah (But Not Quite Always)

Bava Metzia 26: A Few Considerations

Bava Metzia 25: Dropped Coins

Bava Metzia 24: Be Nice and Give It Back

Bava Metzia 23: Incidental Simanim

Bava Metzia 22: Hospitality

Bava Metzia 21: Ye'ush and Siman

Bava Metzia 20: Lost & Found: The Documents Edition

Bava Metiza 19: What is the Norm?

Bava Metzia 18: Lost (and Found) Documents

Bava Metiza 17: Can a Ketubah Be a Get?

Bava Metzia 16: People Share the World... And Stuff Happens

Bava Metzia 15: So Much Unfairness of a Robber's Payback

Bava Metzia 14: Protecting Your Property Purchases

Bava Metzia 13: When Promissory Notes Don't Clarify Matters

Bava Metzia 12: Household Acquisition

Bava Metiza 11: The Will to Acquire

Bava Metzia 10: Falling On What You Want to Acquire

Bava Metzia 9: Don't Push a Donkey