Talking Talmud

Orphans who rely on a caretaker - with implications whether that caretaker is appointed him by the father, by the court, or no formal appointment, as yet. That person is responsible for making sure that their fields are tithed appropriately. Plus, the apotropos needs to swear that he hasn't taken anything he shouldn't have. Plus, the responsibility when it comes to mitzvot. [Who's Who: Rabbi Meir] Plus, a story of how R. Meir protected orphans from malfeasance by an apotropos. Also, how the property of orphans is like that if consecrated property. Plus his responsibility to represent them well, but to what extent does that mean he can use their funds, without it being misappropriation? Plus, is R. Nachman being too lenient or too stringent with regard to the orphans vs. the apotropos?

A case of a person who has 2 daughters and 1 son as heirs - the case has its own complications, but the crux of the matter is how much of a given was it that the daughters would inherit from the estate to provide for the daughters' dowries? Also, when one volunteers to return lost property, the finder doesn't have to swear that he's returning everything he found (or who would ever return anything). Why is swearing (or not) a matter of tikkun olam? Plus, how to handle a singular opinion.

How to handle different kinds of people who are owed money, one of which is a woman collecting her ketubah, in a case where heirs also want to connect their inheritance. Also, what happens when property has a lien on it and the debit still wants to pay someone else back or make a gift. Plus, death-bed legacies.

More on collecting compensatory damages from the best quality of land. Plus, the comparison to paying for damage done to consecrated objects, which sounds like an obvious case of "paying from the best," but it's not that simple, after all. Also, a focus on why paying the ketubah from ziborit, the worse quality of land, is tikkun olam, and actually a protection for the woman. Plus, how much commentary on the expectations of Talmudic society, and the question if what is innate and what is society prevailing upon people's norms.

One who purchases a field from his father, but then the Jubilee year complicated the issues of inheritance vs. purchase. Which leads to a dispute between Rabbi Meir and R. Yehudah with R. Shimon. Also, a new chapter: paying compensatory damages must be paid out of the best land, while loans and IOUs are paid from intermediate land, and the ketubah is paid from the worst quality of land -- established because of "tikkun olam" (but is that all the cases, or just the last one?).

If one sells oneself and one's children to non-Jews, the children can be redeemed after the father dies, which leads into a famous story about Resh Lakish and his origins as what is often translated as a gladiator, perhaps a brigand. And how he came to be a great chavruta/bar plugta (regular arguing partners) with R. Yochanan. Plus, the way Resh Lakish died basically destitute. Also, a new mishnah: when one sells his field in the land of Israel to a non-Jew, which invalidates the agricultural mitzvot, for example. Plus, a discussion of the sanctity of the land - what biblical verses attest to God's holy ownership of the land that lead to the obligation of those mitzvot.

3 mishnayot - on tikkun olam. 1. A man who divorces his wife because of a bad reputation, which turns out to be false - they still can't remarry. But what happens if the divorce is because of a vow? 2. A husband who divorces an aylonit - what happens when she remarries and has children with the second husband? 3. One who sells himself and his children into slavery to non-Jews, is not to be redeemed, though the Gemara softens this.

A slave ran away from his owner in the Diaspora and made his way to the land of Israel, where the owner pursued him to bring him back. Does that work, or does he need to free the slave? Plus, the story of Abaye who has lost his donkey and identifies it only by its white belly, which is accepted as an identifying mark only because of who he is, not because it's that specific, as so many donkeys have white bellies. Also, a new mishnah: captives and the value for which they are to be redeemed. And another mishnah: more cases of tikkun olam, for the betterment of the world. Plus, destroying the Torahs of non-Jews or those who seek to corrupt the Jews.

A slave owned by a Jew who is sold to a non-Jew, never mind the penalty in place from the mishnah (on yesterday's daf). The Gemara provides different reasons for why a slave might end up with a new non-Jewish owner - including a Jewish owner trying to pay off debt, or the Sicarii taking the slave as property... Plus, the question of tithing in the context of another taking the property - what happens to the slave who comes alongside? Also, when a slave is sold with the specifics in a document... and the details may not align with the immediate reality, specifically when that means a purchaser who lives outside of the land of Israel.

What happens when a half-slave gets betrothed to a fully free woman? Or vice versa? Plus, does a half-slave have heirs? Also, playing out the halakhah of a contradictory mishnah. Plus, a new mishnah - with a penalty to one who sells a slave to a non-Jew, and the factor of the Diaspora.