Talking Talmud

Introducing divorce. Including how the verses on divorce in the Torah provide the details of halakhic divorce, most saliently that a man gives a woman a divorce, and the reverse is not acceptable. Also, the first mishnah, and its description of how one can use an agent or emissary (shaliach) to convey a get (bill of divorce) and it will be an effective divorce. With geographical details that define the land of Israel, and certain requirements for witnesses.

Wrapping up Sotah! So much had changed in the wake of the destruction of the Beit HaMikdash... Plus, a new mishnah, at the very end - poignant in what was lost with various wars and deaths. And the Gemara shifts the focus to Babylonia.

High Priest Yochanan cancelled several practices from the Beit HaMikdash, beyond Sotah and Eglah Arufah: the "Awakeners" and the "Strikers." As well as several other things (Urim veTumim) that were lost in the wake of the destruction of the Temple. Which get explanation on this daf. Plus, a question on the panning of music on this daf. Also, the use of the Urim veTumim in the era of the prophets. Plus, the end of the era of prophecy. Plus, the measuring stick of a Bat Kol.

[Who's Who: Yehoshua Ben Perachiya] Plus, his story, including fleeing to Alexandria. Also, the story of the apostate who doesn't belong in teshuvah anymore, and may be Jesus. Also, what happens in the event that the killer of the person that was going to lead to the eglah arufah is determined? Before the heifer? After the heifer? Also, the cancellation of Eglah Arufah, Sotah...

A new mishnah! Going through the process of establishing the heifer whose neck is to be broken, in contrast to some of the details of the red heifer, through to the statement that is to be made by the elders, as a matter of innocence and atonement. Plus, a kal va-homer regarding the way the heifer might (or might not) become invalid. Also, what is the Eitan Valley? What is lost in this kind of murder? Plus, the idea of walking your guests out, just as escorting one out of the city has no measure. Plus, how the elders left the city to go die - in contrast to the body found that entails an eglah arufah. With a challenge to our co-learners to write up the contrasts if the city at the end of the daf

On the dispute between R. Elazar ben Yaakov and our mishnah, with regard to who goes out to confess over the eglah arufah - which leadership? And the verses that get him to his position. Also, when the dead body is found in a pile of stones, among other cases, there wouldn't be an eglah erufah. The halakhic rationale here is derived from the parallel to Shikhcha, the forgotten gleanings from the field. Plus, the pronouncement that Jerusalem does not do eglah erufah, even if it's the nearest city, but otherwise, they literally measure the body to the various potentially relevant cities - with a dispute whether the key focus is the body or the head of the body, and what part of the body is the point of measurement?

More on the exemptions from going into battle - the Gemara says the order of the exemptions themselves teach us of the proper order of how we should live. Also, the ways one may be fearful in going out to war, and how that's a good excuse, until a certain point if no return. Plus, defining when war is an elective and when it's obligatory. And the implications for other activities when involved in the mitzvah (or war or otherwise). Also, the eglah erufah takes center stage. Plus, a key dispute about which leadership goes out to take responsibility with the heifer and the site that the slain body is found.

The exceptions of the people who won't go out to war because they are built or planted or married, and so on. Plus, subcategories of these mainstay exemptions. Also, the examination of these basic exemptions by the Gemara.

Chapter 8! On the anointed kohen who is designated to lead the people before and into war, and what he says. Plus, the difference between the enemy that is external to the Jewish people, in contrast to conflicts between the various tribes. Also, how the people felt the Philistines in the battle with Goliath.

How many Torah readers can there be, and what concerns the sages about multiple readers. Plus, in the new mishnah: Hakhel, the 8th year of the shemitah cycle. How did it work? [Who's Who: Agrippas I] Also, the Gemara's reinterpretation of a line of the mishnah that really turns it on its head.