Wait, how is braiding your hair the same as building? The Gemara makes sense of exactly this. Plus: Slice of Talmudic Life - making cheese. homegrown insults, and beit midrash consultation (still about the melakhot). What happens when Chazal shop study halls? Also - A new member of Chazal? Plus - sprinkling water to tamp down the dust in your home on a hot and dusty day. Namely, ancient air conditioning.

Can a Jew lend a horse to a non-Jew for use on Shabbat? Ben Beteira says yes, even despite the strong requirement that the entire household rest on Shabbat. Why a horse? Note: The discussion here is matter-of-fact, without tension, on the topic of interaction between Jews/non-Jews. Also: transferring a piece of a corpse leads into a discussion of tzaraat. Wherein interfering with the skin ailment is prohibited (despite a possible human inclination to try to tweak what the kohen would see before diagnosing tzaraat or no). And: the prevalence of issues of tumah and taharah in a daily way, and in the context of Shabbat. Plus: A list of cosmetic routine actions that are prohibited on Shabbat, but don't incur a sacrifice if you do them. What's What: "Shevut." (A curious placement of this list that gets some unpacking).

When two people go carrying.... A case where one person was capable to carry and the other was not - who is obligated to bring a korban and why? Being nice may not always be the best course of action, if you aren't truly helping. So, what are the parameters? Basically, always check it out. Plus: Carrying less than the measure of food that would require a sacrifice in a container - the container doesn't count - after all, you can't carry soup in your bare hands. Similarly, carrying a live person on a bed, but that's not the case for carrying a dead body on a bed. What's What: a refresher of ikar/tafel.

Shifting focus from the object that is carried to the subject who is doing the carrying. Right hand, left hand, in your lap, on your shoulder. Alternatively, carrying in an alternative way - with a "shinui," not the normal way of carrying - that exempts the carrier from culpability for the act of carrying. What about carrying on your head?! Anshei Hotzel (or Hutzal) did regularly carry their baskets on their head. The Gemara emends this text itself... Also, a woman who wears a "sinar" (pants? pantaloons? a skirt over jeans?) - indusputed (!) halakha. Plus: When carrying must be divided among 2 people. Who's Who: Bnei Kehat.

Purpose and intent, when it comes to carrying tiny amounts. And how that differs across people, and across plans, which change. Plus: Lining up the opinions of the mishnah. Also: what happens when the act of carrying even this tiny amount is not completed? And what happens when one person completes the plan of another - can we really transfer intent? And if so, how far does that principle go? Finally, when changing your mind doesn't change your obligation.

Back to Shabbat topics, and minimums for carrying to be obligated in bringing a sin-offering - including a list of items that require an offering no matter how little of them you carry. In contrast: When it comes to metals, various substances were used to protect the Temple, to clean the lamps, etc. That is, when it comes to donations to the Temple, "any amount" is too little - rather, the amount has to be of actual use to the Beit HaMikdash. Plus: The "mekek," and the need to protect the scrolls in the Beit HaMikdash.

When the Satan went to God, asked for the Torah, searched the world for it, and finds it, as per God's instruction, with Moshe Rabbenu. What is this all about? Namely, what is "the Satan" in rabbinic literature? Again, what's going on here? What is this passage all about? Exploring the place of Torah and humanity in creation - and the need for people doing mitzvot. How could the perfect Torah be given to imperfect mankind?! Where's the sense in that?

Were Bnei Yisrael forced to keep the Torah? That seems inappropriate. But was there any other way for God to give the Torah? An encounter between humanity and the Divine seems to go beyond human experience. Also: the semblance of free choice, from former refuseniks to our post-Israel experiences, and the potential paradox of choice. So is that coercion per se, or helpful? That close encounter with God may not be all that comfy - just because we want it to be. Yet, Bnei Yisrael do accept the Torah freely in the time of the Purim story. Plus: the words of the Torah shatter into 70 languages, a message of accessibility, across nations and cultures.

When did the giving of the Torah actually take place? Figuring the precise date of the first year. Also: preperatory separation between husbands and wives. And his personal kal vachomer, to separate from his own wife,in perpetuity. Breaking the tablets. Moshe's own sense of the right thing to do. Also: an interplay between God, Moshe, Bnei Yisrael, in the context of getting the chronology of events right. Plus: the relay conversation from God to Moshe to Bnei Yisrael, and back again. What was the substance of that conversation? The mitzvah of setting boundaries, or the punishment and reward system of mitzvot (or the reward and punishment system, if you will).

The fourth of the four asmakhtah mishnayot, with four topics within the one mishnah: polatet shikhvat zera, bathing an infant who has undergone brit milah on Shabbat, separation of husband and wife, anointing on Yom Kippur. Which leads into a discussion of the separation between husbands and wives during the giving of the Torah. Via hints of non-legal verses from Tanakh. Also, how the Gemara delves into the first category at length, and why that feels prurient. Plus: separation between husbands and wives at Mount Sinai - when, exactly, did that begin? How, exactly, did they handle it? Also: the importance of careful reading of the entirety of Torah.