Articles Thoughts from the Daf

I, probably like many of you began my formal study of Talmud learning Eilu Metziot, the second chapter of masechet Bava Metzia. “These are the…

“Two people are holding onto a tallit. This one says…‘it is all mine’ and this one says ‘it is all mine’…

"Crime doesn’t pay" is a nice moral message but not a very practical one. Most criminals, especially those who commit petty crime,…

“Two people are holding on to a tallit. This one says ‘I found it’ and this one says ‘I found it’; this one says…

Dina demalchuta dina, the law of the land is the law, is one of the most famous, far-reaching and even revolutionary laws of the Talmud. At its most…

The distinction between a ganav and a gazlan is fairly well known. The former in trying to hide his crime pays double the amount stolen whereas the…

Doing teshuva is hard work. Sinning can be fun, easy to do, financially beneficial and habit forming. Change is hard. It requires hard work,…

One of the revolutions of Judaism was its democratization. No person is inherently superior to another--all are created in the same Divine image. One…

“Even though he repays him he is not forgiven until he asks him.” (Bava Kamma 92a) In our last couple of postings we have discussed the…

In our last post we discussed Rabbi Yehuda’s (rejected) view that the blind are exempt from mitzvoth. This exemption actually brought great joy…

Rav Yaakov Ettlinger in his collection of responsa (Binyan Tzion #172) discusses the powerful and scary question of whether one has to give up one…

Masechet Bava Kamma begins by describing one’s responsibility to pay for damages caused by one’s animals. It then discusses damages one…

“Rav Yossi said: It would have been proper for the Torah to be given by Ezra had Moshe not preceded him.” (Sanhedrin 21b) It was Moshe…

When opportunity knocks, answer – you may not get a second chance. Or to quote the language of our Sages “a closed door does not easily […

One of the beautiful features of the Land of Israel is its wide-ranging topography. The lowest point on earth some 1,300 feet below sea level is…

  “The disciples of Rav Yochanan ben Zakkai asked him ‘why was the Torah stricter regarding a ganav, thief than a gazlan…

  “Al pi [1], according to the testimony of two or three shall something be established.” (Devarim 19:15) With so much power…

While there are 613 categories of mitzvoth they are not all created equal. Saving a life is more important than observing Shabbat, Shabbat is more…