Shabbat and Yom Tov are gifts to the Jewish people, and the Jewish people only. As such, we are permitted to benefit from work by a non-Jew on these…
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Beitza 20: The Path of Hillel
There is arguably no greater figure in Talmudic literature than that of Hillel the Elder. He combined the Torah leadership of Moshe Rabbeinu[1] with…
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Beitza 17b: To the Showers...
Often, when studying Gemara, we fail to appreciate how different day-to-day life was for our ancestors. Yeshiva study tends to focus on conceptual…
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Beitza 17: Open Sinning
All of us are sinners. To be human means that we make mistakes, both inadvertent and intentional. Our tradition shows great respect for those who…
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Beitza 15: How to Celebrate Yom Tov
We live in an age of specialization. Whether it is business, medicine, sports, Torah, or technology, we train people to be expert in one…
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Beitza 11: Beyond the Beginning
Our Sages defined a chacham as one who is roeh et hanolad, who foresees the results of his actions. We live in a world which is focused on the here…
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Beitza 5: The Wrong Note
It is doubtful the Jewish life would exist as we know it if not for the leadership of Rav Yochanan ben Zackai. Seeing the terrible infighting that…
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Beitza 4b: The Second Day of Yom Tov
I have a confession to make. I really like Yom Tov and look forward to having an extra day to celebrate. I know that is not the way the…
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Beitza 4: Take Your Time
The very first teaching in all of rabbinic literature[1] is the saying of the Men of the Great Assembly that those who render decisions on matters of…
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Beitza 2: Protecting the Neglected
The Rambam, in discussing the prohibition of ba’al toseef (Devarim 4:2), the prohibition of adding to the Torah rules, said that one violates…
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Some Opening Thoughts on Masechet Beitza
“An egg that was laid on Yom Tov: Beit Shammai says it may be eaten, and Beit Hillel says it may not be eaten”. For six pages, the Gemara…
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Some Concluding Thoughts on Masechet Sukkah
As we have studied Masechet Sukkah together, we have stressed two themes: that of simcha, joy; and that of the unity of the Jewish people. Of course…
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Sukkah 52: The Greatest Joy
“Whoever did not see the celebration of the drawing of the water (simchat beit hashoeva) has never witnessed joy in their life” (Sukkah…
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Sukkah 48: Pass the Water
In a recent post, we discussed the opposition to the mitzvah of placing the arava on the altar. An even greater dispute arose vis a vis the mitzva of…
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Sukkah 46: A Daily Dose of Blessings
“Rav Yehuda said in the name of Shmuel: lulav, seven; and sukkah, one” (Sukkah 45b). So begins a discussion as to how often we are to…
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Sukkah 45: Seeing Double
The arava, the willow branch, has a dual function on Sukkot. It is the last of four species that make up the mitzvah of “lulav”. Without…
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Sukkah 43: My Lulav Is Better Than Yours
Despite the explicit command to take the lulav on the first day of Sukkot--and to blow the shofar on the first of…
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Sukkah 38: Shake the Lulav
"A child who knows how to shake [the lulav] is obligated to take the lulav" (Sukkah 42a). As we noted in our first "daily daf" on…