2023-09-28

Rosh Hashanah marked 100 years of Daf Yomi. I have seen surprisingly little written about this important milestone. The thoughts below on this…

2020-03-05

Leadership is not for the faint of heart. A leader, by definition, must make decisions that are going to hurt people. That does not mean the…

2020-02-27

I imagine that many of us had elementary school classmates whom we knew were going to reach great heights. Their intelligence and drive to succeed…

2020-02-26

We have often noted that the Talmud was edited with great precision. A simple example is the extreme to which it goes to record who, and in whose…

2020-02-24

When one is consumed with hatred, one is liable to act in ways that are out of the norm, to say the least. “Sina’ah mekalkelet et hashura…

2020-02-19

“Rav Hamnuna said: How many important halakhot can be derived from these verses of the prayer of Hannah?” (Brachot 31a).…

2020-02-16

“Our Sages taught: Shimon Hapekuli arranged the eighteen blessings before Rabban Gamliel, al haseder, in order, in Yavne…

2020-02-13

It is hard to think of a mitzvah that has undergone as much change over time as that of prayer. Originally, prayer was a spontaneous pouring out of…

2020-02-12

It is fair to say that, if not for the leadership of Rav Yochanan ben Zakkai, you would not be reading these words. Judaism as we know it today could…

2020-02-06

The years following the destruction of the Temple were fraught with great danger and uncertainty. The infighting that had so weakened the Jewish…

2020-02-02

As we transition from the third to the fourth chapter of masechet Brachot, our focus shifts from the mitzvah of kriat shema to that of…

2020-01-29

Shehechiyanu vekemanu vhegeyanu lazman hazeh. It was when daf yomi last reached Brachot 27 that I wrote my first “Daily Daf”. For…

2020-01-26

One of the things I love about the Gemara is how realistic and human it is—how it portrays people, rabbis and laypeople alike, in all their…

2020-01-23

“A jewel in the mouth of Rava. The purpose of chochmah, wisdom, is teshuva and maasim tovim, good deeds”(Brachot 17a…

2020-01-19

“The appointed one [assistant kohen gadol] said to them [the priests in the Temple]: ‘Recite a single blessing.’ They…

2020-01-16

“Rabbi Chelbo said in the name of Rav Huna: All who have yira’at shamayim, fear of Heaven, his words are heeded, as it is…

2020-01-13

What should one pray for? If we were to take a survey of the typical shul-goer, or even one who is not, I suspect we will hear such ideas as health,…

2020-01-09

In our post discussing the last lines of the Talmud Bavli, we wondered why the Gemara ends with a teaching by Eliyahu Hanavi. As Daf Yomi begins its…

2020-01-06

“From when may one recite the kriat shema in the evening? From the time the kohanim enter to eat their terumah until the end of the…

2020-01-05

Rashi begins his commentary to Chumash asking why the Torah begins with the story of creation and not with the first mitzva given to the Jewish…

2012-10-05

The story of the martyrdom of Rabbi Akiva is well known. Defying the orders of the Roman government not to engage in Torah study, Rabbi Akiva…

2012-10-05

One of the most well known blessings is that of dayan haemet, the blessing said upon the death of an immediate relative accepting G-d as the…

2012-09-30

The Talmud spends quite a number of pages discussing dreams. Taking their cue from the Bible itself, they put great stock in the significance of our…

2012-09-29

“From the blessings of man, we see if he is a scholar or not” (Brachot 50a). How, and more importantly, whom one blesses tells us much…