Beitzah

Embark on a journey of Jewish learning and discovery, exploring the depth of our Beitzah resources, where tagged items including audio, programs, and podcast episodes await your exploration.

Beitza 16: Preparing for Shabbat

Rabbi Jay Kelman

Debates between Beit Hillel and Beit Shammai are the bread and butter of Mishnaic discourse. There are some 316 debates recorded between these great schools of learning, covering every facet of Jewish life. These debates are between the students of…
Article
Sep 24, 2021

Beitza 6: Nothing New Under the Sun

Rabbi Jay Kelman

It is on Sukkot that we read sefer Kohelet. A devar Torah on masechet Beitza is not the place to discuss the reason for this custom. However, as I was writing these words, one verse kept popping into my mind: "There is nothing new under the sun" (…
Article
Sep 20, 2021

Beitza 5: Two Days of Yom Kippur

Rabbi Jay Kelman

The State of California today is voting on whether to recall and remove its governor from office. This recall will be successful even if only 50% plus one vote to remove him, thereby reversing the will of the 62% who elected him. It must be no more…
Article
Sep 15, 2021

Beitza 4: Fresh Eggs

Rabbi Jay Kelman

As most investors know, there is little that rattles the markets more than uncertainty. Fluctuations of the market are primarily based on future expectations. As investor advisors often note, “past performance doesn’t predict future results”. That…
Article
Sep 14, 2021

Beitza 2: It's Better to Permit

Rabbi Jay Kelman

In our last post, we noted the principle milta d’lo schicha lo gazru ba rabbanan, that our Sages do not enact protective measures for rare events, a legal principle that appears some ten times in the Talmud. In the context of the beginning of …
Article
Sep 6, 2021

An Introduction to Masechet Beitzah

Rabbi Jay Kelman

One of the manifold changes of modernity is manifest in the modern methods of food preparation. No longer must one literally spend pretty much the entire day in the kitchen in order to eat well. Speciality cookbooks – I imagine another symbol of…
Article
Sep 3, 2021

Beitza 25: Hurry Up and Be Patient

Rabbi Jay Kelman

In Talmudic times, animals were generally slaughtered only when there was a known buyer ready to eat from the animal before him. Lacking methods of preservation, there was great financial risk in having beautiful displays of meat in a take-out…
Article
May 3, 2014

Beitza 24: Fishing on Yom Tov

Rabbi Jay Kelman

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 days--provided the non-Jew is doing such work for his own benefit (Shabbat 122b). It is for this…
Article
May 2, 2014

Beitza 20: The Path of Hillel

Rabbi Jay Kelman

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 Aharon's peace-making and love for all. It is not by chance the Talmud teaches that if not for…
Article
Apr 29, 2014

Beitza 17b: To the Showers...

Rabbi Jay Kelman

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 analysis of the legal sections of the Talmud. Even in the academic world—where there is an…
Article
Apr 27, 2014