Take One Daf Yomi

Today’s Talmud page, Bava Batra 133, shows us something we rarely see in contemporary politics: A senior official refusing to play the blame game and instead being kind and supportive of his errant colleagues. Dr. Tevi Troy, our very own Presidentischer Rav, joins us to discuss in a very special election day episode. What should the McCain and Clinton campaigns have learned from the wise rabbis of the Talmud? Listen and find out. Like the show? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Send us a note at [email protected]. Follow us on Twitter at @takeonedafyomi and join the conversation in the Take One Facebook group. We think that you may also enjoy Liel's new book How the Talmud Can Change Your Life: Surprisingly Modern Advice from a Very Old Book, available directly from the publisher, or wherever you purchase books. Listen to the Testimonies Archive, a partnership between Tablet Studios and the USC Shoah Foundation, for eyewitness audio accounts from Israel in the wake of the Oct 7 Hamas attacks. Check out all of Tablet’s podcasts at tabletmag.com/podcasts.

oday’s Talmud pages, Bava Batra 131 and 132, ask what we may or may not do with things that don't physically exist yet, like trading futures or, somewhat more spiritually, banking on our share in the World to Come. Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin joins us to explain why Jews don't consider heaven an ephemeral entity but rather a very concrete thing that exists, in part, right here in this world. Which famous person literally sold their share in the World to Come? Listen and find out. Like the show? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Send us a note at [email protected]. Follow us on Twitter at @takeonedafyomi and join the conversation in the Take One Facebook group. We think that you may also enjoy Liel's new book How the Talmud Can Change Your Life: Surprisingly Modern Advice from a Very Old Book, available directly from the publisher, or wherever you purchase books. Listen to the Testimonies Archive, a partnership between Tablet Studios and the USC Shoah Foundation, for eyewitness audio accounts from Israel in the wake of the Oct 7 Hamas attacks. Check out all of Tablet’s podcasts at tabletmag.com/podcasts.

Today’s Talmud pages, Bava Batra 129 and 130, pose a difficult question about Halacha, or Jewish law. Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin joins us to explore this profound and beautiful insight into how Halacha is not a stringent set of rules but a language that helps all Jews figure out their connection to each other. How do we learn to speak Halacha? Listen and find out. Like the show? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Send us a note at [email protected]. Follow us on Twitter at @takeonedafyomi and join the conversation in the Take One Facebook group. We think that you may also enjoy Liel's new book How the Talmud Can Change Your Life: Surprisingly Modern Advice from a Very Old Book, available directly from the publisher, or wherever you purchase books. Listen to the Testimonies Archive, a partnership between Tablet Studios and the USC Shoah Foundation, for eyewitness audio accounts from Israel in the wake of the Oct 7 Hamas attacks. Check out all of Tablet’s podcasts at tabletmag.com/podcasts.

Today’s Talmud page, Bava Batra 128, asks the question that has baffled psychologists for a very long while: can people really change? And if they do, will they necessary change for the better? The rabbis already figured it out, and their insights are supported by modern science. So what's the verdict on hope and change? Listen and find out. Like the show? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Send us a note at [email protected]. Follow us on Twitter at @takeonedafyomi and join the conversation in the Take One Facebook group. We think that you may also enjoy Liel's new book How the Talmud Can Change Your Life: Surprisingly Modern Advice from a Very Old Book, available directly from the publisher, or wherever you purchase books. Listen to the Testimonies Archive, a partnership between Tablet Studios and the USC Shoah Foundation, for eyewitness audio accounts from Israel in the wake of the Oct 7 Hamas attacks. Check out all of Tablet’s podcasts at tabletmag.com/podcasts.

Today’s Talmud page, Bava Batra 127, delivers a small and sweet lesson about the mechanics of kindness. Why should we always believe good things we hear about people but not the bad things? And what are the benefits of giving everyone the benefit of the doubt? Listen and find out. Like the show? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Send us a note at [email protected]. Follow us on Twitter at @takeonedafyomi and join the conversation in the Take One Facebook group. We think that you may also enjoy Liel's new book How the Talmud Can Change Your Life: Surprisingly Modern Advice from a Very Old Book, available directly from the publisher, or wherever you purchase books. Listen to the Testimonies Archive, a partnership between Tablet Studios and the USC Shoah Foundation, for eyewitness audio accounts from Israel in the wake of the Oct 7 Hamas attacks. Check out all of Tablet’s podcasts at tabletmag.com/podcasts.

Today’s Talmud page, Bava Batra 126, raises a difficult question that begins with inheritance and sends us exploring the meaning of religious belief. Can the Torah tell us what we must and mustn't do with our personal property? And how does that question reflect on how we see ourselves and our role in the world? Listen and find out. Like the show? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Send us a note at [email protected]. Follow us on Twitter at @takeonedafyomi and join the conversation in the Take One Facebook group. We think that you may also enjoy Liel's new book How the Talmud Can Change Your Life: Surprisingly Modern Advice from a Very Old Book, available directly from the publisher, or wherever you purchase books. Listen to the Testimonies Archive, a partnership between Tablet Studios and the USC Shoah Foundation, for eyewitness audio accounts from Israel in the wake of the Oct 7 Hamas attacks. Check out all of Tablet’s podcasts at tabletmag.com/podcasts.

Today’s Talmud pages, Bava Batra 123, 124, and 125, tells a sordid and complicated tale of inheritance gone wrong. At its core is this vexing question: Can a person have a say in what happens to something once he decides to give it away? And how does this seemingly theoretical conundrum shape our understanding of everything from law to family relations? Listen and find out. Like the show? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Send us a note at [email protected]. Follow us on Twitter at @takeonedafyomi and join the conversation in the Take One Facebook group. We think that you may also enjoy Liel's new book How the Talmud Can Change Your Life: Surprisingly Modern Advice from a Very Old Book, available directly from the publisher, or wherever you purchase books. Listen to the Testimonies Archive, a partnership between Tablet Studios and the USC Shoah Foundation, for eyewitness audio accounts from Israel in the wake of the Oct 7 Hamas attacks. Check out all of Tablet’s podcasts at tabletmag.com/podcasts.

Today’s Talmud pages, Bava Batra 120, 121, and 122, contain a charming discussion of Judaism's happiest days. One is the 15th of Av, the Jewish celebration of love; the other is... Yom Kippur? Singer, songwriter, and author Peter Himmelman joins us to talk about God, love, grief, joy, and other uneasy but necessary paths to happiness. Why would a budding rock star give up on fame and fortune for a life of deeper meaning? Listen and find out. Like the show? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Send us a note at [email protected]. Follow us on Twitter at @takeonedafyomi and join the conversation in the Take One Facebook group. We think that you may also enjoy Liel's new book How the Talmud Can Change Your Life: Surprisingly Modern Advice from a Very Old Book, available directly from the publisher, or wherever you purchase books. Listen to the Testimonies Archive, a partnership between Tablet Studios and the USC Shoah Foundation, for eyewitness audio accounts from Israel in the wake of the Oct 7 Hamas attacks. Check out all of Tablet’s podcasts at tabletmag.com/podcasts.

Today’s Talmud page, Bava Batra 119, delivers a direct warning for women not to marry too late in life. Faith Salie, author, actress, and panelist on NPR's Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! joins us to talk about her own later-in-life marriage, and why she wouldn't have it any other way. What unique insights do older adults have into life, marriage, and parenthood? Listen and find out. Like the show? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Send us a note at [email protected]. Follow us on Twitter at @takeonedafyomi and join the conversation in the Take One Facebook group. We think that you may also enjoy Liel's new book How the Talmud Can Change Your Life: Surprisingly Modern Advice from a Very Old Book, available directly from the publisher, or wherever you purchase books. Listen to the Testimonies Archive, a partnership between Tablet Studios and the USC Shoah Foundation, for eyewitness audio accounts from Israel in the wake of the Oct 7 Hamas attacks. Check out all of Tablet’s podcasts at tabletmag.com/podcasts.

Today’s Talmud pages, Bava Batra 116, 117, and 118, find the rabbis engaged in a conversation about childlessness. Is God angry with those who choose not to have children? Or with those who don't pass on their knowledge to the next generation? And how does this discussion touch on our current combustible political climate? Listen and find out. Like the show? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Send us a note at [email protected]. Follow us on Twitter at @takeonedafyomi and join the conversation in the Take One Facebook group. We think that you may also enjoy Liel's new book How the Talmud Can Change Your Life: Surprisingly Modern Advice from a Very Old Book, available directly from the publisher, or wherever you purchase books. Listen to the Testimonies Archive, a partnership between Tablet Studios and the USC Shoah Foundation, for eyewitness audio accounts from Israel in the wake of the Oct 7 Hamas attacks. Check out all of Tablet’s podcasts at tabletmag.com/podcasts.

Today’s Talmud pages, Bava Batra 113, 114, and 115, continue the discussion of death, dying, and inheritance. Internationally acclaimed author Alice Hoffman joins us to discuss her new book, When We Flew Away: A Novel of Anne Frank Before the Diary, a bold and beautiful imagining of the lives of Anne Frank and her family members from the day of the Nazi invasion to the morning they go into hiding. How can a book with such a famously tragic ending yet be hopeful? And how is Anne Frank's story a meditation on one person's ability to leave behind a powerful legacy that changes the world? Listen and find out. Like the show? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Send us a note at [email protected]. Follow us on Twitter at @takeonedafyomi and join the conversation in the Take One Facebook group. We think that you may also enjoy Liel's new book How the Talmud Can Change Your Life: Surprisingly Modern Advice from a Very Old Book, available directly from the publisher, or wherever you purchase books. Listen to the Testimonies Archive, a partnership between Tablet Studios and the USC Shoah Foundation, for eyewitness audio accounts from Israel in the wake of the Oct 7 Hamas attacks. Check out all of Tablet’s podcasts at tabletmag.com/podcasts.

Dreyfus: A Very Modern Affair is an October 7th story, but one that begins not in 2023, but in October of 1894 with the arrest of French military officer Alfred Dreyfus, who also happened to be a Jew. The implications of his framing, arrest, incarceration and the fallout of his eventual exoneration reverberate today. Over this five-episode series, we examine how these events unfolded, and how they connect to the antisemitism that exists today. Visit https://www.tabletmag.com/dreyfuspodcast or search for Tablet Studios on your podcast app for the rest of the series.

Today's Talmud page, Bava Batra 112, finds the rabbis talking about death, dying, burial plots, and questions of inheritance. And when we think about Jews who have left behind a legacy that continues to edify and inspire, few shine more brightly than Captain Alfred Dreyfus, whose arrest, trial, and exoneration forced Europe to question its hatred of the Jews and inspired the Jews to flock to Zionism and fight for the establishment of a Jewish homeland. Commemorating the 130th anniversary of Dreyfus's arrest, and the fact that the same questions it raised continue to haunt us with renewed and terrifying vigor since October 7, 2023, Tablet Studios produced Dreyfus: A Very Modern Affair, a limited-run series about the case and its contemporary implications. How is the state of Israel a sort of Dreyfus for the modern world? Listen and find out. Like the show? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Send us a note at [email protected]. Follow us on Twitter at @takeonedafyomi and join the conversation in the Take One Facebook group. We think that you may also enjoy Liel's new book How the Talmud Can Change Your Life: Surprisingly Modern Advice from a Very Old Book, available directly from the publisher, or wherever you purchase books. Listen to the Testimonies Archive, a partnership between Tablet Studios and the USC Shoah Foundation, for eyewitness audio accounts from Israel in the wake of the Oct 7 Hamas attacks. Check out all of Tablet’s podcasts at tabletmag.com/podcasts.

Today’s Talmud pages, Bava Batra 110 and 111, dwell on an incident from the Book of Judges involving Moses's grandson, Jonathan, who found himself involved in idol worship. The rabbis discuss the three questions asked of Jonathan, three questions that still serve as an excellent guide to life. What are they? And why should we still be asking ourselves these questions every single day? Listen and find out. Like the show? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Send us a note at [email protected]. Follow us on Twitter at @takeonedafyomi and join the conversation in the Take One Facebook group. We think that you may also enjoy Liel's new book How the Talmud Can Change Your Life: Surprisingly Modern Advice from a Very Old Book, available directly from the publisher, or wherever you purchase books. Listen to the Testimonies Archive, a partnership between Tablet Studios and the USC Shoah Foundation, for eyewitness audio accounts from Israel in the wake of the Oct 7 Hamas attacks. Check out all of Tablet’s podcasts at tabletmag.com/podcasts.

Today’s Talmud pages, Bava Batra 108 and 109, are all about family and inheritance, but today we take a brief break from the Talmud. Why? Because it's the eve of Yom Kippur, Judaism's holiest day, and we're thrilled to feature a beautiful audio essay by Yeshiva University's Dr. Shaina Trapedo, all about Shakespeare and Rachel Goldberg-Polin and the meaning of second chances. You can read a PDF version of the essay here. Wonder what Mrs. Freud started doing immediately after Sigmund passed away? Listen and find out. Like the show? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Send us a note at [email protected]. Follow us on Twitter at @takeonedafyomi and join the conversation in the Take One Facebook group. We think that you may also enjoy Liel's new book How the Talmud Can Change Your Life: Surprisingly Modern Advice from a Very Old Book, available directly from the publisher, or wherever you purchase books. Listen to the Testimonies Archive, a partnership between Tablet Studios and the USC Shoah Foundation, for eyewitness audio accounts from Israel in the wake of the Oct 7 Hamas attacks. Check out all of Tablet’s podcasts at tabletmag.com/podcasts.

Today’s Talmud page, Bava Batra 107, starts out as a discussion of a complicated inheritance situation but blooms into a meditation on family. What, if anything, do we owe our nearest and dearest? And what are our responsibilities to each other when, God forbid, very bad things happen? Listen and find out. Like the show? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Send us a note at [email protected]. Follow us on Twitter at @takeonedafyomi and join the conversation in the Take One Facebook group. We think that you may also enjoy Liel's new book How the Talmud Can Change Your Life: Surprisingly Modern Advice from a Very Old Book, available directly from the publisher, or wherever you purchase books. Listen to the Testimonies Archive, a partnership between Tablet Studios and the USC Shoah Foundation, for eyewitness audio accounts from Israel in the wake of the Oct 7 Hamas attacks. Check out all of Tablet’s podcasts at tabletmag.com/podcasts.

Today’s Talmud page, Bava Batra 106, delivers a complicated case of two brothers splitting an inheritance and then learning that they've a third brother they'd never met. Showrunner Courtney Hazlett joins us to discuss this idea, and how it was captured in the hit TV show Succession. Are family dynamics primarily about rules or feelings or some measure of both? Listen and find out. Like the show? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Send us a note at [email protected]. Follow us on Twitter at @takeonedafyomi and join the conversation in the Take One Facebook group. We think that you may also enjoy Liel's new book How the Talmud Can Change Your Life: Surprisingly Modern Advice from a Very Old Book, available directly from the publisher, or wherever you purchase books. Listen to the Testimonies Archive, a partnership between Tablet Studios and the USC Shoah Foundation, for eyewitness audio accounts from Israel in the wake of the Oct 7 Hamas attacks. Check out all of Tablet’s podcasts at tabletmag.com/podcasts.

Today’s Talmud page, Bava Batra 105, tells us what happens when a business dealing contains two unclear and contradictory statements. It remains a very concrete problem, costing companies tens of millions of dollars each year. So how can the Talmud teach corporate America to communicate more clearly? Listen and find out. Like the show? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Send us a note at [email protected]. Follow us on Twitter at @takeonedafyomi and join the conversation in the Take One Facebook group. We think that you may also enjoy Liel's new book How the Talmud Can Change Your Life: Surprisingly Modern Advice from a Very Old Book, available directly from the publisher, or wherever you purchase books. Listen to the Testimonies Archive, a partnership between Tablet Studios and the USC Shoah Foundation, for eyewitness audio accounts from Israel in the wake of the Oct 7 Hamas attacks. Check out all of Tablet’s podcasts at tabletmag.com/podcasts.

Today’s Talmud pages, Bava Batra 102, 103, and 104, spend much time discussing rocky fields. But there's more to the debate than merely figuring out how to sell and buy land fairly; the wise rabbis give us a masterclass in how to avoid big, abstract, and ultimately meaningless terms and instead learn how to really think. Why do we abhor uncertainty, and how may we come to live with it, if not love it? Listen and find out. Like the show? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Send us a note at [email protected]. Follow us on Twitter at @takeonedafyomi and join the conversation in the Take One Facebook group. We think that you may also enjoy Liel's new book How the Talmud Can Change Your Life: Surprisingly Modern Advice from a Very Old Book, available directly from the publisher, or wherever you purchase books. Listen to the Testimonies Archive, a partnership between Tablet Studios and the USC Shoah Foundation, for eyewitness audio accounts from Israel in the wake of the Oct 7 Hamas attacks. Check out all of Tablet’s podcasts at tabletmag.com/podcasts.

Today’s Talmud page, Bava Batra 99, gives us a glimpse at the Cherubs, those heavenly creatures there to guard the Ark of the Covenant. But which way, exactly, were they looking? And how might answering this seemingly technical question help us understand just how we're supposed to approach Rosh Hashanah? Listen and find out. Like the show? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Send us a note at [email protected]. Follow us on Twitter at @takeonedafyomi and join the conversation in the Take One Facebook group. We think that you may also enjoy Liel's new book How the Talmud Can Change Your Life: Surprisingly Modern Advice from a Very Old Book, available directly from the publisher, or wherever you purchase books. Listen to the Testimonies Archive, a partnership between Tablet Studios and the USC Shoah Foundation, for eyewitness audio accounts from Israel in the wake of the Oct 7 Hamas attacks. Check out all of Tablet’s podcasts at tabletmag.com/podcasts.

Today’s Talmud page, Bava Batra 98, discusses who is at fault when good wine goes bad. Is it the seller, who probably failed to keep it in proper conditions? Or is it the buyer, punished for his ignorance and arrogance? And does this debate finally decide the awkward question of whether or not you're ever allowed to send a bottle of wine back at a restaurant? Listen and find out. Like the show? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Send us a note at [email protected]. Follow us on Twitter at @takeonedafyomi and join the conversation in the Take One Facebook group. We think that you may also enjoy Liel's new book How the Talmud Can Change Your Life: Surprisingly Modern Advice from a Very Old Book, available directly from the publisher, or wherever you purchase books. Listen to the Testimonies Archive, a partnership between Tablet Studios and the USC Shoah Foundation, for eyewitness audio accounts from Israel in the wake of the Oct 7 Hamas attacks. Check out all of Tablet’s podcasts at tabletmag.com/podcasts.

Today’s Talmud pages, Bava Batra 96 and 97, teach us that when making Kiddush on Shabbos, one must use wine that would've been good enough to be offered in the Temple. Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin joins us to explain this curious idea, and how it elevates each Jewish home into a place of great passion and intentionality. What's the secret to transforming your own home into a sacred space? Listen and find out. Like the show? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Send us a note at [email protected]. Follow us on Twitter at @takeonedafyomi and join the conversation in the Take One Facebook group. We think that you may also enjoy Liel's new book How the Talmud Can Change Your Life: Surprisingly Modern Advice from a Very Old Book, available directly from the publisher, or wherever you purchase books. Listen to the Testimonies Archive, a partnership between Tablet Studios and the USC Shoah Foundation, for eyewitness audio accounts from Israel in the wake of the Oct 7 Hamas attacks. Check out all of Tablet’s podcasts at tabletmag.com/podcasts.

Today’s Talmud pages, Bava Batra 94 and 95, tell the story of a strange way to resolve a financial dispute involving locking some of the money up and waiting for the Prophet Elijah to return to earth and adjudicate. Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin joins us to explain why waiting for the Messiah is really an invitation for all of us to mend our ways here in this world. What would you do differently in your own life once the Messiah arrives? Listen and find out. Like the show? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Send us a note at [email protected]. Follow us on Twitter at @takeonedafyomi and join the conversation in the Take One Facebook group. We think that you may also enjoy Liel's new book How the Talmud Can Change Your Life: Surprisingly Modern Advice from a Very Old Book, available directly from the publisher, or wherever you purchase books. Listen to the Testimonies Archive, a partnership between Tablet Studios and the USC Shoah Foundation, for eyewitness audio accounts from Israel in the wake of the Oct 7 Hamas attacks. Check out all of Tablet’s podcasts at tabletmag.com/podcasts.

Today’s Talmud page, Bava Batra 93, shares an old custom they used to have in Jerusalem, punishing anyone who messed up dinner. Why is the meal so important? And what can us moderns do to take it more seriously? Listen and find out. Like the show? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Send us a note at [email protected]. Follow us on Twitter at @takeonedafyomi and join the conversation in the Take One Facebook group. We think that you may also enjoy Liel's new book How the Talmud Can Change Your Life: Surprisingly Modern Advice from a Very Old Book, available directly from the publisher, or wherever you purchase books. Listen to the Testimonies Archive, a partnership between Tablet Studios and the USC Shoah Foundation, for eyewitness audio accounts from Israel in the wake of the Oct 7 Hamas attacks. Check out all of Tablet’s podcasts at tabletmag.com/podcasts.

Today’s Talmud page, Bava Batra 92, finds the rabbis talking about guarantees. Does a seller owe the buyer anything should a product not meet the buyer's satisfaction? And how might the answer help the retail industry deal with more than $800 billion lost each years to customers sending back stuff? And just what, pray tell, is "wardrobing"? Listen and find out. Like the show? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Send us a note at [email protected]. Follow us on Twitter at @takeonedafyomi and join the conversation in the Take One Facebook group. We think that you may also enjoy Liel's new book How the Talmud Can Change Your Life: Surprisingly Modern Advice from a Very Old Book, available directly from the publisher, or wherever you purchase books. Listen to the Testimonies Archive, a partnership between Tablet Studios and the USC Shoah Foundation, for eyewitness audio accounts from Israel in the wake of the Oct 7 Hamas attacks. Check out all of Tablet’s podcasts at tabletmag.com/podcasts.

Today’s Talmud page, Bava Batra 91, contains a difficult prohibition: the prohibition on living outside the land of Israel. How are we to grapple with this difficult notion? Listen and find out. Like the show? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Send us a note at [email protected]. Follow us on Twitter at @takeonedafyomi and join the conversation in the Take One Facebook group. We think that you may also enjoy Liel's new book How the Talmud Can Change Your Life: Surprisingly Modern Advice from a Very Old Book, available directly from the publisher, or wherever you purchase books. Listen to the Testimonies Archive, a partnership between Tablet Studios and the USC Shoah Foundation, for eyewitness audio accounts from Israel in the wake of the Oct 7 Hamas attacks. Check out all of Tablet’s podcasts at tabletmag.com/podcasts.

Today’s Talmud pages, Bava Batra 89 and 90, explore ethical practices in the market place. Producer Josh Kross joins us to discuss fair business practices. According to the Rabbis, how should we purchase Taylor Swift tickets? Listen and find out. Like the show? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Send us a note at [email protected]. Follow us on Twitter at @takeonedafyomi and join the conversation in the Take One Facebook group. We think that you may also enjoy Liel's new book How the Talmud Can Change Your Life: Surprisingly Modern Advice from a Very Old Book, available directly from the publisher, or wherever you purchase books. Listen to the Testimonies Archive, a partnership between Tablet Studios and the USC Shoah Foundation, for eyewitness audio accounts from Israel in the wake of the Oct 7 Hamas attacks. Check out all of Tablet’s podcasts at tabletmag.com/podcasts.

Today’s Talmud pages, Bava Batra 87 and 88, ponder a question that is every parent's nightmare: Who is responsible when your kid breaks something valuable? As a recent story from Israel, involving a 3,500 year old vase and a very curious toddler, demonstrates, it's a profound question about parenthood, education, and what kind of society we want to be. So why should we let children touch things even if they're likelyt o break them? Listen and find out. Like the show? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Send us a note at [email protected]. Follow us on Twitter at @takeonedafyomi and join the conversation in the Take One Facebook group. We think that you may also enjoy Liel's new book How the Talmud Can Change Your Life: Surprisingly Modern Advice from a Very Old Book, available directly from the publisher, or wherever you purchase books. Listen to the Testimonies Archive, a partnership between Tablet Studios and the USC Shoah Foundation, for eyewitness audio accounts from Israel in the wake of the Oct 7 Hamas attacks. Check out all of Tablet’s podcasts at tabletmag.com/podcasts.

Today’s Talmud page, Bava Batra 86, discusses the manner of acquiring small animals, and concludes that they do not like being manhandled. It's an insight that modern science, addressing the same questions millennia later, confirms. Why do dogs really, truly hate being hugged? Listen and find out. Like the show? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Send us a note at [email protected]. Follow us on Twitter at @takeonedafyomi and join the conversation in the Take One Facebook group. We think that you may also enjoy Liel's new book How the Talmud Can Change Your Life: Surprisingly Modern Advice from a Very Old Book, available directly from the publisher, or wherever you purchase books. Listen to the Testimonies Archive, a partnership between Tablet Studios and the USC Shoah Foundation, for eyewitness audio accounts from Israel in the wake of the Oct 7 Hamas attacks. Check out all of Tablet’s podcasts at tabletmag.com/podcasts.

Today’s Talmud page, Bava Batra 85, dives deep into the difference of commercial transactions occurring in the private versus the public domain. It's a tension that's still alive and well, as a new show, hosted by Rabbi Diana Fersko and producer Josh Kross explores; called Re-Form, it looks at the history of Reform Judaism in America, and how it navigated challenges of private versus public, tradition versus modernity, and other questions that are still very much relevant to American Jews today. What can we learn from these challenges in the wake of October 7? Listen and find out. Like the show? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Send us a note at [email protected]. Follow us on Twitter at @takeonedafyomi and join the conversation in the Take One Facebook group. We think that you may also enjoy Liel's new book How the Talmud Can Change Your Life: Surprisingly Modern Advice from a Very Old Book, available directly from the publisher, or wherever you purchase books. Listen to the Testimonies Archive, a partnership between Tablet Studios and the USC Shoah Foundation, for eyewitness audio accounts from Israel in the wake of the Oct 7 Hamas attacks. Check out all of Tablet’s podcasts at tabletmag.com/podcasts.

Today’s Talmud page, Bava Batra 84, lists the surprisingly physical things we must do in order to consolidate an act of acquisition. Why did the rabbis require lifting and pulling before a commercial transaction was concluded? And what could their insights teach us about the possibility that shopping, derided as a soulless activity, is actually much more spiritually beneficial than we had previously considered? Listen and find out. Like the show? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Send us a note at [email protected]. Follow us on Twitter at @takeonedafyomi and join the conversation in the Take One Facebook group. We think that you may also enjoy Liel's new book How the Talmud Can Change Your Life: Surprisingly Modern Advice from a Very Old Book, available directly from the publisher, or wherever you purchase books. Listen to the Testimonies Archive, a partnership between Tablet Studios and the USC Shoah Foundation, for eyewitness audio accounts from Israel in the wake of the Oct 7 Hamas attacks. Check out all of Tablet’s podcasts at tabletmag.com/podcasts.

Today’s Talmud pages, Bava Batra 82 and 83, are all about the difference between praying and learning Torah. Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin joins us to shed light on this important spiritual distinction. Why should we always endeavor to emulate King David and "be the prayer"? Listen and find out. Like the show? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Send us a note at [email protected]. Follow us on Twitter at @takeonedafyomi and join the conversation in the Take One Facebook group. We think that you may also enjoy Liel's new book How the Talmud Can Change Your Life: Surprisingly Modern Advice from a Very Old Book, available directly from the publisher, or wherever you purchase books. Listen to the Testimonies Archive, a partnership between Tablet Studios and the USC Shoah Foundation, for eyewitness audio accounts from Israel in the wake of the Oct 7 Hamas attacks. Check out all of Tablet’s podcasts at tabletmag.com/podcasts.

Today’s Talmud pages, Bava Batra 80 and 81, have honey on the mind. But wait a minute: Why is honey even kosher? Bees, after all, aren't, and honey is very likely to have bits of bees in it. Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin joins us to clear things up, and give us a timely teaching about honey's transformative power. So why do we dip our challah in honey on Rosh Hashanah? Listen and find out. Like the show? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Send us a note at [email protected]. Follow us on Twitter at @takeonedafyomi and join the conversation in the Take One Facebook group. We think that you may also enjoy Liel's new book How the Talmud Can Change Your Life: Surprisingly Modern Advice from a Very Old Book, available directly from the publisher, or wherever you purchase books. Listen to the Testimonies Archive, a partnership between Tablet Studios and the USC Shoah Foundation, for eyewitness audio accounts from Israel in the wake of the Oct 7 Hamas attacks. Check out all of Tablet’s podcasts at tabletmag.com/podcasts.

Today’s Talmud page, Bava Batra 79, warns us that whoever separates themselves from learning Torah can expect to be burned by fire. Why this harsh measure? What does it teach us about distancing ourselves from junk food, reality TV, and other things that aren't good for our hearts, minds, and soul? And how does C.S. Lewis's celebrated demon, Screwtape, fit into this stunning lesson in morality? Listen and find out. Like the show? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Send us a note at [email protected]. Follow us on Twitter at @takeonedafyomi and join the conversation in the Take One Facebook group. We think that you may also enjoy Liel's new book How the Talmud Can Change Your Life: Surprisingly Modern Advice from a Very Old Book, available directly from the publisher, or wherever you purchase books. Listen to the Testimonies Archive, a partnership between Tablet Studios and the USC Shoah Foundation, for eyewitness audio accounts from Israel in the wake of the Oct 7 Hamas attacks. Check out all of Tablet’s podcasts at tabletmag.com/podcasts.

Today’s Talmud page, Bava Batra 78, teaches us all about ona'a, or the prohibited practice of charging someone unfairly in a business deal. Sadly, this prohibition is more relevant than ever, as big tech companies now use algorithms to compensate workers differently for the exact same tasks. How can the rabbis of the Talmud help us think our way into a more fair labor policy? Listen and find out. Like the show? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Send us a note at [email protected]. Follow us on Twitter at @takeonedafyomi and join the conversation in the Take One Facebook group. We think that you may also enjoy Liel's new book How the Talmud Can Change Your Life: Surprisingly Modern Advice from a Very Old Book, available directly from the publisher, or wherever you purchase books. Listen to the Testimonies Archive, a partnership between Tablet Studios and the USC Shoah Foundation, for eyewitness audio accounts from Israel in the wake of the Oct 7 Hamas attacks. Check out all of Tablet’s podcasts at tabletmag.com/podcasts.

Today’s Talmud page, Bava Batra 77, discusses how words help us make meaning. Executive producer Courtney Hazlett is joined by director Nathan Silver and comedian Robert Smigel to discuss their new film Between the Temples. How can words, expressed and not, affect our lives? Listen and find out. Like the show? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Send us a note at [email protected]. Follow us on Twitter at @takeonedafyomi and join the conversation in the Take One Facebook group. We think that you may also enjoy Liel's new book How the Talmud Can Change Your Life: Surprisingly Modern Advice from a Very Old Book, available directly from the publisher, or wherever you purchase books. Listen to the Testimonies Archive, a partnership between Tablet Studios and the USC Shoah Foundation, for eyewitness audio accounts from Israel in the wake of the Oct 7 Hamas attacks. Check out all of Tablet’s podcasts at tabletmag.com/podcasts.

Today’s Talmud pages, Bava Batra 75 and 76, deliver a delicious disquisition on that ideal heavenly treat... whale meat. Why was the whale the food of the afterlife? Listen and find out. Like the show? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Send us a note at [email protected]. Follow us on Twitter at @takeonedafyomi and join the conversation in the Take One Facebook group. We think that you may also enjoy Liel's new book How the Talmud Can Change Your Life: Surprisingly Modern Advice from a Very Old Book, available directly from the publisher, or wherever you purchase books. Listen to the Testimonies Archive, a partnership between Tablet Studios and the USC Shoah Foundation, for eyewitness audio accounts from Israel in the wake of the Oct 7 Hamas attacks. Check out all of Tablet’s podcasts at tabletmag.com/podcasts.

Today’s Talmud pages, Bava Batra 73 and 74, give us a rare glimpse into the rabbis' view of cosmology. Dr. Jeremy Brown joins us to discuss why our wise ancestors believed in a place where the heavens touched the earth, and how this belief informed their view of the stars, the universe, and everything in it. How is the Talmudic cosmos like one of those airport luggage conveyor belts? Listen and find out. Like the show? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Send us a note at [email protected]. Follow us on Twitter at @takeonedafyomi and join the conversation in the Take One Facebook group. We think that you may also enjoy Liel's new book How the Talmud Can Change Your Life: Surprisingly Modern Advice from a Very Old Book, available directly from the publisher, or wherever you purchase books. Listen to the Testimonies Archive, a partnership between Tablet Studios and the USC Shoah Foundation, for eyewitness audio accounts from Israel in the wake of the Oct 7 Hamas attacks. Check out all of Tablet’s podcasts at tabletmag.com/podcasts.

Today’s Talmud page, Bava Batra 72, gives us the story of the grafted carob as metaphor. What's so special about this tree that it was considered both a tree and akin to land? And what lesson does its seemingly contradictory status have to teach us as we go on a spiritual detox in preparation for the High Holidays? Listen and find out. Like the show? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Send us a note at [email protected]. Follow us on Twitter at @takeonedafyomi and join the conversation in the Take One Facebook group. We think that you may also enjoy Liel's new book How the Talmud Can Change Your Life: Surprisingly Modern Advice from a Very Old Book, available directly from the publisher, or wherever you purchase books. Listen to the Testimonies Archive, a partnership between Tablet Studios and the USC Shoah Foundation, for eyewitness audio accounts from Israel in the wake of the Oct 7 Hamas attacks. Check out all of Tablet’s podcasts at tabletmag.com/podcasts.

Today’s Talmud page, Bava Batra 71, offers us one peculiar Hebrew phrase that unlocks a whole world of spiritual instruction we could use just about now. What did the rabbis mean when they insisted we see the world with a beautiful eye? Listen and find out. Like the show? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Send us a note at [email protected]. Follow us on Twitter at @takeonedafyomi and join the conversation in the Take One Facebook group. We think that you may also enjoy Liel's new book How the Talmud Can Change Your Life: Surprisingly Modern Advice from a Very Old Book, available directly from the publisher, or wherever you purchase books. Listen to the Testimonies Archive, a partnership between Tablet Studios and the USC Shoah Foundation, for eyewitness audio accounts from Israel in the wake of the Oct 7 Hamas attacks. Check out all of Tablet’s podcasts at tabletmag.com/podcasts.

Today’s Talmud page, Bava Batra 70, kicks things off talking about investments. The discussion, however, soon evolves into a debate of what, precisely, we tell our kids about business. Do we share with them our financial affairs? Or is it better to leave them in the dark? Listen and find out. Like the show? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Send us a note at [email protected]. Follow us on Twitter at @takeonedafyomi and join the conversation in the Take One Facebook group. We think that you may also enjoy Liel's new book How the Talmud Can Change Your Life: Surprisingly Modern Advice from a Very Old Book, available directly from the publisher, or wherever you purchase books. Listen to the Testimonies Archive, a partnership between Tablet Studios and the USC Shoah Foundation, for eyewitness audio accounts from Israel in the wake of the Oct 7 Hamas attacks. Check out all of Tablet’s podcasts at tabletmag.com/podcasts.

Today’s Talmud pages, Bava Batra 68 and 69, contain a little nugget of great importance. It's a discussion of cultivated carob trees, and why, if you want them to be fruitful and tall, you should graft a few cultivated branches onto the wild trees that are strong but not very fertile. How is this insight a metaphor for all of human civilization? And what can it teach us about social media influencers? Listen and find out. Like the show? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Send us a note at [email protected]. Follow us on Twitter at @takeonedafyomi and join the conversation in the Take One Facebook group. We think that you may also enjoy Liel's new book How the Talmud Can Change Your Life: Surprisingly Modern Advice from a Very Old Book, available directly from the publisher, or wherever you purchase books. Listen to the Testimonies Archive, a partnership between Tablet Studios and the USC Shoah Foundation, for eyewitness audio accounts from Israel in the wake of the Oct 7 Hamas attacks. Check out all of Tablet’s podcasts at tabletmag.com/podcasts.

Today’s pages, Bava Batra 66 and 67, continue discussing the objects that are part of a home, and where an olive press fits in. Why was olive oil such a staple of the Talmudic diet? Why bother buying extra-virgin olive oil at all? Listen and find out. Like the show? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Send us a note at [email protected]. Follow us on Twitter at @takeonedafyomi and join the conversation in the Take One Facebook group. We think that you may also enjoy Liel's new book How the Talmud Can Change Your Life: Surprisingly Modern Advice from a Very Old Book, available directly from the publisher, or wherever you purchase books. Listen to the Testimonies Archive, a partnership between Tablet Studios and the USC Shoah Foundation, for eyewitness audio accounts from Israel in the wake of the Oct 7 Hamas attacks. Check out all of Tablet’s podcasts at tabletmag.com/podcasts.

Today’s Talmud page, Bava Batra 65, is all about the things we keep in our kitchen, and what these appliances mean to us. How do our kitchen gadgets help make a house into a home? Listen and find out. Like the show? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Send us a note at [email protected]. Follow us on Twitter at @takeonedafyomi and join the conversation in the Take One Facebook group. We think that you may also enjoy Liel's new book How the Talmud Can Change Your Life: Surprisingly Modern Advice from a Very Old Book, available directly from the publisher, or wherever you purchase books. Listen to the Testimonies Archive, a partnership between Tablet Studios and the USC Shoah Foundation, for eyewitness audio accounts from Israel in the wake of the Oct 7 Hamas attacks. Check out all of Tablet’s podcasts at tabletmag.com/podcasts.

Today’s Talmud page, Bava Batra 64, finds the rabbis discussing the soul of commerce. Should commercial transactions bring people closer together? Or drive them further apart? Producer Courtney Hazlett addresses these questions by interviewing Ben Zion David, an eighth generation Yemeni jeweler in Jaffa. How can buying and selling stuff build community? Listen and find out.

Today’s Talmud page, Bava Batra 63, is a master class on how to write, and read, legal contracts. Sure, arguing over the meaning of every word can be exhausting, but it's also immensely edifying. What can we non-rabbis and non-lawyers learn from the Talmudic attention to every possible nuance? Listen and find out.

Today’s Talmud Pages, Bava Batra 61 and 62, discuss the meaning of silence during important conversations. The Presidentisher Tevi Troy, joins us to explore how this applies to modern politics. Does silence equal agreement? Listen and find out. Also, The Presidentisher Rav has just released a new book, "The Power and the Money: The Epic Clashes Between Commanders in Chief and Titans of Industry." Gadol Hador Yuval Levin wrote of the book that "The Power and the Money" is "filled with rich anecdotes and analysis, and it weaves them all together compellingly." As Yuval puts it, "it’s a new book by Tevi Troy, so you should read it."

Today’s Talmud pages, Bava Batra 59 and 60, deliver a disquisition that couldn't be more timely. How, the rabbis are asking, should we go on living our lives in times of great sorrow, mourning, and grief? Can we continue to celebrate joyous occasions even amid so much loss and suffering? And, if so, how? Listen and find out.

Today’s Talmud page, Bava Batra 58, gives us a collection of stories about the adventurous Rabbi Bena'a, who at some points even meets Abraham and Adam. Why did the Talmudic sages believe that all of us simply got worse and worse with each passing generation? And how is this concept of evolution in reverse actually an invitation to a more graceful and emotionally balanced life? Listen and find out

Todays page, Bava Batra 57, discusses the proper attire for torah scholars.Tablet’s General Manger and resident Fiber Arts specialist Tanya Singer joins us to discuss dressing properly for the task at hand. Do clothes make a difference when getting things done? Listen and find out.