Take One Daf Yomi

Today’s Talmud page, Sanhedrin 30, shows the rabbis discussing whether judges should discuss their personal opinions after a case is decided. Should we know what each individual judge things, or should their opinions remain anonymous? What is the line between transparency and oversharing? Listen and find out.

Today’s Talmud page, Sanhedrin 29, finds the rabbis advancing a defense of none other than the Snake. Was he truly guilty of any sin way back when in the Garden of Eden? Or was he merely giving Eve bad advice, and shouldn't be punished for her transgressions? And what does this question have to teach us about personal responsibility? Listen and find out.

Today’s Talmud page, Sanhedrin 28, kicks things off by discussing the responsibilities cousins have for one another. Actor and director Jesse Eisenberg joins us to discuss his new movie, A Real Pain, which deals with two cousins traveling to Poland to learn more about their late grandmother's life. What do we owe our relatives, and why? Listen and find out.

Today’s Talmud pages, Sanhedrin 26 and 27, ponder the nature of studying Torah. Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin joins us to shed light on this gorgeous discussion. How is studying Torah, quite literally, magical, and how does it transform the entire world? Listen and find out.

Today’s Talmud pages, Sanhedrin 24 and 25, are all about... the Talmud. Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin joins us to explain why this bit of self-reference is crucial to understanding the entire nature of the Talmud's logic, and what it can teach us moderns. So what does the Talmud think the Talmud is all about? Listen and find out.

On today’s episode of Take One, we take a break from the daf to speak with Gila Fine, the author of The Mad Woman in the Rabbi’s Attic, a reexamination of women’s role in the Talmud. What can we learn about the world of women in the Talmud? Listen and find out.

Today’s Talmud page, Sanhedrin 22, tells us that it’s as difficult to match a couple as it is to part the Red Sea and that when a couple divorces, the very alter at which they were married sheds tears. Executive producer Courtney Hazlett joins us to share her perspective on this touchy topic. When is a relationship truly over? Listen and find out.

Today’s Talmud page, Sanhedrin 21, tells us the story of King Solomon's downfall. What made the wisest man alive sin, and what does it have to do with the Roman Empire? And what warning does the story hold for us about choosing our values carefully? Listen and find out.

Today’s Talmud pages, Sanhedrin 19 and 20, tell a riveting story of a haughty king, a brave rabbi, and a murder most foul. Why did one brave judge stand up to the most powerful man in the land? And what led the rabbis to issue a stern warning against handing any one person, or institution, too much power? Listen and find out.

Today’s Talmud pages, Sanhedrin 17 and 18, give us a masterclass about choosing the right leaders. Why must a leader speak every conceivable language? And why must he or she be attractive as well as wise? Listen and find out.

Today’s Talmud page, Sanhedrin 16, is all about optional wars, and who has the right to go to battle and under what circumstances. Rabbi Dr. Shlomo Brody, author of the new book Ethics of Our Fighters: A Jewish View on War and Morality, joins us to talk about the Jewish way of war. How do the ancient teachings inform our very modern warfare? Listen and find out.

Today’s Talmud page, Sanhedrin 15, asks what is to be done should an animal take a life. Might the beast stand trial for murder? And why is Reish Lakish, perhaps the fiercest of all of the Talmud's rabbis, advocating for compassion? Listen and find out.

Today’s Talmud page, Sanhedrin 14, tells the story of Rabbi Yehuda ben Bava, a Talmudic superhero who sacrificed his own life to keep the Jewish tradition alive. What can we learn from his inspiring story? Listen and find out.

Today’s Talmud pages, Sanhedrin 12 and 13, remind us that the role of rabbis used to be very different than what most of might recognize today. Rabbi Diana Fersko joins us to talk about this historic shift, and about whether the expectations we have of modern-day rabbis are still realistic. So what, exactly, is it that a rabbi does all day? Listen and find out.

Today’s Talmud pages, Sanhedrin 10 and 11, ask a deeply troubling question: How come we no longer have prophets hearing and conveying the word of God? Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin joins us to explore this complicated question. What's the Bat Kol, the Divine voice that some still continue to hear? Listen and find out.

Today’s Talmud page, Sanhedrin 9, informs us that those of us who rush to help someone do a mitzvah are rewarded themselves as well. Erica Pelman, the founder and director of Jewish unplanned pregnancy support network Shifra, joins us to talk about her organization's sacred work. How can we change the way we talk about abortions for the better? Listen and find out.

Today’s Talmud page, Sanhedrin 8, introduces us to one of the most popular idioms in contemporary Hebrew, teaching us that we should be as diligent when passing judgment involving a very small amount of money as we would've been with a much larger sum. Israeli broadcaster and Torah teacher Sivan Rahav-Meir joins us to shed light on the profound moral principle at play here. How can we become more cautious and righteous people by sweating the small stuff? Listen and find out.

Today’s Talmud page, Sanhedrin 7, argues that when people love each other, they can make do with very little physical space. Producer Josh Kross joins us to discuss how this rule applies to minuscule New York City apartments. Is a home made physically larger on account of joy? Listen and find out.

Today’s Talmud pages, Sanhedrin 5 and 6, raise a fascinating question: Why should we ever compromise? After all, if justice is a divine quality, shouldn't we always aspire to have a clear-cut verdict? Or is compromise itself just as heavenly? Listen and find out.

Today’s Talmud pages, Sanhedrin 3 and 4, deliver a meditation on jurisprudence. What are we moderns getting so wrong about justice and the law? And how does the rabbinic way of understanding the role of the courts can help us course-correct? Listen and find out.

Today’s Talmud page, Sanhedrin 2, kicks off a brand new tractate, and a real page-turner at that. Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin joins us to explain what we may expect to find in tractate Sanhedrin, the ultimate meditation about living a life of consequence. What does the Talmud tell us about the World to Come? Listen and find out.

Today’s Talmud page, Bava Batra 176, brings us to the end of one of the Talmud's longest and most demanding tractates. Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin joins us to sum it all up. Why does this legalistic tractate contain a collection of wild stories about the Jewish Sinbad, and what do they teach us about coexistence? Listen and find out.

Today’s Talmud page, Bava Batra 175, warns us that people will always try to make themselves appear poorer than they are so as to receive a bit more money. But as one of the Torah's greatest heroes, Jacob, teaches us, it's far healthier to do just the opposite. Why is Jacob's mantra "I have become small," and why should we, too, adopt it? Listen and find out.

Today’s Talmud pages, Bava Batra 173 and 174, give us a stunning example of a very famous rabbi advocating what at first sounds like a complete violation of his own teaching, advising a friend to defraud his own father. But the advice is much more soulful than that, delivering a masterclass on the relationship between love and law. What is the ultimate purpose of rules and regulations, and what does it have to do with our families? Listen and find out.

Today’s Talmud pages, Bava Batra 171 and 172, ask how to go about doing business with two people who have the same name. How to keep the records straight? And what did the rabbis understand about the human brain that took neuroscientists millennia to unlock? Listen and find out.

Today’s Talmud page, Bava Batra 170, offers a small but inspiring meditation on the true meaning of the justice system, warning us not to forget that every machination we set up must first and foremost serve human beings, flawed as they may be. What should our algorithm-addled and bureaucratic modern society learn from the ancient rabbis about making people feel seen and heard before the law? Listen and find out.

Today’s Talmud page, Bava Batra 169, looks at the connection between a written contract and the actual thing you're buying. Should you have to return your Toyota, say, if you happen to simply misplace the lease? And, if not, do words on contracts have any meaning at all? Listen and find out.

Today’s Talmud page, Bava Batra 168, issues an incredible instruction: In some earthly matters, Torah scholars should turn and seek help from their bitterest foes, the ignoramuses. Why are experts so frequently wrong? And what can the Talmud teach us about forging a society that focuses not on equity but on excellence? Listen and find out.

Today’s Talmud pages, Bava Batra 166 and 167, discuss a dastardly bit of forgery and its subsequent investigation. The Presidentischer Rav Tevi Troy returns to the show to discuss how different presidential administrations have investigated leaks, and how some of these leakers composed their messages in language that would throw suspicion onto their rivals. How has forgery and leaking changed since the days of the Talmud? Listen and find out.

Today’s Talmud pages, Bava Batra 164 and 165, caution us not to erase a document after it's been signed and try to write a new one in its stead. What does this seemingly mundane bit of legalese have to do with baseball? And why is it the most Jewish sport imaginable? Listen and find out.

Today’s Talmud page, Bava Batra 163, continues the tractate's discussion of documents, signatures, and forgeries. But it also delivers a surprising and potent meditation on true freedom, and on how to live authentically. What's the great lesson Abraham taught us about keeping it real? 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 162, deals mainly with how to make sure your documents aren't forged. But as the history of philosophy teaches us, sometimes a little fakery is necessary for brilliant ideas to break through. Who was the great thinker Johannes de Silentio, and how come you've never heard of him yet know his work? 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 161, gives us what may very well be the first ever documented appearance of... emoji. Why did some rabbis sign their names using pictograms? And how can emoji sometimes succeed where all words fail? 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 159 and 160, contain a ruling that the Talmud considers one of the most difficult cases of civil law. What can it teach us about family? And was Don Corleone really living out some core Talmudic values? 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 155, 156, 157, and 158, usher us into Thanksgiving. Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin joins us to explain the strange but undeniable connection between America's favorite holiday and one of the Talmud's most demanding tractates. Why is Bava Batra perfect Thanksgiving reading? 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 154, delivers a key lesson in political philosophy disguised as a meditation on inheritance. What's the real difference between conservatives and progressives? And why do both do best when they walk hand in hand? 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 152 and 153, the rabbis continue to contemplate our wishes as we lay dying. Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin joins us to talk about the Kittel, the special white and shroud-like garment when we wear not only as we're buried, but also for special festivals like Passover and Yom Kippur. Why wear the same outfit on the saddest and happiest of occasions? 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 150 and 151, are a touching tribute to the sanctification of life. Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin joins us to explain the concept of a Shechiv Mera, a person on his deathbed, and why we should pay special attention to his final wishes. What can these deathbed decisions teach us about the meaning of life? 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 149, begins with a heartbreaking scene of a father on his deathbed navigating halachic inheritance laws so that he could leave behind his fortune to his son. But study the biographies of these two, and a dark, troubled, and ultimately inspiring story emerges, a story of a man who had done very bad things yet went on to repent. What can Issur the Convert teach us about never, ever losing hope? 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 148, asks a thorny question: What happens if someone, on their deathbed, promises to give away all their property but then miraculously recover? Much more than a hypothetical, the question gets to the very bottom of fairness, teaching us much about the promises we must keep and the ones we can safely break. What lesson do the rabbis have for Elton John? 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 147, finds the rabbis talking about... the wind, and how it sometimes blows this way and sometimes that, and sometimes makes some people sad and others happy and at other times vice versa. Producer Josh Kross joins us to explain why the passage is actually a perfect political metaphor for our fractured time. What can the Talmud's discussion of the wind teach us about building stronger communities? 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 145 and 146, give us a quizzical passage trying to decipher the secret to happiness. How can we make sure we're always feeling joyful? And how did one famous rabbi learn the answer to that question the hard way? 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 143 and 144, negotiate the central tension in Judaism between divine determinism and free will. Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin joins us to explain what catching a cold has to do with our sense of agency in this world. What is divine responsibility, and what is ours? 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 142, revolves around a curious question: can an unborn child receive gifts? It's not just a hypothetical thought exercise; it is, as the rabbis teach us, a lesson in prioritizing the real over the ideal. Why should we stop pursuing the perfect and learn instead to grapple with reality in all its complications? 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 141, shows us the rabbis once again arguing that God is furious with anyone who doesn't leave behind inheritors. Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin joins us to explain this curious passage, and give us insight into the Talmud view of what truly matters in life. How is having children a reflection of one's values? 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 140, raises a dilemma: As the Torah tells us that sons inherit their fathers, and as Jewish tradition instructs us that fathers must support their unmarried daughters, what happens if a man with both sons and daughters dies and has no money to sustain them both? It's a drama that touches on so much that is human, from family dynamics to the sometimes tense relationship between men and women. How to resolve 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 Pages, Bava Batra 138 and 139, dip in to the age-old battle between introverts and extroverts. Is this distinction even real? And what's the one thing Talmud and science alike tell us you need if you're going to go ahead and grow 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 Pages, Bava Batra 136 and 137, treat us to a complicated case of inheritance law that's really about making sure that we remain forever hopeful. Tablet Magazine's Editor in Chief Alana Newhouse joins us to discuss why all American Jews, no matter who they voted for, see this week's election as a beacon of hope. What's the one thing history teaches us about American politics and institutions ? 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 Batra135, teaches us that a will means nothing unless it was passed down to the next of kin. Tablet podcast producer Josh Kross joins us to discuss how this insight shaped his parenting sensibilities, and how it inspired his son, Miles, who voted this week for the very first time. What must we pass down to our children, and how to make sure we do so properly? 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 134, tells us about two of Rabbi Hillel's students, one of them the greatest and one the least impressive. What can we learn from this story about the nature and essence of genius? And what does Isaiah Berlin's most famous essay have to do with 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.