The Dog Jumps - הכלב קופץ » Talmud

Global Update

Nathan — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 21:15:36 +0000

So it has been a long time since I wrote regularly on this thing. I have no singular excuse, but a combination of a few. I thought it was about time to just post a general update to what has been going on in the last 4-5 months. A quick list:

I sold my [...]

Talmud Tidbit: What is a Koy?

Nathan — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 04:25:34 +0000

A randomish note in tractate Nazir 34a: the koy. An animal that is speculated to be one of the following: off spring of a he-goat and a hind a distinct species, not a hybrid unknown if it is a domesticated animal (בהמה) or a wild animal (חיה). it is indeed kosher The implication in this Gemara revolves around a [...]

Moses Was Wise

Nathan — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 19:24:18 +0000

Nedarim 38a lauds Moses for his unique abilities. Offering some questions about why the messiah was not mentioned in Moses’ time and if there is a messiah what else beyond what Moses achieved is necessary for one to be the messiah. Was it the same moment of doubt that kept G-d’s most faithful servant [...]

Talmud Tidbit: Raasan

Nathan — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 04:37:50 +0000

Another creepy disease from Talmudic times, from Ketubot 77b:

What are its symptoms? His eyes tear, his nostrils run, he brings spittle from his mouth, and flies swarm around him.

And what is its cure? Abaye said: Take the following ingredients: Pennyroyal [a kind of mint] and wormwood, the bark of a nut tree [...]

Talmud Tidbit: Lowly Nations

Nathan — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 19:11:37 +0000

Rabban Yochanan Ben Zakki wept and said, “Fortunate are you, O Israel. When they do the will of the omnipresent, no nation or tongue can rule over them, but when they do not do the will of the omnipresent, he delivers them to the hands of a lowly nation. And not into the hands [...]

Yevamot. Done.

Nathan — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 02:52:50 +0000

Wow! Yevamot was 3 volumes and 122 pages, I am guessing about 850 total pages. The Daf Yomi cycle is both sides of the Hebrew each day; meaning this mesechet took 121 days to complete. Why they all start with 2, I don’t know.

The entire tractate was devoted to the complexities of yibum: [...]

Kares is Jewish Hell

Nathan — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 13:00:53 +0000

Kares is defined in the back of one of my books as excision; early death imposed for certain classes of transgressions. It occurred to me in the shower this morning (I often do my best thinking there!) that one of the reasons for a lack of a hell like concept in Judaism is that [...]

Talmud Tidbit: Accidental Consummation of A Relationship

Nathan — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 02:28:33 +0000

It has been a while since I posted a Talmud tidbit. This is partly because I have been traveling and because work has been killing me. Not since a certain South African took over my company have I battled such usurpers. On top of all this, I am in the midst of Yevamot which [...]

iCal Daf Yomi

Nathan — Mon, 19 Mar 2007 23:29:33 +0000

From Wikipedia: Daf Yomi (Heb. דף יומי “page [of the] day” or “daily folio”) is a daily regimen undertaken to study the entire Talmud Bavli one daf (i.e. two actual pages), one day at a time, so that it can be completed in a cycle of seven and a half years.

I started the [...]

Proud Owner: New Shas

Nathan — Wed, 07 Mar 2007 12:27:46 +0000

What is a Shas you ask? Well it is a Hebrew abbreviation of shishah sedarim, the “six orders” of the Mishnah. Still confused: I bought the 73 volumes on the Schottenstein Edition of The Talmud. It arrived in 6 boxes. Only one is open – the current daf yomi tractate – the others I [...]