Take One Daf Yomi

On today’s page, Bekhorot 12, the rabbis wrestle with sheep-goat hybrids and the mysterious koy, an animal so difficult to classify that the sages couldn’t even agree on what it was. With some help from Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz, we discover that this strange creature may have a surprisingly familiar relative. What can a zoological mystery teach us about making sense of the unfamiliar? Listen and find out.

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On today’s episode, we set aside Bekhorot 11 to celebrate Sukkot with Professor Richard Hidary and his new book, Discovering the Jewish Holidays: Eight Talmudic Readings. Drawing on Michelangelo, Moses, the Ark of the Covenant, and one very short sukkah, Hidary explores the mysterious boundary separating Heaven and Earth. Can we ever reach across the gap and encounter the Divine? Listen and find out.

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On today’s pages, Bekhorot 9 and 10, Rabbi Yehoshua ben Chananya completes his astonishing mission against the 60 sages of Athens, proving that winning an argument sometimes requires considerably more than having the better argument. Presidential historian Tevi Troy joins us to explain why the story reminds him of Richard Nixon facing down Nikita Khrushchev in a model American kitchen in Moscow. What can two very different confrontations teach us about courage under pressure? Listen and find out.

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On today’s pages, Bekhorot 7 and 8, the Roman emperor challenges Rabbi Yehoshua ben Chananya to prove that he can outsmart the legendary sages of Athens. What follows is an extraordinary battle of wits involving riddles, disguises, impossible tasks, and one very clever pair of backwards sandals. Can Rabbi Yehoshua beat 60 of the ancient world’s wisest men at their own game? Listen and find out—or at least, find out half the answer, because we’re ending on a cliffhanger. Come back next episode for Part 2.

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On today’s page, Bekhorot 6, the rabbis wrestle with et, a tiny, ubiquitous Hebrew word that has no English equivalent, and with a sage who built an entire method of interpretation around it before deciding he had gone too far. From Proust to Pope to Finnegans Wake, Liel explores what happens when even our greatest writers and readers reach the limits of language. Can knowing when to stop searching for meaning be its own kind of wisdom? Listen and find out.

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On today’s page, Bekhorot 5, Rabbi Yochanan and Reish Lakish disagree about when the Israelites began sanctifying their firstborn: before entering the Promised Land or only after they arrived. Their dispute raises a much bigger question about how we approach the things we hope to accomplish. Do we wait until everything is in place before getting to work, or can doing the work be what gets us there in the first place? Listen and find out.

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Blurb: On today’s pages, Bekhorot 2, 3, and 4, we begin a new tractate by learning about the special status of firstborn animals. Rabbi David Bashevkin joins us to ask why Judaism cares so much about who comes first—and what the arrival of a firstborn changes for everyone who follows. What can Steve Martin teach us about becoming responsible for someone other than ourselves? Listen and find out.

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On today’s pages, Chullin 141 and 142, we reach the end of Tractate Chullin and look back at what months of studying meat, kashrut, and the intricacies of eating have taught us. Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin joins us to explain why our most basic need for nourishment can become an expression of Jewish identity—and a reminder that we depend on something beyond ourselves. What does keeping kosher ultimately ask us to sanctify? Listen and find out.

Also, celebrate the end of Tractate Chullin with Chullin out, our playlist of every song we referenced along the way...

On today’s page, Chullin 140, the rabbis encounter a bird that has killed a human being—and must now be brought to justice. Its strange case takes us from the Talmud to Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds and the bizarre real-life avian attack that helped inspire it. What can killer birds teach us about confronting our own most dangerous instincts? Listen and find out.

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On today’s page, Chullin 139, yesterday’s mother bird returns with a thornier question: If sending her away is a mitzvah, should we actually go looking for nests just so we can perform it? Generations of rabbis disagree, turning one unusual commandment into a meditation on what it means to pursue a holy life. Are mitzvot opportunities to seek out, or instructions for the moments life puts in our path? Listen and find out.

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On today’s page, Chullin 138, Maimonides and Nachmanides disagree over why the Torah commands us to send away a mother bird before taking her young. Their argument takes us from animal suffering to conservation to a deeper question about how seemingly small acts can shape our character. Can showing mercy to an animal teach us how to become more merciful ourselves? Listen and find out.

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On today’s pages, Chullin 136 and 137, Tzom Gedaliah reminds us of the terrible price Jews can pay when disagreement becomes hatred. Liel revisits a conversation with Rabbi Rachel Timoner, a Jewish leader with whom he has quite a few disagreements, to ask whether we can fight passionately over what matters while still recognizing the good in one another. How do we disagree without becoming enemies? Listen and find out.

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On today’s pages, Chullin 134 and 135, apples and honey offer more than a wish for a sweet year. A bee that stings can nevertheless produce honey, and Jacob’s true scent remains beneath the disguise he wears—two reminders that our failures needn’t define who we are or who we can become. Drawing on a teaching shared with the Simchat Torah Challenge, we ask: What if the sweetest version of ourselves is already there, waiting to emerge? Listen and find out.

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On today’s page, Chullin 133, the rabbis issue a startling warning about teaching students who aren't serious about learning—going so far as to compare it to idol worship. Behind the hyperbole lies a demanding vision of education in which teachers and students each have responsibilities to the other. What do students owe their teachers in return for being taught? Listen and find out.

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On today’s page, Chullin 132, the rabbis debate the status of the koy, a creature caught somewhere between wild and domesticated. With Rosh Hashanah just days away, their strange animal becomes a metaphor for the struggle within each of us—and for a holiday whose very name may contain an invitation to transform ourselves. What would it take to tip the scales toward the person we want to become? Listen and find out.

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On today’s page, Chullin 131, the rabbis consider the tithes that sustained the priests, Levites, and poor—and remind us that community requires more than simply belonging. If we want strong institutions and leaders, we have to support them, just as they have an obligation to support us in return. What do we have to give to get the community we want? Listen and find out.

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On today’s pages, Chullin 129 and 130, Megillat Ta’anit raises a fundamental question: What exactly makes the Oral Torah oral once its teachings have been written down? To help answer it, we’re sharing a lesson from Talmud Daily, in which Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin explains why Torah shebe’al peh is more than a collection of texts—it’s the lived Judaism we learn from families, teachers, communities, and one another. Can you really learn how to be Jewish from a book? Listen and find out.

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On today’s pages, Chullin 127 and 128, the rabbis contemplate the wonders of creation, from creatures of the sea and land to those of fire and air. Then some enterprising residents decide to improve on God’s handiwork by breeding two animals that shouldn’t be able to reproduce—and discover that not every miracle is a blessing. What happens when we ask whether something can be done without stopping to ask whether it should be? Listen and find out.

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On today’s page, Chullin 126, the rabbis encounter a mystery buried in two words: golel and dofek. Solving it takes us from Rashi and Maimonides to the burial caves of ancient Israel and the great stones once rolled across their entrances. What can the Talmud teach us about the lost burial practices of our ancestors? Listen and find out.

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On today’s page, Chullin 125, the rabbis consider a curious rule of ritual impurity: Under the right circumstances, it can get out of an enclosed space but cannot get in. Their technical discussion becomes a powerful argument for repentance and the possibility that, no matter what we’ve done, something at our core remains forever pure. Can our worst mistakes ever change who we truly are? Listen and find out.

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On today’s page, Chullin 124, Rabba bar Rav Huna is too tired to answer a complicated question, so he points to the sky and cries, “Look! A raven!” His wonderfully human moment offers a radical rule for relationships: Don’t settle for merely being there when you can wait until you’re ready to be fully present. What do we owe the people who ask for our time and attention? Listen and find out.

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On today’s pages, Chullin 122 and 123, an unsettling discussion of human skin recalls one of the most gruesome stories in Jewish tradition: the martyrdom of Rabbi Yishmael at the hands of the Romans. Behind the horror lies a reminder of what the rabbis refused to surrender, even at the cost of their lives. What are the things we believe are worth dying—and therefore living—for? Listen and find out.

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On today’s pages, Chullin 120 and 121, one mysterious word sends generations of Jewish scholars searching through animal anatomy for an answer. Is the alala a neck ligament, a tendon, leftover flesh—or something else entirely? What can an unsolved anatomical puzzle teach us about the rabbis’ extraordinary attention to detail? Listen and find out.

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On today’s page, Chullin 119, some supersized wheat leads us to the supersized integrity of Shimon ben Shetach. Whether returning a valuable jewel to its rightful owner or forcing a powerful king to answer before the law, the great sage had one rule: Put honesty above all else and fear only God. Listen and find out.

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On today’s page, Chullin 118, the rabbis want to know what makes a handle a handle, leading to some rather gruesome questions about the different ways one might grab an animal. Modern neuroscience offers a surprising echo of their inquiry, revealing that the less we know about what we’re holding, the tighter we tend to grasp it. Why does uncertainty make us hold on tighter? Listen and find out.

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On today’s page, Chullin 117, a new chapter called “The Skin and the Sauce” breaks an animal down into its constituent parts, from flesh and bones to tendons and hooves. But as the month of Elul begins, this inventory becomes an invitation to take stock of ourselves—and consider what elevates us beyond our own skin and bones. What separates us from the beasts? Listen and find out.

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On today’s pages, Chullin 115 and 116, the rabbis demonstrate that understanding the Talmud means learning not only its conclusions, but how it thinks. Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin joins us to introduce Talmud Daily, a new 40-week journey through the concepts, history, and structure that can give anyone a map of this sprawling text. Ready for the grand tour? Listen and find out.

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On today’s pages, Chullin 113 and 114, a discussion of how food absorbs flavor becomes a recipe for a meaningful Jewish life. Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin joins us to consider three paths to experiencing the divine: the heat of passion, immersion in community, and the salt of life’s most difficult moments. Where do we find the flavor in faith? Listen and find out.

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On today’s page, Chullin 112, a meaty knife and a humble radish lead the rabbis to a deceptively simple principle: Taste is taste, and taste is boss. Their intricate rules make keeping kosher more complicated—but they might also make eating infinitely more delightful. What can a pastrami-flavored radish teach us about tasting the world? Listen and find out.

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On today’s page, Chullin 111, the rabbis debate how to prepare one of Jewish cuisine’s most divisive delicacies: liver. If you think its staying power comes down to tradition or nutrition, you’re only halfway there. Take our hand as we explore a food that is humble and luxurious, beloved and reviled—and somehow still here after thousands of years. We’ll make it, we swear. What could be more Talmudic than a food that is itself an argument? Listen and find out.

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On today’s page, Chullin 110, the rabbis continue their discussion of the laws surrounding udders before we turn to a different question: What can Moses teach us about despair? In this special episode from The Republic of Moses, former Israeli Chief Rabbi David Lau explores why so many people have lost hope—and what Deuteronomy can teach us about finding it again. Listen and find out.

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On today’s pages, ⁠Chullin 108 and 109, Yalta observes that for everything the Torah forbids, God provides something permitted in its place. It’s a striking teaching from one of the Talmud’s most fascinating women, whose appearances range from smashing 400 barrels of wine in a rage to offering profound insights into Jewish law. What happens when law and poetry meet? Listen and find out.

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On today’s pages, ⁠Chullin 106 and 107, a discussion of handwashing leads to stories of culinary confusion, marital disaster, and a very dirty mustache. Centuries later, Ignaz Semmelweis would discover just how deadly unwashed hands could be—and pay a terrible price for trying to convince the world. Why are the invisible dangers sometimes the hardest to believe? Listen and find out.

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On today’s page, Chullin 105, two rabbis encounter a witch who uses an incantation to stop their boat in its tracks. Their eerie encounter opens a centuries-old Jewish debate over whether magic is real—and offers a surprisingly mundane prescription for confronting the supernatural. How do you protect yourself from a witch? Listen and find out.

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On today’s page, Chullin 104, the rabbis ask just how far the prohibition against mixing meat and milk really extends. Their debate over chicken and cheese becomes a master class in Talmudic reasoning—and a reminder that even our most familiar traditions invite us to ask why. So what, exactly, is wrong with chicken parm? Listen and find out.

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On today’s page, ⁠Chullin 103, the rabbis ask a slightly stomach-turning question about whether eating something once means you can ever truly eat it again—and discuss whether eating happens in the stomach, where food is digested, or the throat, where it is enjoyed. Along the way, a forgotten teaching offers a lesson in how even the wisest among us should be reminded of what they once knew. What can eating teach us about the pleasures of learning? Listen and find out.

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On today’s pages, ⁠Chullin 101 and 102, the rabbis conclude Tractate Chullin, and with it our Summer Barbecue series comes to an end. Recorded around a barbecue table in upstate New York, this special finale with Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin and producer Josh Kross reflects on how a tractate about kashrut ultimately became a meditation on gratitude, responsibility, and seeing the world more completely. What happens when we stop looking only at what’s on our plate and begin to see everything behind it? Listen and find out.

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On today’s pages, ⁠Chullin 99 and 100, the rabbis explore the principle that flavor—not appearance or texture—is what truly defines food. Recorded around a barbecue table in upstate New York, this special summer episode with Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin and producer Josh Kross reflects on why Judaism takes the invisible transmission of flavor so seriously, and what that teaches us about the unseen ways people, experiences, and actions leave their mark on our lives. What kind of flavor are we leaving behind? Listen and find out.

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On today’s page, ⁠Chullin 98, the rabbis continue exploring the laws surrounding meat. Recorded around a barbecue table in upstate New York, this special summer episode with Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin and producer Josh Kross reflects on why Judaism elevates meat only when it serves something greater—Shabbat, holidays, Torah, and community. Is the food at the center of the celebration, or is it simply helping us celebrate what really matters? Listen and find out.

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On today’s page, ⁠Chullin 97, the rabbis explore what happens when permitted and forbidden foods become accidentally mixed together. Recorded around a barbecue table in upstate New York, this special summer episode with Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin and producer Josh Kross reflects on how Jewish law was designed not for a world of certainty, but for one filled with ambiguity and doubt. How do we make faithful decisions when we can’t know everything? Listen and find out.

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