Quick thoughts on chapter 6 of Shabbat

I've fallen, shall we say, a little behind in my daf yomi, but now that I'm on holiday I thought I would blitz it. Over several hours (with multiple breaks of course) I learned pages 60-67 today, and scribbled some notes on interesting passages in the margins.

In lieu of a longer post, here are the sections that caught my eye:

•61a - Amulets and charms - how do we know if they work?

•62a - Gender politics - are women 'a nation unto themselves'?

•62b - Swinging - the rabbis frown on partner-swapping.

•63a - The relationship between weapons and the world to come. Decorations or aberrations?

•63a - 'The simple meaning of the text' - but what is it?

•63a - The value of torah study, Resh Lakish uses language of peace. Interesting considering his fall out with Rabbi Yochanan.

•64b - Mar'it ayin - one must avoid doing something because it looks wrong. So can you do it if no one is looking?

•66b - Magic! Abaye's mother must have been a seriously cool woman.

•67a - Incantations against various demons seem to contain nonsense words. In magic (as prayer) it's sometimes better if you don't understand what you're saying.

•67a - Is the magic forbidden? Not if done for the sake of healing.

Permitting and Forbidding - Shabbat 60b

Rabbi Chiyya said: Were it not for the fact that they would call me a Babylonian who permits forbidden things, I would permit more.

It's hard to be lenient. Much much easier to forbid everything and thus look suitably pious and stringent to those more strict than you. Rabbi Chiyya in this quote is concerned with the topic of how many nails is permitted in a sandal on shabbat, but his statement could be seen more generally - had he not been afraid to seem permissive, he would have permitted far more things.

How much should we be afraid of how we come across? How much should we follow what we really believe, even if the rest of the Jewish world will say we are permitting forbidden things?

The Master of Wings - Shabbat 49a

MISHNA: We may store food... in dove's wings...

GEMARA: Rabbi Yannai said: Tefillin demand a clean body, like Elisha, the master of wings...


This amazing story exemplifies one of the main reasons why I love Talmud. The gemara's first response to a mishna about storing food on shabbat is to tell a fantastical tale about the mysterious Elisha, whose tefillin morph into a dove when faced with Roman persecution. The leap is amazing, the story is a classic, and it offers great depth of interpretation.

"Why a dove?" asks the talmud, because just as the dove's wings protect it, so do the mitzvot protect Israel.

Because Elisha kept the law, he is saved by the symbol of that protection, and yet of course, he would not have needed the protection had he not kept the law.

Tefillin = dove's wings = mitzvot = insulation for food on shabbat.

And the clean body demanded, explained to refer to either passing wind or sleeping, seems to be more of a purity of soul, the white of the dove's wings.

Half-formed thoughts perhaps, but I'm several pages behind... Time for more talmud.

The learning of youth - Shabbat 21b

Abaye, upon learning a teaching about shabbat and chanukah wicks, responds by wishing he had learnt it before hand.

But what's the difference? asks the gemara, hasn't he learnt it now?

The answer given is that the difference is about the learning of one's youth. Abaye wishes he could have learned this teaching when he was still young, so that, as Rashi explains, it would stick in his mind better.

The power of youth
Not only does our learning when young have the potential to stick with us for the rest of our lives, but it also has the power to alter the way we think for the rest of our lives.

I am eternally grateful to my parents that I was raised in a home dominated by Judaism and yiddishkeit, where Torah was spoken around the dinner table, the language of midrash and kabbalah part of every day life - it has made my rabbinical journey far easier.

Yet there are things I wish I had learnt when I was younger - for example more Hebrew and hilchot shabbat - that would now be enmeshed with who I am.

Living with our past
But there's nothing any of us can do to change what we learned when we were young. Short of the invention of time travel, I cannot make it the case that I learned to speak Hebrew fluently at a young age.

All we can do is plan for our future - try to teach our children, and the children under our care, the things we believe they need to learn when young, the ideas that can change the way they think, and help them grow into thoughtful, compassionate human beings and Jews.

(Now just) Change Clothes and go - Shabbat 10a

    Rav Ashi said: I saw Rav Kahana, when there was trouble in the world, remove his cloak, clasp his hands, and pray, saying, ‘[I pray] like a slave before his master.’
    When there was peace, he would put it on, cover and enfold himself and pray, quoting, ‘Prepare to meet thy God, O Israel.’ (Amos 4:12)

Rav Kahana would dress differently, act differently, and pray differently, depending on how he saw the world.

I worry that my prayer is too much the same - dressing the same, in the same posture, saying the same words - unaffected and removed from the world as we see and experience it.

How does our prayer respond to the world? And how much should it exist as a comfortable sanctuary unto itself?

Secret Teachings - Shabbat 6b

"Rav said, I found a secret scroll of the school of Rabbi Hiyya wherein it is written, Issi ben Yehuda said: There are thirty-nine principal labours, but one is liable only for one."

While catching up with Daf Yomi today (the chagim threw off my schedule), I came across this fascinating line, in which Rav claims to have found a secret teaching of Rabbi Hiyya which seems to contradict some of our basic assumptions about shabbat, namely that breaking the melachot, the 39 labours, makes us liable for punishment. This secret scroll says that this is not the case, though it also does not tell us which we are liable for.

The Talmud interprets this differently, namely that one of the melachot does not make us liable, but if we read this teaching as stated, why did Rabbi Hiyya keep it secret? Did he think it too dangerous or too heretical to reveal? And why does Rav feel free and able to reveal that which Rabbi Hiyya sought to conceal?

Keeping Secrets
All of which makes me wonder whether there are ideas and teachings that we hold, that as future leaders we could or perhaps even should keep secret from our communities. Are there teachings which would do too much damage to reveal? Or is everything Torah, and our communities sophisticated enough to handle the most academic or esoteric of topics?

For example, if I work in a devout community, that keeps halacha because they believe Moses literally received the whole Torah from God, should I teach them otherwise or keep my sense of history and criticism a secret?

Reveal Secrets
Moreover, if I uncover a secret, an opinion that one of my teachers did not reveal, do I have the right to share that with the world, regardless of how it may change how that teacher is seen?

The border between public and private grows ever more blurry, as ideas are written, shared and recorded faster and more often than ever before. But I suspect that we as community leaders need to consider what we are sharing, and what we should be keeping secret.

Visiting the Sick - Shabbat 12

Shabbat 12 includes a long discussion about practices for visiting the sick and praying for the sick: where to sit when you visit (on the bed? next to the bed?), what to say to the sick, what to do if you are visiting on Shabbat, IF you can EVEN visit on Shabbat, etc. While some authorities offer logically valid reasons why visiting the sick on Shabbat should be forbidden (for the sake of inducing sorrow on Shabbat and lessening the joy), still Beit Hillel (the dominant opinion) permits it, and the amoraim later offer ways to get around the issue even if it is forbidden. For example, they suggest saying שבת היא מלזעוק, or "even though we don't petition for things on Shabbat....still I'm here to visit and pray on this person's behalf." Quite a loophole, or even a total disregard for the law. It reminds me of another time that we offer such a loophole: if a funeral is to be carried out on Chol Hamoed, or Chanukkah, or another festive time, it is forbidden to offer a eulogy. But how could we do that to the people who have a therapeutic need to eulogize their loved ones? So, many rabbis say "if I WERE to give a eulogy, I might have said...."

This also reminds me of a previous daf in Shabbat where we learned that some rabbinic prohibitions on Shabbat can be exercised more leniently for the sake of "wisdom" or "common sense," or in this case, regard for human dignity. Forget Shabbat, it says, go visit your sick friends and family.

Some election wisdom- Shabbat 10a

If all seas were ink, reeds pens, the heavens parchment, and all men writers they would not suffice to write down the intricacies of government.

It's common sense, not הלכה

The Gemara brings up as an example someone who places a loaf of bread in the oven not realizing until after that it's Shabbat. The catch 22 is that if he leaves it in, he is baking on Shabbat, and if he takes it out, he is violating the איסור דרבנן of removing bread from the oven on Shabbat. Rashi comments the following:

הדביק פת בתנור - בשבת בשוגג ונזכר שהוא שבת קודם שתאפה וקיימא לן דרדיית הפת שבות היא שהיא חכמה ואינה מלאכה.

These last four words, I believe, are simply describing that removing the bread is a rabbinic prohibition, not an אב מלאכה, but it's confusing to me that the word חכמה is used. It seems like it could read "taking the bread out is wisdom/common sense, not work."

Could this twist in language here possibly offer us a new perspective on halakhah and Shabbat observance? Put differently, what role does חכמה play in the determination of איסורי שבת and איסורים at large?

Good advice - brakhot 63a

If you suspect your wife of cheating on you, don't drink. I think there's a very practical reason for this.

עת לעשות להי, הפירו תורתך

I love this assessment here, and its extension. This verse read forward tells us one thing, and read backwards (I.e second first) tells us the opposite. So, we learn from this that we should socially flexible, always filling the role that is unfilled the group. If we are in a place where people study lots of Torah, we should tone it down a bit. My question: how does this jive with the teaching from Avot, אל תפרוש מן הציבור?

Ancient prenatal science - brakhot 60a

I'm fascinated to see the Gemara discuss with such conviction not only how fetuses are conceived but also which stages of the pregnancy occur at which month among the nine. With the exception of what causes the fetus to be male or female, it seems that many of their conclusions, which relied on simple observation and deduction, were not too far off compared to our more advanced conclusions today as a result of genetics and advanced science. Makes me wonder about the field of science: how many of our convictions now about our world, which are based on allegedly strong scientific data, will be debunked in the future? How little do we actually know about what we believe we know? I imagine scientists laughing at us in 1500 years, much like I did when I read the gemara's theories of male/female determination.

Gam Zu l'Tova - Brakhot 60b

R. Huna said in the name of Rab citing R. Meir, and so it was taught in the name of R. Akiba: A man should always accustom himself to say, 'Whatever the All-Merciful does is for good', [as exemplified in] the following incident. R. Akiba was once going along the road and he came to a certain town and looked for lodgings but was everywhere refused. He said 'Whatever the All-Merciful does is for good', and he went and spent the night in the open field. He had with him a cock, an ass and a lamp. A gust of wind came and blew out the lamp, a weasel came and ate the cock, a lion came and ate the ass. He said: 'Whatever the All-Merciful does is for good'. The same night some brigands came and carried off the inhabitants of the town. He said to them:  Did I not say to you, 'Whatever the All-Merciful does is all for good?

This is one of my favorite talmudic stories - and R. Akiva's persistent optimism is really inspirational. Gam zu l'tovah and all that. BUT - what about the people of the town? They've been carried off by 'brigands' and R. Akiva recites the same to them. Should there be a limit on what we see as 'l'tovah'?

Reshit Chochma - Brakhot 55

"R. Johanan said: The Holy One, blessed be He, gives wisdom only to one who already has wisdom"

If this is true - then where do we start in attaining Wisdom?! Birkot haShachar helps with the instruction that 'ראשית הכמה יראת ה'. If that's true, and R. Yochanan's statement here is also true, than Yirat Hashem isn't really Wisdom, but is literally the 'beginning of Wisdom.' So often in Judaism we have to do before we understand (נאשה ונשמע) and this is a great example. If you desire Wisdom, don't look for it, but instead cultivate genuine Awe of God. If you do, then you'll merit receiving wisdom and retroactively be counted among the wise.

Children's Blessing - Brakhot 53b

"Samuel inquired of Rab: Should one respond Amen after [a blessing said by] schoolchildren? — He replied: We respond Amen after everyone except children in school, because they are merely learning."

Why does the education level of the reciter have an effect on the b'rakha's efficacy? What should this mean for us today in which many people are where the Rabbis would have likely called 'merely learning.'?

Amen, amen! - Brakhot 53b

Rabbi Yosi says: Greater is he who answers 'amen' than he who says the blessing. Said Rabbi Nehorai to him: By heaven it is so! The proof is that while the common soldiers go down and open the battle, it is the mighty ones who go down to win it!

Another chapter is finished, leaving just one to go before the end of our first masechet (let's have a seudah!). But I was struck by the debate on 53b about whether it's better to lead the blessing or say amen. While Rav and Rav Huna urge their children to just grab the cup and say birkat hamazon, Rabbi Yosi and Rabbi Nehorai provide an interesting counterpoint, with an unusual image.

The person leading the beracha, according to this metaphor, are like the front line of an attack, leading a foray. This requires courage and determination certainly, but it may also be a little foolhardy, leaving you in a vulnerable position. Without the giborim, the mighty ones, to reinforce your position, the war would never be one.

As a community leader and future rabbi, as well as being someone who prefers leading services to joining them, this idea is both challenging and inspiring. I am far more likely to be the one grabbing the cup and saying the blessing, getting up on the bimah and leading the davening, but Rabbi Nehorai reminds me of a few key facts:

             -A leader with no community will not succeed. The community are our reinforcements, our giborim, as we go to war.

             -Not only is there no shame in just saying amen, in fact by supporting the community atmosphere, you are contributing to a vital job. Your presence, with your participation, qualifies you as a mighty warrior.

As you go into Yom Kippur, and get ready to wage war against our sins, remember the teaching of Rabbi Nehorai - and look to your giborim for support.

Just Tuck In - Brakhot 44a

With the start of the new semester and imminent high holidays, I haven't had much time to post here. But today's daf made my smile because it seemed entirely appropriate that after a chapter of discussing blessings before eating different kinds of food, we learn all about how much some rabbis loved to eat a certain kind of fruit dish.

R. Abbahu used to eat of them [so freely] that a fly slipped off his forehead. R. Ammi and R. Assi used to eat of them till their hair fell out. R. Simeon b. Lakish ate until his mind began to wander, and R. Johanan told the household of the Nasi, and R. Judah the Prince send a band of men for him and they brought him to his house.

Perhaps a warning against over indulgence, it seems a fitting tone for close to the end of such a food-focused chapter.

Shana tova!

Pecking Order - Brakhot 40a

"Rav Yehuda said in the name of Rav: A person is forbidden to eat before he gives food to his beast, since it says, "and I will give grass in thy fields for thy cattle, and then, thou shalt eat and be satisfied." (Deut 11:15)"

The rabbinic commandment to always feed one's animals before oneself strikes me as an excellent example of the high value placed on animal life as well as human life. Aside from animals' uses as livestock and work-animals, they are also God's creation and our charge, and this small suggestion by Rav Yehuda illustrates that beautifully.

3 Quotes from Brakhot 34

"Our Rabbis taught: There are three things of which one may easily have too much  while a little is good, namely, yeast, salt, and refusal." 34a

"R. Jacob said in the name of R. Hisda: If one prays on behalf of his fellow, he need not mention his name, since it says: Heal her now, O God, I beseech Thee', and he did not mention the name of Miriam." 34a

"Our Rabbis taught: Once the son of R. Gamaliel fell ill. He sent two scholars to R. Hanina b. Dosa to ask him to pray for him. When he saw them he went up to an upper chamber and prayed for him. When he came down he said to them: Go, the fever has left him; They said to him: Are you a prophet? He replied: I am neither a prophet nor the son of a prophet, but I learnt this from experience. If my prayer is fluent in my mouth, I know that it is accepted: but if not, I know that he it rejected." 34b

Free Will/Determinism - Brakhot 33

"R. Hanina further said: Everything is in the hand of heaven except the fear of heaven"

It seems that the rabbis are saying that most things about us are predetermined, whether by genetics or circumstance - but that the Yirat Shamayim, the moral decisions, are where our free will reigns. I really like this - it allows for both free will and divine providence, affirms right action while preserving humility. It reminds of a saying by author Noah ben Shea: "Our path in life is often not our decisions, but how we choose to live with decisions that have already been made."

Affirming Leniency - Brakhot 31

"Some say, She [Hannah] said to him: You are no lord, [meaning] the Shechinah and the holy spirit is not with you in that you take the harsher and not the more lenient view of my conduct."

Although this was only a sidenote in today's discussion, it popped out to me. The Shekhina is attracted to those who take the more lenient view, to those who reserve judgement, who give others the benefit of the doubt. Nothing could be a stronger affirmation of legal leniency than saying that leniency is what causes God's immanent presence to dwell with you.

Solitary Sanctuary - Brakhot 30

"Although there were thirteen synagogues in Tiberias, R. Ammi and R. Assi prayed only between the pillars, the place where they studied."

This line stood out to me today. The rabbis seem comfortable affirming the value of individual prayer, and the mindset of an individual while in prayer. Why would these two rabbis choose to pray between two pillars where they were studying rather than going to one of the 13 synagogues? Do you ever find yourself choosing to pray alone, in an unusual place, rather than with the congregation?

Fear of God vs Fear of Man - Brakhot 28b

"May it be [God's] will that the fear of heaven shall be upon you like the fear of flesh and blood."

On his deathbed, Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai is visited by his students and begins to cry, explaining that if he were only going to see a human king then he would certainly cry - but he is in fact goign to stand before the King of Kings whose judgements last forever.

But when asked for a blessing, he offers the above blessing, that the fear of heaven should be to his students like the fear of human beings.

So which is primary? Fear of God or fear of mortals? In this story, Rabbi Yochanan seems to switch between the two.

It seems that perhaps we are seeing two perspectives, one when close to death, and one as a way to live one's life. Rabbi Yochanan is on his deathbed, and so from his perspective it's the intangible, wrath of the divine that he most fears.

But for his students, he offers them a more tangible basis for their faith and for their future good behaviour, to be at least as afraid of God as you are of human beings. For earthly life, earthly fear is the proper foundation on which to build ethical action.

If the Talmud Could Vote for President... -- Brakhot 27b

In this season of political fervor, it is inspiring to see the Gemara offer its own take on how to pick the best candidate:

נוקמיה לר' אלעזר בן עזריה דהוא חכם והוא עשיר והוא עשירי לעזרא הוא חכם דאי מקשי ליה מפרק ליה והוא עשיר דאי אית ליה לפלוחי לבי קיסר אף הוא אזל ופלח והוא עשירי לעזרא דאית ליה זכות אבות ולא מצי עניש ליה

When they overthrew the authority of Rabban Gamliel, the community elected R' Elazar ben Azariyah to replace him because he possessed three qualities:

1. He was wise

2. He was rich

3. He was the tenth descendant of Ezra

We know Obama is quite smart, and that Romney's finances are stable, so shall we start checking their pedigrees?

In all seriousness though, what does this advise us? It advises us that:

1. Wisdom is key when making difficult decisions,

2. An effective leader needs sufficient resources for recourse, and

3. Where a person comes from says a lot about where they can  go.

If these and no other principles were guiding our electoral choices, what sort of government would we see?

Let your WHOLE body worship God -- Brakhot 25a

I really am quite surprised by how much talk of bodily fluids there is in such a holy collection of writings. Several pages devoted to different looks and smells of feces and how we should behave around it vis-a-vis saying the Shema. At its core, this is reminding us that holy pursuits carry with them the reality of unholy facts of life. We simply can't ignore the mundane – and even repulsive – in our search for the divine spark in life.

And then I saw this: if a man has feces on his harm, is he still permitted to say the Shema? Rav Huna says yes, because of the pasuk כל הנשמה תהלל יה, all of the soul praises God. Even our bowels – literally, not emotionally – praise God.

A little poo-poo-pride from our punctilious preachers of the past.

קול באשה ערוה

Well, I now know the sources of why some Jewish women cover their hair and skin, as well as the source of "kol isha." However, I'm not convinced that these restrictions are blanket statements about all women. It's not entirely clear, but it could be argued that these statements are contextual, referring only to a man's wife at the time he needs to say the shema. In other words, hearing the voice of a woman is not a problem because it may be seductive. Rather, if I hear my wife's seductive voice while I am trying to say the shema, that may distract me. An even strong example – if my wife's hair, legs, or full naked body is right before me, then clearly I would be distracted from saying the shema. But seeing a random woman's hair uncovered while walking down Broadway, not during davening? Maybe that's not what they're referring to.

Where the boundary is, however, is not terribly clear. For more investigation...

More Suspicions of Prostitution – Brakhot 23a

Early in Brakhot, we learned that we shouldn't enter ruins because, among other reasons, we may be suspected of engaging in prostitution. And here we have it again! You can' wear tefillin in the bathroom, and if you need to relieve yourself, one suggestion is to leave it on the side of the road. But beware! Don't leave it on the side closer to the public pass-way, lest a prostitute picks it and goes to the Beit Midrash and says "hey! here's so-and-so's tefillin, which he gave to me as a wage for my work."

I wonder why our rabbis were so worried about the suspicion of prostitution. Was this an epidemic problem among the medieval Jews? It's so interesting when you think about this in light of the allegations of sexual misconduct among religious leaders in today's world.

Toilet Talk - Brakhot 25

"Abaye said: A little excrement may be neutralized with spittle; to which Raba added: It must be thick spittle. Raba said: If the excrement is in a hole, he may put his shoe over it and recite the Shema'. Mar the son of Rabina inquired: What is the rule if there is some dung sticking to his shoe? — This was left unanswered."

Although most of the dilemmas raised by today's daf are solved by modern plumbing, this one remains - what to do with poop on your shoe. Coincidentally, that's the only feces-related scenario not answered by the daf! Metaphorically or otherwise, how can we separate ourselves from the unclean long enough to honor the Infinite?

Finding Identity in Diaspora - Brakhot 24

"R. Abba kept away from Rab Judah because he wanted to go up to Eretz Israel; for Rab Judah said, Whoever goes up from Babylon to Eretz Israel transgresses a positive precept, since it says, They shall be carried to Babylon and there shall they be, until the day that I remember them, saith the Lord."

Obviously operating under a pre-Zionism framework, what does Rav Yehuda's statement mean for us?Are we still in Bavel? Should we still be waiting for God to remember us? How can we reconcile this lovely sentiment of affirming diasporic identity with a world that has demonstrated the strength of Zionism both politically and ideologically?

Speaking with the Spirits - Brakhot 18

Today's daf has several stories relating the frailty of the divide between the world of the living and the world of the dead. The following story attempt to show that the dead know, and can communicate, who will join them next:

"Come and hear; for Ze'iri deposited some money with his landlady, and while he was away visiting Rav she died. So he went after her to the cemetery and said to her, Where is my money? She replied to him: Go and take it from under the ground, in the hole of the doorpost, in such and such a place, and tell my mother to send me my comb and my tube of eye-paint by the hand of So-and-so who is coming here tomorrow. Does not this show that they know? — Perhaps Dumah announces to them beforehand."

The conversation continues on tomorrow's daf, but I doubt the rabbis, like ourselves, ever truly resolve it. We, like them, seem to have pretty good evidence for some level of interaction between the living and the dead, but we still lack any proof that such a thing is possible.

Concluding Prayers - Brakhot 16

Towards the end of today's Daf we see a whole series of different prayers that different rabbis would say after they finished the Tefila. It seems to allow for an individual voice in a place where the liturgy is almost totally prescriptive. What would be your concluding prayer? Do you have something you always say?

One I picked up is this: "May it be Your Will, that I be able to distinguish between those things which emanate your light, and those which are illuminated by it."

How about you guys?

I've started so I'll finish - Brakhot 14b

Excuse the (possibly obscure) English reference in the title.

Rav Kahana has said in the name of Rav: One need not begin, but if he begins he should finish.

I found this statement of Rav Kahana in the name of Rav to be rather profound and to have much broader applications than the context of the discussion, about whether one should read the whole of the third paragraph of the shema or not.

There are so many things that we don't have to start - we may feel nervous about beginning a new thing, an awkward conversation, making a new friend, starting a new blog or religious practice. And we don't necessarily have to start these things, or open these doors.

However, if we do start, Rav Kahana advises us to see everything through to its end, not to give up half way through but to do a thorough, complete job in any task we undertake.

"I [didn't] dream a dream" - Brakhot 14

"R. Yonah further said in the name of R. Zera: Whoever goes seven days without a dream is called evil, as it says, And he that has it shall dwell satisfied; he shall not be visited with evil. (Prov. 19:23) Read not sabea', [satisfied] but sheba' [seven]. "

So if you go seven nights without dreaming, it implies evil. Hmm....I think I may be in trouble. But seriously, this does have a really important implication. To me, this shows how connected the rabbis saw the realm of the Divine with the human. Dreams being one of the few potent connections between the supernatural and the natural, they were suspicious of anyone who lacked the ability to forge that connection. How can we read this into modernity? How can we encourage people to build that connection for themselves, to make sure that they're 'dreaming' at least once a week?

First Perek Down!

Only 524 left!

Draw Yomi

I know I am already behind with my daf a day but I thought this blog (created by a fellow Paideia alum) would be inspiring - it is definitely helping me catch up!

http://www.drawyomi.blogspot.com/

God Who Creates Evil - Brakhot 11

"'[Blessed art Thou] who formest light and createst darkness'. Let him say rather: 'Who formest light and createst brightness'? — We keep the language of the Scripture. If that is so, [what of the next words in the text], Who makest peace and createst evil: do we repeat them as they are written? It is written 'evil' and we say 'all things' as a euphemism."

Isaiah 45:7, which 'Yotzer Or' is based on, is irrevocably altered in the Matbea T'fila. Isaiah says:  "I form the light, and create darkness; I make peace, and create evil; I am the LORD, that doeth all these things." Why are the rabbis uncomfortable with both good and evil coming from God? Why, as the Talmud says, do we change it to a 'euphemism?'

God : World :: Soul : Body - Brakhot 10

"Just as the Holy One, blessed be He, fills the whole world, so the soul fills the body. Just as the Holy One, blessed be He, sees, but is not seen, so the soul sees but is not itself seen. Just as the Holy One, blessed be He, feeds the whole world, so the soul feeds the whole body. Just as the Holy One, blessed be He, is pure, so the soul is pure. Just as the Holy One, blessed be He, abides in the innermost precincts, so the soul abides in the innermost precincts."

I just thought this was really beautiful. It's also a great way of affirming the distance of God. It's not that God is so far away that we can't feel God - its that God is so far in everything.

With Us in Servitude - Brakhot 9b

"I am that I am. The Holy One, blessed be He, said to Moses: Go and say to Israel: I was with you in this servitude, and I shall be with you in the servitude of the [other] kingdoms. He said to Him: Lord of the Universe, sufficient is the evil in the time thereof! Thereupon the Holy One, blessed be He, said to him: Go and tell them: I AM has sent me unto you."

Is this empowering or disturbing? I think its a beautiful image that God is with those in servitude, but I'm concerned that the concept might prevent people from protesting agianst their servitude. How can we affirm God in people's oppression without affirming the oppression itself?

Toilet Talk - Brakhot 8

"Thus should every hasid pray to You (God), at a time that You may be found."

The Amoraim debate poetically about when this time of great need is, when God's presence is so necessary to us. Perhaps when we find our true love, or when we discover Torah. Maybe it's when we approach our death. But of course, the interpretation most favored by the Amoraim is that of Mar Zutra, who said that this "time You may be found" is most definitely referring to the toilet. Rashi helps us understand: we hope God will be with us to provide us with a home with indoor plumbing (well, I guess then it was more a trench not too far away from the house) so that we don't have to walk too far when that "time of great need" hits us.

What might the appropriate prayer be for such an occasion? In the words of Rabbi Bill Cosby, "Oh thank you toilet, oh thank you toilet."

Quantifying Death

תניא נמי הכי תשע מאות ושלשה מיני מיתה נבראו בעולם שנאמר למות תוצאות תוצאות בגימטריא הכי הוו קשה שבכלן אסכרא ניחא שבכלן נשיקה אסכרא דמיא כחיזרא בגבבא דעמרא דלאחורי נשרא ואיכא דאמרי כפיטורי בפי ושט נשיקה דמיא כמשחל בניתא מחלבא

It has been taught: 903 types of death were created in the world, as its said, the issue of death and the numerical value of 'Tozaot' are so. The most difficult among them is Diptheria, and the easiest is a Kiss. Diptheria is like a thorn in a ball of wool being pulled out backwards, and some people say: its like pulling rope through the holes [of a ship]. [a] Kiss is like drawing a hair out of milk. 

This stuck out to me. Why 903 (aside from the Gematria)? In our experience do we think that's an approximately close number - and why would God bother to create such a variety of deaths, especially when we recognize that some are much worse than others?

What's in a Name - Brakhot 7

With my rabbinical student hat on, I feel like there is a great passage here to be used at baby namings. The naming of Judah and Reuven illustrate the very Jewish idea that a name carries with it the essence of a person. The idea is based on a clever reading of a verse in Psalms: "Come and see the acts of God, who places destruction (שמות) throughout the land" (Psalms 46:9). Instead, Rabbi Eliezer reads שמות (with a vowel switch), meaning names. So, come and see the acts of God, who places names throughout the land," as if every name truly is God given and comes to fill a void in the world. While the proximity in the midrash of naming to destruction seems dark, perhaps consider a world in which there are no names - a sort of universalistic, death camp environment where nothing comes to identify each person as the unique soul he/she is. Oh, to know that God's hand in the world is to bless each child with the will and vision to live up to his/her name: Come and see the acts of God, who bestows names in the land.

---

On a slightly different note, in the case of Judah, I was surprised to read the understanding of his name. Rashi helps in explaining that his name indicates Leah's thankfulness to God (having in it the roots for "thanks" and for "God") because of the fact that Leah was thankful for the conception and birth of Judah. But, she had had three sons already before Judah. And NOW, on the fourth, she decides to thank God!? As Rashi explains it, she even says "this time, I will thank God." No wonder Rachel felt so desperate for a child. Not only was her sister much more fertile than she, but to not offer thanks until the fourth one in, and yet Rachel would have been thankful for the very first child.

God and Moshe: The Odd Couple - Brakhot 7

There is a rather comical vision of God and Moses in what seems like the argument of what we often call "an old married couple." On 7a we find Moses asking God why God won't show him God's face, and God replies "I wanted to show you, back at the burning bush, but you didn't want to see it. You hid your face. Now, you are ready for me to show you? Well, now I don't want to!"

I am finding these early pages of Brakhot to show many characteristics of God, as considered by the Amoraic authors, that resemble characteristics of people, often to a degree of humor - or disappointment. After all, this is the God that created the whole world?

Brakhot 7 - Ⓐnarchy

There was one point at which I wrote an extensive paper on the role that anarchism plays in Jewish texts. It focused less on any particular political expression of 'anarchism' per se, but rather on the fact that many Jewish thinkers have rejected the idea of human government as deeply flawed, and wanted to  live in a society in which the only King was God. This quote from today's daf is further great evidence of this underlying distrust/dislike of human authority:

At the time when the sun rises and all the kings of the East and West put their crowns upon their heads and bow down to the sun, the Holy One, blessed be He, becomes at once angry.

Joke time!

Where on Brakhot 6b do we learn that public expressions of religion aren't favorable for an NFL draft pick?

מה טיבו של פלוני למה לא בא

Anyone else stand at back of WLSS and look on Broadway?

Evidently its a problem. Watch out for Eliyahu and his sword.

R. Huna says: Whosoever prays at the rear of a Synagogue is called wicked. For it is said: The wicked walk round about. Abaye says: This only applies where he does not turn his face towards the Synagogue, but if he does turn his face towards the Synagogue there is no objection to it. There was once a man who prayed at the rear of a Synagogue and did not turn his face towards the Synagogue. Elijah passed by and appeared to him in the guise of an Arabian merchant. He said to him: Are you standing with your back to your Master? and drew his sword and slew him.

Mazikin Party

It has been taught: Abba Benjamin says, If the eye had the power to see them, no creature could endure the demons. Abaye says: They are more numerous than we are and they surround us like the ridge round a field. R. Huna says: Every one among us has a thousand on his left hand and ten thousand on his right hand.  Raba says: The crushing in the Kallah  lectures comes from them. Fatigue in the knees comes from them. The wearing out of the clothes of the scholars is due to their rubbing against them. The bruising of the feet comes from them. If one wants to discover them,  let him take sifted ashes and sprinkle around his bed, and in the morning he will see something like the footprints of a cock. If one wishes to see them, let him take the after-birth of a black she-cat, the offspring of a black she-cat, the first-born of a first-born, let him roast it in fire and grind it to powder, and then let him put some into his eye, and he will see them. Let him also pour it into an iron tube and seal it with an iron signet that they  should not steal it from him. Let him also close his mouth, lest he come to harm. R. Bibi b. Abaye did so,  saw them and came to harm. The scholars, however, prayed for him and he recovered

Demons! I love it. I love that the rabbis are able to conceive of a world in which the Sitra Achra appears and interacts with us. 

I don't know about you, but I think I'm going to try the trick with the ashes. 

A few lines I enjoyed today - Berachot 6

Abba Benjamin says, If the eye had the power to see them, no creature could endure the demons.

I find it fascinating how seriously this passage takes the existence of demons - as physical realities that cause damage to the physical world.

Justice is also torah.

An important point to remember - there is torah in maintaining justice, not just in studying. Creating a just world is a kind of torah study.

Rabbi Yochanan says: Whenever the Holy One, blessed be He, comes into a Synagogue and does not find ten persons there, He becomes angry at once. For it is said: Wherefore, when I came, was there no man? When I called, was there no answer?

This text always hits me hard, as someone who finds it really hard to get myself to shul for shacharit. The idea that God is there wondering where everyone is is both evocative and moving.

The merit of a fast day lies in the charity.

I always try to teach that fast days like the 9th of Av are only meaningful if we do something for justice, and this brief line (in a powerful section) is a punchy quote to the same effect.

The early bird IS the worm - brakhot 5

As someone who often davens and then leaves Shul early out of impatience for a long service, I was ashamed to see the following: if two people enter a beit kinesset to pray and one finishes first and he doesn't wait for his friend before leaving, his prayer is torn up in his face.

Oh boy - I'm in trouble.

Prisoners to Our Afflictions - Brakhot 5

רבי חייא בר אבא חלש על לגביה ר' יוחנן א"ל חביבין עליך יסורין א"ל לא הן ולא שכרן א"ל הב לי ידך יהב ליה ידיה ואוקמיה.  ר' יוחנן חלש על לגביה ר' חנינא א"ל חביבין עליך יסורין א"ל לא הן ולא שכרן א"ל הב לי ידך יהב ליה ידיה ואוקמיה אמאי לוקים ר' יוחנן לנפשיה אמרי אין חבוש מתיר עצמו מבית האסורים

R' Hiyya bar Abba fell ill and R' Johanan went in to visit him. He said to him: Are your sufferings welcome to you? He replied: Neither they nor their reward. He said to him: Give me your hand. He gave him his hand and he raised him. R' Johanan once fell ill and R' Hanina went in to visit him. He said to him: Are your sufferings welcome to you? He replied: Neither they nor their reward. He said to him: Give me your hand. He gave him his hand and he raised him. Why could not R' Johanan raise himself? They replied: The prisoner cannot free himself from jail.

While this passage seems to intend to illustrate the dangerous theology of "afflictions of love" or afflictions that atone for our sins, to me this speaks volumes about the way we conceptualize mental health issues like depression, anxiety, even addiction, and perhaps offers therapeutic suggestions.


Let's take it apart. R' Yohanan, allegedly a friend of R' Hiyya bar Abba, sees his friend in pain and asks him in what I read as frustration and anger "you're enjoying this, aren't you?" as if to say there is a part of his dear friend that feeds off of being sick in this way. Perhaps that rings true for many of us, or perhaps it makes us angry to think someone might actually accuse the sick of enjoying their sickness. What this phrase is telling us, though, is that the part of us that is enjoying our sickness is in fact the sickness itself. Sometimes we are such prisoners to our afflictions that it is as if ,חביבין עליך יסורין, as if we are enjoying being sick, or rather, that the sickness has trapped us so much that we can't get out, that it leeches onto our will and emotions so much that it appears we love our condition. But of course, how could we actually love our suffering? It is like Kierkagaard's famous concept of "the sickness unto death," the sickness so strong and consuming that even death is not a cure. Somehow the sickness wants so badly to live that it appears we are enjoying it.

And then there is the incredible statement of collaborative therapy. We can't pull ourselves out from our own travails, but we can do it hand in hand with our fellows. It seems like the message of any Anonymous support group, fighting addictions with a larger army than just oneself.


This phrase חביבין עליך יסורין, essentially, "are you enjoying your grievances? are you enjoying being sick?" and the thrust of the narrative to its final point, that a prisoner cannot free himself from jail, offer us a Jewish framework to think about mental illness. It is all too easy for anyone who does not struggle with mental illness (afflictions like depression, anxiety, OCD, ED, etc.) to fall impatient through ignorance, wondering why the afflicted can't simply "snap out of it" and will themselves to health. Maybe the Gemara here is a cry our for therapeutic patience.

Brakhot 5 - Theodicy of 'testing'

"Raba, in the name of R. Sahorah, in the name of R. Huna, says: If the Holy One, blessed be He, is pleased with a man, he crushes him with painful sufferings."

To be honest, I was a bit surprised to see this one in today's Daf. I was always aware that rabbinic theodicies spanned the range from post-creation chaos, to the Sitra Achra, to a divine court of judgement, etc. I was never aware that the rabbis embraced 'purifying suffering' as a compatible theodicy. Now on one hand, its terribly disturbing that this reflects so much Gevura without the requisite Chesed. On the other hand, this could be terrifically comforting to someone who feels their afflictions are invested with value because of their indication of a more superior relationship to God. 

What do you guys think? How do we divide what's an effective theology to believe and what's an effective theology to preach (particularly to those who are ill)?

Technical Question - Brakhot 4

I didn't understand what the difference is between the שפיר and the שליא. Sadly, clarification from the Gemara might not come for another 7 years when we reach Niddah. Any thoughts?

Angelic Speed Limits

תנא מיכאל באחת גבריאל בשתים אליהו בארבע ומלאך המות בשמנה ובשעת המגפה באחת:
A tanna taught: Mikael [reaches his goal] in one [trip], Gavriel in two, Eliyahu in four, and the Angel of Death in eight - except in a time of plague, when it takes one.

This line really stuck out to me from today. Why these divisions? What different roles do each of these 'angelic' figures play that causes this Baraita to teach these "speed limits?" In particular, why does the Angel of Death have to make eight trips normally?

Even God Has Insomnia - Brakhot 3

Particularly poignant was the image of God staying up all night, crying out three times a night about how miserable it was that he destroyed his own palace. Reading this on the day we hear נחמו נחמו עמי in the haftarah, a week after Tisha B'Av offered me a powerful way to think about remorse.  I find it easy to be angry at God - and to encourage others to do the same - when catastrophes plague our lives. Yet perhaps God reacts to God's own actions with the same amount of reflection as we do to our mistakes: facing many sleepless nights in "timeout," thinking about what we've done.

This was never the God I envisioned...

Danger, danger!

The rather peculiar story of Elijah struck me today, as he turns up to tell Rabbi Yossi that he shouldn't have gone in to a ruin to pray but should have stayed on the road and prayed an abbreviated amidah. We are then told that there are 3 reasons not to go into a ruin - falling masonry, suspicion that one might be meeting a woman there, and demons.

It seemed strange to me that Elijah comes to teach something so apparently mundane - there are no enormous revelations here - so I started thinking about a possible deeper understanding. I came to the idea that the three dangers listed might cover more than just entering a ruin - that these three dangers, representing the physical, spiritual and social dangers, run the gamut of what threatens us as people living in society.

With the Talmud's short discussion afterwards, we know that no single one of these categories cover all of human experience, but all three are separate and necessary to explain the things that threaten who we are. Physical, spiritual and social dangers may come at any time, but we might think that we are particularly vulnerable at night, when the world is dark, and we don't know what's out there.

So perhaps we've learnt something more than why we should be careful about entering a ruin - for the world is dark and full of terrors.

Whose time is it anyway?

A quick thought on Brachot 2 in between my chaplaincy visits....

Who gets to set communal time?  The societal elites, the poorest among us, or the beinoniim?  If we all need to be on the same daily schedule, whose needs and priorities dictate how our time is structured?

Ten Times Two, as Fleeting as a Blink - Brakhot 2

Somewhat of a soft start, I feel like I've seen this daf many times. One of the challenges I see is being able to be mehadesh badavar and find something new and exciting, in old material and material that can be very technical. I'm reminded of the Harvard Education School's "Project Zero," which included a principle called "Ten Times Two." Go through a piece of artwork or a page of a text and find ten things you notice. Right as you get to ten, start over and find ten new things. So, something new I noticed was at the end of the daf, the description of "bein hashmashot":

דאמר רבי יוסי בין השמשות כהרף עין זה נכנס וזה יוצא ואי אפשר לעמוד עליו

 That contentious time of "twilight" is like the fluttering of an eye -- one time starts as the other begins.

I feel like this is an incredibly powerful way to begin a document about laws and cultural norms. We may spend considerable time debating details emphatically, but perhaps we require the humility to recognize that exact precision is as fleeting -- and as hard to pinpoint-- as the blinking of an eye.

In the Beginning....

Resources: 

(Kol haKavod for the compilation of this list by R. Dov Linzer)

Locate a Daf Yomi in Your Neighborhood

• Agudah’s list (not recently updated): http://www.teaneckshuls.org/daf/agudah/
• iTalmud iPad Edition – Daf Yomi, Audio, Local Shiurim, Talmud

Attend a “Virtual” Shiur (P = available as podcast; Y = available on YouTube)

• R. Dov Linzer(P, Y): http://www.the-daf.com/todays-daf-audio/
• OU – R. Elefant and R. Grossman (P): http://www.ouradio.org/index.php/daf
• R. Shalom Rosner (P): http://www.projectsinai.org/daf_yomi
• R. Simon Wolf (P): http://www.swdaf.com/index.php
• R. Ari Goldwag (P): http://www.arigoldwag.com/dailydaf.html
• DafYomi.org: http://www.dafyomi.org/download.php

Comprehensive Websites (links to websites, resources, shiurim)

• Portal HaDaf (Excellent. Hebrew): http://daf-yomi.com/dafYomi.aspx
• JKuperman: http://jkuperman.com/TorahLinks/DafYomi.html
• AishDas: http://www.aishdas.org/torahnet/Talmud/Daf_Yomi/

Additional Websites

• R. Linzer’s Daf Blog (in-depth analysis, resources): http://www.the-daf.com/
• Insights on the Daf: http://www.hearos.blogspot.com/
• Simon Wolf (In-depth Resources): http://www.swdaf.com/
• Daf Digest: http://www.dafdigest.org/

Online Translations

• Steinsaltz: http://www.hashefa.co.il/home/doc.aspx?mCatID=68658
• Soncino: http://halakhah.com/
• Rodkinson (1918): http://www.sacred-texts.com/jud/talmud.htm

Talmud Editions and Reference Works

• Vilna Shas (available on pdfs at www.hebrewbooks.org)
• Koren Talmud Bavli – Steinsaltz
• Artscroll Talmud – Schottenstein Edition
• Steinsaltz Talmud – Hebrew
• The Talmud, the Steinsaltz Edition: A Reference Guide
• The Complete Idiot’s Guide to the Talmud, Parry 

Scholarly Works and Essays

• Introduction to the Talmud and Midrash, Strack and Stemberger
• Printing of the Talmud website: http://www.printingthetalmud.org/essays.html
• TheCambridgeCompanion to the Talmud, Fonrobert and Jaffee