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.
Sunday, December 30, 2012
Thursday, December 13, 2012
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?
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?
Monday, November 26, 2012
The Master of Wings - Shabbat 49a
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.
Thursday, October 25, 2012
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.
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.
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
(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?
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.
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.
Monday, October 15, 2012
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.
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.
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