This would, no doubt, turn into a massive page during the project going through the entire cycle. What I’m going to do is put the section of whichever tractate I’m currently going through on this page, and as I finish them during the cycle, I’ll move the finished one onto a separate linked sub-page. I’m going to organize it as an outline so it’s reasonably easy to follow. I’m also, while well aware of the deep spiritual stuff that’s going on in each discussion, not going to go down that path – there are a zillion websites and commentaries that already do that. In general, I find the idea of a glimpse of a historical culture from what amounts to transcripts of conversations between spiritual and secular leaders to be fascinating, and not surprisingly, for me, I’m particularly drawn to topics that relate to food and wine, sexuality, and comedy.
- Seder Zeraim – “Book of Seeds”
- Berakhot – “Blessings” – Blessed things, actions, and events
- I hit a momentary “WTF?” when Berakhot finished and we didn’t move on to Pe’ah, the next tractate in Zeraim. Apparently the remaining ten tractates in Zeraim do not have Gemara commentary in the Babylonian Talmud, just the Jerusalem Talmud, which the Daf Yomi doesn’t cover. Despite living in a predominately agrarian society, the Babylonian rabbis apparently had nothing to say on agriculture and related subjects like tithing, offerings, and challah bread. Though now I get “Book of Seeds”, I do feel a bit cheated and I want to know if there’s a good challah recipe in there. My plan is to at some point read through the various tractates throughout the Talmud that aren’t included in the Daf Yomi, just out of curiosity. I’ll put those in a different color so that they stand out.
- Pe’ah – “Corner” – Pay it Forward
- Demai – “Doubtful” – Provenance and Taxes
- Kil’ayim – “Mixed Species” – Mixing it up in the Fields
- Shevi’it – “Seventh” – Taking a Sabbatical from Life
- Terumot – “Donations” –
- Ma’aser Rishon – “First Tithes” –
- Ma’aser Sheni – “Second Tithes” –
- Challah – “Dough” –
- Orlah – “First Fruits of Trees” –
- Bikkurim – “First Fruits” –
- Seder Moed – “Book of Festivals”
- Shabbat – “Sabbath” – The Day of Rest
- Eruvin – “Community Spaces” – Creating Shared Space
- Pesachim – “Passovers” – Recreating the Jewish People
- Shekalim – “Shekels” – Taxes of Renewal
- Yoma – “The Day” – Hard to Say I’m Sorry
- Sukkah – “The Hut” – Founding the Jewish Nation
- Beitza – “The Egg” – Making it all Social
- Rosh Hashanah – “Head of the Year” – Finding Yourself in Time
- Ta’anit – “The Fast” – Hunger Strikes
- Megillah – “Scroll” – Rules of the Read
- Mo’ed Katan – “Little Festival” – What Can You Do?
- Chagigah – “Festival Offering” – Nu, What Can I Bring?
- Seder Nashim – “Book of Women”
- Yevamot – “Brother’s Wife” – Clan Survival
- Ketubot – “Written” – I Do
- Nedarim – “Vows” – I Won’t
- Nazir – “Abstinent” – I’m Yours Forever… or a Month
- Sotah – “Errant Wife” – How Can I Trust You Again?
- Gittin – “Divorce Documents” – Parting Glances
- Kiddushin – “Betrothal” – You’re Mine, All Mine!
- Seder Nezikin – “Book of Damages”
- Bava Kamma – “The First Gate” – Who’s Responsible?
- Bava Metzia – “The Middle Gate” – Who Owns the Truth?
- Bava Batra – “The Last Gate” – You’re Responsible, and Here’s Why
- Sanhedrin – “Assembly” – Judging You
- Makkot – “Lashes” – Whip It, Whip It Good
- Shevu’ot – “Oaths” – Swear to God!
- Eduyot – “Testimonies” – Another one not included in the Daf Yomi cycle, again because it contains no Gemara commentary, rather being a series of testimonies from various sages on a variety of legal topics – I will get to it at some point
- Avodah Zarah – “Foreign Worship” – Playing Well with Others
- Avot or Pirkei Avot – “Fathers’ Ethics” – Another not included one due to “almost no laws, consisting instead of short statements of advice, ethics, and wisdom”.
- Horayot – “Decisions” – Oops
- Seder Kodashim – “Book of Holy Things”
- Zevachim – “Sacrifices” – God’s Grill
- Menachot – “Meal Offerings” – Holy Carbs Batman!
- Tractate Menachot is about the laws of grain, oil, wine, and incense offerings in the Temple, exploring how everyday staples of life such as bread, oil, and fragrance become vehicles of sanctity. While the previous tractate, Zevachim, dealt with animal sacrifices, Menachot turns to offerings made from flour, oil, wine, and incense.
- 3/5/26, Chapter 5, Page 53 – Can you bring leavened dough as a sacrifice? No, the Torah bans it. But the rabbis immediately spiral into a hipster bread brawl over what counts as leavening. If you dumped yeast in that’s an obvious no-no. But what if it just sits out and catches wild yeast from the air? Does that make it ritually toxic, or is that just nature doing its thing? Then there’s the sourdough starter problem: is adding a bit of mother dough an act of culinary continuity or a sneaky way of smuggling yeast past the altar guards? It’s less about bread chemistry than about divine chemistry; does God care that the bread puffed up, or that you made it puff up?
- 3/6/26, Page 54 – The rabbis wander into food chemistry and immediately panic: fermented apple juice might or might not count as a leavening agent, but first, as we saw yesterday, offerings should be unleavened, and second, liquids in meal offerings are banned because flour plus water equals swelling, and swelling equals fraudulent measures. Meat is no safer, since dunking it makes it puff while drying shrinks it, both corrupting the sacred measure. The whole chapter is basically a battle against entropy, as the rabbis try to stabilize the unstable.
[A pretty chart of the whole thing lifted from Wikipedia]