Daf Yomi

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”
  • Seder Nashim – “Book of Women”
  • Seder Nezikin – “Book of Damages”
    • Bava Kamma – “The First Gate” – Who’s Responsible?
    • Bava Metzia – “The Middle Gate” – Who Owns the Truth?
      • Having dispensed summarily with the introduction to damages in Bava Kamma, and the separation of types by whether they are criminal or civil, and intentional or not, we move on to specifics. This second tractate is focused on civil matters, particularly those around property law, with a section devoted to responsibility for property that’s been entrusted to someone to care for and/or guard, and usury (monetary lending practices). Listening in and reading discussions by Talmudic scholars, this tractate is posited as an analogy over the ownership of Jewish heritage and tradition, and “who gets to interpret the word of God, and the laws”. A linguistic tangent that I find curious and interesting, in Aramaic, “metzia” means “middle”, but in Hebrew and Yiddish, “metzia” means “a lucky break”, “a bargain”, “a real find”. Hopefully we will spend less time on cows.
      • 4/12/24, Chapter 4, Page 44 – When does a transaction legally occur? Not when an item or property is paid for but not yet received. Not when an item or property is received but not yet paid for. Only when an item or property has both been received and paid for. I mean, did these rabbis not watch cop shows on TV? Everyone knows you have to wait until the exchange has been made before you move in for the arrest….
      • 4/13/24, Page 45 – Jews are not allowed to charge other Jews interest on loans, nor repay a loan with more than was lent; and the same holds true for “borrowing property” – an example is given of someone giving you ten eggs, you can’t repay them by giving them a dozen. This doesn’t apply to transactions with Gentiles. But what about repayments in equivalents? Can you use an amount of silver to repay a loan in gold, or vice versa? It’s quite the lively discussion.
      • 4/14/24, Page 46 – Given the prohibition on Jews charging other Jews interest for loans, how did such transactions take place? Let’s face it, people sometimes need a loan, and others aren’t going to just offer them gratis. Try this on. “Loan me X dollars, and I’ll repay you X dollars. I would like, totally unrelated to the loan, to pay your employee’s salaries for a couple of weeks/buy you something nice, just out of my personal generosity. We good?”
      • 4/15/24, Page 47 – On the table today, focusing in on the bathhouse, a place of communal gathering, and cleanliness, is the token. You used a token for entrance, that you’d bought in quantity. The question in front of the rabbis was whether these tokens could be used elsewhere for purchases, since everyone would, eventually use them at the bathhouse. It’s easy to see pro and con views, though in the end, they decided “no”, the tokens had no legal value outside of the bathhouse realm.
      • 4/16/24, Page 48 – If someone pays you money for goods, property, or services, what happens if you change your mind about the sale? As long as you haven’t actually delivered the item, you can back out. Of course, you can be immediately accused of robbery, extorsion, coercion, and just all around bad form. You may even be subject to the displeasure of the sages, and even cursed (not in the spiritual sense, just socially). But, just return the money paid and you can walk away, no legal obligations.
      • 4/17/24, Page 49 – A deposit is made, price of goods goes up, seller insists on more money or giving less goods for the same money. Rabbis agree, though offer that buyer can demand deposit back. But many of them also feel that the seller can refuse to return the deposit and short-change the buyer, which leads to a discussion on fraudulent sales practices. In the end, it seems to come down to “buyer beware” and a very loose definition of what a deposit or down payment guarantees.
      • 4/18/24, Page 50 – You buy something, but suspect that you’ve overpaid, especially as you look around and find the same object available for less. What are your rights? After much discussion, the consensus of the rabbis is that a 1/6, or roughly 17% markup, over cost, is the limit imposed on merchants. They can charge more if they want, but if they do, the buyer is given the right of recission for “the length of time it would take to show the sale to his relatives or other merchants” – basically, a day or so.
      • 4/19/24, Page 51 – Having dealt with the right of recission for the buyer, the sages turn to the seller, after all, there are dishonest buyers out there. First, it is noted that merchants in the city of Lod are scrupulously honest, and if there’s any irregularity in a transaction, it must be the buyer’s fault. Second, since a merchant is presumed expert in his field, in a barter type purchase, if he assesses something and then later finds it lacking, it is assumed the buyer slipped in a substitution.
      • 4/20/24, Page 52 – “…one who would refuse to accept a slightly eroded coin is merely a miserly soul, while the coin is in fact valid for any use.” For all those of us expats and visitors to Argentina who have tried to exchange foreign currency for Argentine pesos, this is an accurate assessment of local moneychangers.
      • 4/21/24, Page 53 – When produce, or money, has been tithed to the Temple or its representatives, it is “sacralized”, i.e., deemed holy, and only for the use of the Temple’s priests. But what happens if there’s… just too much of it? Torah law says that de-sacralized food, objects, or money must be buried. At the same time, the rabbis recognize the waste involved and today argue the moral imperatives to find an acceptable method to not waste those things, and use them for societal good.
      • 4/22/24, Page 54 – What if you change your mind about a contribution to the Temple, and wish it back? After all, the whole sacralized thing, and having to be buried if it’s de-sacralized comes into play. Well, hey, just, you know, pay us 20% interest on the value (wait, I thought we couldn’t charge other Jews interest?), and it’s yours, free and clear. And the 20% is the rounded-up to the next dinar amount. The house always wins.
      • 4/23/24, Page 55 – We still have a current of exploitation and cheating running in the background of these discussions, though I haven’t focused in on it. Today’s is interesting, as it addresses “small claims”. While the average person may well pursue a claim of having been cheated of a lesser amount, the rabbis don’t want the Temple embroiled in legal battles over having been shortchanged, especially since they’re talking about donations, even if obligatory, and they set a minimum for when it’s worth going after a donor.
      • 4/24/24, Page 56 – Amidst all the discussions about exploitation and substitutions of lesser or different materials, goods, or coinage, we have… an exemption. Sort of. While not codified as a consensus opinion, no one seems willing to argue with Rabbi Meir over… bread. He opines that even if you pretty much know that tithed bread is made from unconsecrated grain, or that the bread hasn’t been mixed, formed, and baked with proper procedures and reverence, it’s bread. It’s warm. It’s just out of the oven. Tithe away.
      • 4/25/24, Page 57 – A seller agrees to sell something to a buyer at market price. Between the time of the contract and the date of the transaction, the market price goes up. According to the halakhic rules, the buyer must pay the new price, even though the two agreed on a lower price. Except, of course, if the buyer is the Temple – they pay the lower price, because, again, the house always wins. Interestingly, they never address why a contract written for a specific price doesn’t have to be honored, nor what happens if the market price goes down.
      • 4/26/24, Page 58 – If we hire someone and pay them on a daily basis, we can’t pay them for working on the Sabbath, and therefore, anything they are normally considered responsible for, like, say, security of property, they are absolved of their responsibility. Therefore, they must be hired on a weekly, monthly, or yearly basis, which will just happen to include the Sabbath(s), and then they are considered responsible. My mind, such that it is, immediately thinks of the possibility of an inside job type theft where the guard gets himself hired as a day laborer for a Saturday shift….