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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