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?
    • Bava Batra – “The Last Gate” – You’re Responsible, and Here’s Why
    • Sanhedrin – “Assembly” – Judging You
      • The Sanhedrin itself was a council of 71 Jewish sages during the Roman era, who adjudicated major disputes, somewhat like a supreme court. The word is a loan word from Greek. This tractate focuses on the court system and civil law for the most part, with a section on criminal particularly around discussions of capital punishment.
      • 3/17/25, Chapter 11, Page 90 – This chapter opens with the declaration that all Jews will have a place in “the world to come”. Now, that world is never defined anywhere, and there have been historical debates for eons over whether this is the Garden of Eden, or some sort of either corporeal or noncorporeal Heaven. It also does not guarantee that all will have an equal share, and while never stated, the rabbis tend to assume that the more faithful and righteous a person is, the bigger their part in that world. But, like so much else in the Talmudic discussions, they’re just speculating.
      • 3/18/25, Page 91 – The idea that some day there will be a redemption, a rebirth, of all those who have died, shows up in scriptural writings across most religions. While some of the Talmudic rabbis argued against it, stating that life couldn’t be reanimated from dust, the majority of them, and of human beings in general, believed in spontaneous generation – that some creatures were not born, but simply occurred. This belief was the dominant one until Pasteur in the 1800s and his discoveries of microscopic life. Besides, they argued, God could simply create new bodies and stick their souls into those.
      • 3/19/25, Page 92 – In the midst of the discussion of resurrection, we have a tangent. Given that the study of Torah is considered the number one mitzvah to engage in (you’re welcome), anyone who prevents someone else from doing so is subject to death. And, we have a new way of doing it! “Perforate him like a sieve!” The object used for perforation is not specified, though likely a sword or spear, as the iron maiden had not yet been invented, and, as best anyone knows, was never actually used – it was a deterrent showpiece.
      • 3/20/25, Page 93 – Nebuchadnezzar, the infamous king, tries an experiment. He throws three righteous Jews into a furnace to see if God will protect them. They emerge unscathed. Phase 2, he throws Joshua, the righteous leader, into the furnace along with two idolaters. The latter are burned to death, Joshua emerges, safe but singed. Nebuchadnezzar asks why he wasn’t unscathed. Joshua responds that while he may have been righteous, he was accompanied by those who were not, and could not help but be tainted by their wickedness.
      • 3/21/25, Page 94 – Who is the greater seer – the one who hears the voice of God and shares a prophecy, or the one who sees a vision of God and shares a prophecy? Is this a neurolinguistic programming question or just a compare and contrast between auditory and visual hallucinations? Since the rabbis don’t seem to be able to agree, they decide to agree that at the least, those who see or hear God are greater than those who don’t hallucinate at all. Oh wait, they think the hallucinations are real.
      • 3/22/25, Page 95 – A siege force against Jerusalem is more or less wiped out overnight by a heaven sent miracle, killing 185,000 soldiers in their sleep. But, the rabbis argue, supposedly there were 2.6 million soldiers in the main camp, divided into battalions of 260,000. So why were only 185,000 killed? Which one of those numbers is wrong? Were more killed, or was the size of the army overestimated? It doesn’t seem to occur to them that maybe God left a bunch alive as witnesses, or maybe just killed the sleeping ones, not those who were awake. Either way, seems an odd focus.
      • 3/23/25, Page 96 – Nebuzaradan. Not a name that we encounter a lot. He was the general that king Nebuchadnezzar sent to destroy the First Temple. As the Temple burned to the ground, he noticed a pool of bubbling blood. On inquiry, it turned out to be the blood of prophet Zechariah, who the priests had stoned to death for his gloom and doom. All attempts to stop the bubbling blood failed, including the sacrifice of hundreds of thousands of sages, children, and more – a total of 940,000 people! Finally, Nebuzaradan spoke to Zechariah’s blood and threatened to kill every last Jew if it didn’t stop. It did. He realized how powerful the Jewish God was, abandoned his post, converted to Judaism, and lived out his life in repentance. And we took him in. SMH.
      • 3/24/25, Page 97 – Prophecy said that there would be a series of particular events during one particular sabbatical cycle (7-year agricultural cycle) that would culminate with the coming of the Messiah. Rav Yosef pointed out that this series of events had happened several times in history, and no Messiah. Another prophecy said that there would be 2000 years of chaos followed by 2000 of Torah study, followed by 2000 of the Messiah, followed by the end of the current world. Although human history is now well over 6000 years, none of those periods has yet to happen. Just sayin’.