Take One Daf Yomi

Today’s Talmud pages, Bava Batra 143 and 144, negotiate the central tension in Judaism between divine determinism and free will. Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin joins us to explain what catching a cold has to do with our sense of agency in this world. What is divine responsibility, and what is ours? Listen and find out.  Like the show? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Send us a note at [email protected]. Follow us on Twitter at @takeonedafyomi and join the conversation in the Take One Facebook group. We think that you may also enjoy Liel's new book How the Talmud Can Change Your Life: Surprisingly Modern Advice from a Very Old Book, available directly from the publisher, or wherever you purchase books. Listen to the Testimonies Archive, a partnership between Tablet Studios and the USC Shoah Foundation, for eyewitness audio accounts from Israel in the wake of the Oct 7 Hamas attacks. Check out all of Tablet’s podcasts at tabletmag.com/podcasts.

Today’s Talmud page, Bava Batra 142, revolves around a curious question: can an unborn child receive gifts? It's not just a hypothetical thought exercise; it is, as the rabbis teach us, a lesson in prioritizing the real over the ideal. Why should we stop pursuing the perfect and learn instead to grapple with reality in all its complications? Listen and find out. Like the show? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Send us a note at [email protected]. Follow us on Twitter at @takeonedafyomi and join the conversation in the Take One Facebook group. We think that you may also enjoy Liel's new book How the Talmud Can Change Your Life: Surprisingly Modern Advice from a Very Old Book, available directly from the publisher, or wherever you purchase books. Listen to the Testimonies Archive, a partnership between Tablet Studios and the USC Shoah Foundation, for eyewitness audio accounts from Israel in the wake of the Oct 7 Hamas attacks. Check out all of Tablet’s podcasts at tabletmag.com/podcasts.

Today’s Talmud page, Bava Batra 141, shows us the rabbis once again arguing that God is furious with anyone who doesn't leave behind inheritors. Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin joins us to explain this curious passage, and give us insight into the Talmud view of what truly matters in life. How is having children a reflection of one's values? Listen and find out.  Like the show? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Send us a note at [email protected]. Follow us on Twitter at @takeonedafyomi and join the conversation in the Take One Facebook group. We think that you may also enjoy Liel's new book How the Talmud Can Change Your Life: Surprisingly Modern Advice from a Very Old Book, available directly from the publisher, or wherever you purchase books. Listen to the Testimonies Archive, a partnership between Tablet Studios and the USC Shoah Foundation, for eyewitness audio accounts from Israel in the wake of the Oct 7 Hamas attacks. Check out all of Tablet’s podcasts at tabletmag.com/podcasts.

Today’s Talmud Page, Bava Batra 140, raises a dilemma: As the Torah tells us that sons inherit their fathers, and as Jewish tradition instructs us that fathers must support their unmarried daughters, what happens if a man with both sons and daughters dies and has no money to sustain them both? It's a drama that touches on so much that is human, from family dynamics to the sometimes tense relationship between men and women. How to resolve it? Listen and find out. Like the show? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Send us a note at [email protected]. Follow us on Twitter at @takeonedafyomi and join the conversation in the Take One Facebook group. We think that you may also enjoy Liel's new book How the Talmud Can Change Your Life: Surprisingly Modern Advice from a Very Old Book, available directly from the publisher, or wherever you purchase books. Listen to the Testimonies Archive, a partnership between Tablet Studios and the USC Shoah Foundation, for eyewitness audio accounts from Israel in the wake of the Oct 7 Hamas attacks. Check out all of Tablet’s podcasts at tabletmag.com/podcasts.