Take One Daf Yomi

On today’s pages, Chullin 129 and 130, Megillat Ta’anit raises a fundamental question: What exactly makes the Oral Torah oral once its teachings have been written down? To help answer it, we’re sharing a lesson from Talmud Daily, in which Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin explains why Torah shebe’al peh is more than a collection of texts—it’s the lived Judaism we learn from families, teachers, communities, and one another. Can you really learn how to be Jewish from a book? Listen and find out.

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On today’s pages, Chullin 127 and 128, the rabbis contemplate the wonders of creation, from creatures of the sea and land to those of fire and air. Then some enterprising residents decide to improve on God’s handiwork by breeding two animals that shouldn’t be able to reproduce—and discover that not every miracle is a blessing. What happens when we ask whether something can be done without stopping to ask whether it should be? Listen and find out.


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On today’s page, Chullin 126, the rabbis encounter a mystery buried in two words: golel and dofek. Solving it takes us from Rashi and Maimonides to the burial caves of ancient Israel and the great stones once rolled across their entrances. What can the Talmud teach us about the lost burial practices of our ancestors? Listen and find out.
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On today’s page, Chullin 125, the rabbis consider a curious rule of ritual impurity: Under the right circumstances, it can get out of an enclosed space but cannot get in. Their technical discussion becomes a powerful argument for repentance and the possibility that, no matter what we’ve done, something at our core remains forever pure. Can our worst mistakes ever change who we truly are? Listen and find out.
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On today’s page, Chullin 124, Rabba bar Rav Huna is too tired to answer a complicated question, so he points to the sky and cries, “Look! A raven!” His wonderfully human moment offers a radical rule for relationships: Don’t settle for merely being there when you can wait until you’re ready to be fully present. What do we owe the people who ask for our time and attention? Listen and find out.
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