Take One Daf Yomi

On today’s page, Chullin 118, the rabbis want to know what makes a handle a handle, leading to some rather gruesome questions about the different ways one might grab an animal. Modern neuroscience offers a surprising echo of their inquiry, revealing that the less we know about what we’re holding, the tighter we tend to grasp it. Why does uncertainty make us hold on tighter? Listen and find out. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On today’s page, Chullin 117, a new chapter called “The Skin and the Sauce” breaks an animal down into its constituent parts, from flesh and bones to tendons and hooves. But as the month of Elul begins, this inventory becomes an invitation to take stock of ourselves—and consider what elevates us beyond our own skin and bones. What separates us from the beasts? Listen and find out. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On today’s pages, Chullin 115 and 116, the rabbis demonstrate that understanding the Talmud means learning not only its conclusions, but how it thinks. Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin joins us to introduce Talmud Daily, a new 40-week journey through the concepts, history, and structure that can give anyone a map of this sprawling text. Ready for the grand tour? Listen and find out. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On today’s pages, Chullin 113 and 114, a discussion of how food absorbs flavor becomes a recipe for a meaningful Jewish life. Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin joins us to consider three paths to experiencing the divine: the heat of passion, immersion in community, and the salt of life’s most difficult moments. Where do we find the flavor in faith? Listen and find out. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On today’s page, Chullin 112, a meaty knife and a humble radish lead the rabbis to a deceptively simple principle: Taste is taste, and taste is boss. Their intricate rules make keeping kosher more complicated—but they might also make eating infinitely more delightful. What can a pastrami-flavored radish teach us about tasting the world? Listen and find out. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On today’s page, Chullin 111, the rabbis debate how to prepare one of Jewish cuisine’s most divisive delicacies: liver. If you think its staying power comes down to tradition or nutrition, you’re only halfway there. Take our hand as we explore a food that is humble and luxurious, beloved and reviled—and somehow still here after thousands of years. We’ll make it, we swear. What could be more Talmudic than a food that is itself an argument? Listen and find out. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On today’s page, Chullin 110, the rabbis continue their discussion of the laws surrounding udders before we turn to a different question: What can Moses teach us about despair? In this special episode from The Republic of Moses, former Israeli Chief Rabbi David Lau explores why so many people have lost hope—and what Deuteronomy can teach us about finding it again. Listen and find out. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On today’s pages, ⁠Chullin 108 and 109, Yalta observes that for everything the Torah forbids, God provides something permitted in its place. It’s a striking teaching from one of the Talmud’s most fascinating women, whose appearances range from smashing 400 barrels of wine in a rage to offering profound insights into Jewish law. What happens when law and poetry meet? Listen and find out. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On today’s pages, ⁠Chullin 106 and 107, a discussion of handwashing leads to stories of culinary confusion, marital disaster, and a very dirty mustache. Centuries later, Ignaz Semmelweis would discover just how deadly unwashed hands could be—and pay a terrible price for trying to convince the world. Why are the invisible dangers sometimes the hardest to believe? Listen and find out. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On today’s page, Chullin 105, two rabbis encounter a witch who uses an incantation to stop their boat in its tracks. Their eerie encounter opens a centuries-old Jewish debate over whether magic is real—and offers a surprisingly mundane prescription for confronting the supernatural. How do you protect yourself from a witch? Listen and find out. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On today’s page, Chullin 104, the rabbis ask just how far the prohibition against mixing meat and milk really extends. Their debate over chicken and cheese becomes a master class in Talmudic reasoning—and a reminder that even our most familiar traditions invite us to ask why. So what, exactly, is wrong with chicken parm? Listen and find out. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On today’s page, ⁠Chullin 103, the rabbis ask a slightly stomach-turning question about whether eating something once means you can ever truly eat it again—and discuss whether eating happens in the stomach, where food is digested, or the throat, where it is enjoyed. Along the way, a forgotten teaching offers a lesson in how even the wisest among us should be reminded of what they once knew. What can eating teach us about the pleasures of learning? Listen and find out. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On today’s pages, ⁠Chullin 101 and 102, the rabbis conclude Tractate Chullin, and with it our Summer Barbecue series comes to an end. Recorded around a barbecue table in upstate New York, this special finale with Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin and producer Josh Kross reflects on how a tractate about kashrut ultimately became a meditation on gratitude, responsibility, and seeing the world more completely. What happens when we stop looking only at what’s on our plate and begin to see everything behind it? Listen and find out. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit...

On today’s pages, ⁠Chullin 99 and 100, the rabbis explore the principle that flavor—not appearance or texture—is what truly defines food. Recorded around a barbecue table in upstate New York, this special summer episode with Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin and producer Josh Kross reflects on why Judaism takes the invisible transmission of flavor so seriously, and what that teaches us about the unseen ways people, experiences, and actions leave their mark on our lives. What kind of flavor are we leaving behind? Listen and find out. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit me...

On today’s page, ⁠Chullin 98, the rabbis continue exploring the laws surrounding meat. Recorded around a barbecue table in upstate New York, this special summer episode with Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin and producer Josh Kross reflects on why Judaism elevates meat only when it serves something greater—Shabbat, holidays, Torah, and community. Is the food at the center of the celebration, or is it simply helping us celebrate what really matters? Listen and find out. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On today’s page, ⁠Chullin 97, the rabbis explore what happens when permitted and forbidden foods become accidentally mixed together. Recorded around a barbecue table in upstate New York, this special summer episode with Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin and producer Josh Kross reflects on how Jewish law was designed not for a world of certainty, but for one filled with ambiguity and doubt. How do we make faithful decisions when we can’t know everything? Listen and find out. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On today’s page, ⁠Chullin 96, the rabbis explain why an olive-sized portion has become one of the foundational measurements in Jewish law. Recorded around a barbecue table in upstate New York, this special summer episode with Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin and producer Josh Kross reflects on moderation, intention, and why Judaism so often seeks the middle path rather than the extremes. What does it really mean to eat? Listen and find out. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On today’s pages, ⁠Chullin 94 and 95, the rabbis discuss signs and omens, prompting a conversation about the place of superstition in Jewish life. Recorded around a barbecue table in upstate New York, this special summer episode with Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin and producer Josh Kross explores why Judaism rejects magical thinking while embracing rituals that inspire hope, prayer, and intentional living. When does a good omen become an act of faith instead of superstition? Listen and find out. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On today’s pages, ⁠Chullin 92 and 93, the rabbis forbid sellers from misrepresenting what they’re offering, insisting that honesty belongs in every transaction. Recorded around a barbecue table in upstate New York, this special summer episode with Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin and producer Josh Kross explores why Judaism demands integrity not only in the marketplace, but in every human relationship. Is telling the truth simply about avoiding lies—or about honoring the people we deal with? Listen and find out. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On today’s page, ⁠Chullin 91, the rabbis revisit Jacob’s struggle with the angel and the prohibition against eating the gid hanasheh. Recorded around a barbecue table in upstate New York, this special summer episode with Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin and producer Josh Kross reflects on what that encounter teaches us about Jewish identity, belonging, and the responsibility never to give up on one another. What does it mean to hold on to someone until they become a blessing? Listen and find out. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices