When my grandpa, an orthodox rabbi, would come to visit my family in Fort Wayne, he would kasher all our dishes and utensils before he would eat anything. (Mostly, he just didn’t visit us and we had to go to him. But the few times he came, like for my Bat Mitzvah.) He clearly knewContinue reading “Avodah Zarah 75”
Category Archives: Uncategorized
Avodah Zarah 74
Cleaning tips on the daf! While the daf is describing how to “kasher” a winepress purchased from gentile (who may have used it in idolatrous libations), it gives us some amazing cleaning tips that people still swear by today. The Gemara asks with regard to the cleansing mentioned in the mishna: How does one cleanseContinue reading “Avodah Zarah 74”
Avodah Zarah 73
Today’s daf opens with a new Mishnah, all about mixing water and wine: Wine used for a libation is forbidden, and any amount of it renders other wine forbidden if they are mixed together. Wine used for a libation that became mixed with wine, or water that was used for an idolatrous libation that becameContinue reading “Avodah Zarah 73”
Avodah Zarah 72
Thirsty? Below is a bunch of people in Uganda drinking Malwa, a traditional beer sipped from a calabash pot. You’ll see why I posted this after you read this snippet from the daf: Mar Zutra, son of Rav Naḥman, says: For a Jew and a gentile to drink simultaneously from a vessel with tubes forContinue reading “Avodah Zarah 72”
Avodah Zarah 71
Today’s gem is very disturbing. On 70 we read that wine from a city attacked during wartime is still kosher as the soldiers don’t have time to pour libations… but today we learn they have time for something else. And the Gemara raises a contradiction to the assumption that soldiers during wartime do not have time to commitContinue reading “Avodah Zarah 71”
Avodah Zarah 70
It has often felt, reading Avodah Zarah, that the rabbis didn’t want Jews to mingle with non-Jews. On our daf today – we see that we have TONS of regular contact with non-Jews. We eat, sleep, work with, and socialize with non-Jews – even on the daf! On this page alone we see: Jewish prostituteContinue reading “Avodah Zarah 70”
Avodah Zarah 69
Today’s daf offers a fascinating psychological insight. Rava explains that wine left in the hands of non-Jews was safe not because of locks or guards, but because the owner might show up at any moment: Rava said: It is a case where he came to them in a roundabout way, such that they would notContinue reading “Avodah Zarah 69”
Avodah Zarah 68
So, the daf has been talking a lot about if something is forbidden or permitted to benefit from, or to be eaten, if a forbidden substance falls into it. We did this with wine, vinegar, even spices and dough! So, get ready for today’s mystery substance: The Gemara recounts an incident involving a certain mouseContinue reading “Avodah Zarah 68”
Avodah Zarah 67
Today’s daf reminds me of two personal cooking stories. We read: And if the forbidden food amplified the flavor of the permitted food to its detriment, it is permitted. One of the examples given is vinegar. This made me think to my first roommate when I was living in Israel. Her name was April. SheContinue reading “Avodah Zarah 67”
Avodah Zarah 66
Today’s gem reminded me both of Beavis and Butthead, and a great Jewish story. With regard to this bunghole [bat tiha], the hole in a barrel through which one can smell the wine, if a gentile smells a Jew’s wine through it, the wine is permitted, but for a Jew to smell a gentile’s wine through it, Abaye says that it is prohibited, whereas Rava says that it is permitted. Abaye says that it is prohibited becauseContinue reading “Avodah Zarah 66”
2,711 pages of Talmud. A gem a day. 