2,711 pages of Talmud. A gem a day.

Horayot 8

Fabulous gem today!

Which is the mitzva that is the equivalent of all the mitzvot? You must say: It is the prohibition against idol worship.

Now, let that sink in. If we want to sum up all the commandments we can do them all just by not practicing idol worship. I think this has such depth.

When I don’t give to charity and keep the money/material goods calling it “mine” this is idol worship – I am putting myself and my wants before what God wants, that’s idolatry. When I steal, I do not see the image of God in my victim, I put my needs before the command to love my neighbor as myself – it’s idolatry.

The beauty of this little line is that it truly does wrap up all the mitzvot into one. If we believe in God and put nothing before God, then we will end up following all the commandments.

Horayot 7

While the Jewish people have had kings, the holiest person was never the king, it was the High Priest, the Kohein Gadol he was מָשִׁיחַ (mashiah) anointed, that’s where to word Messiah comes from, it means anointed. So, was this holiest of people different?

We read:

The general public achieves atonement with a bull and does not bring a provisional guilt-offering, and an anointed priest achieves atonement with a bull and does not bring a provisional guilt-offering. Therefore one might say: Just as the general public is liable only for absence of awareness of the matter by the court together with unwitting performance of an action by the people, so too, an anointed priest will be liable only for absence of awareness of the matter together with unwitting performance of an action.

At the end of the day, even this holy person is still a person. They are held to the same standards, and like everyone else, they make mistakes. Yet, they are anointed, God has a plan for them.

May we too recognize that even with all of our faults God still might have a plan for us. it’s like the rabbis teach, that while we refuse to use broken vessels, God uses broken vessels all the time – us.

Horayot 6

What are all those sacrifices for?

We learn in Ezra, 8:35, “The returning exiles who arrived from captivity made burnt offerings to the God of Israel: twelve bulls for all Israel, ninety-six rams, seventy-seven lambs and twelve he-goats as a purification offering, all this a burnt offering to the Lord.”

The question becomes, what are all those sacrifices for? One idea is that it was to repent for those who sinned with idol worship, only those people died…

The Gemara asks: But didn’t those who sinned by engaging in idol worship during the time of Zedekiah and the Babylonian exile already die? Rav Pappa said: When it is learned as a tradition that the fate of a sin-offering whose owners have died is to allow the animal to die without its being sacrificed, this matter applies specifically with regard to an individual who died but not with regard to a congregation,

Why? This is our gem:

because there is no death with regard to a congregation; the entity of the congregation remains even when specific members die.

We may die as individuals, but as a nation we never die.

Am Yisrael Chai!

Horayot 5

Today’s gem is the rule that if the majority (weather of the tribe, or the whole Jewish population) sin, then the rest of the group also has to repent for the sin. A perfect text for two weeks till Rosh Hashanah! We confess in the plural. Even if we are not the active sinner, we make up a community that accepts that kind of behavior.

Horayot 4

“Duh” “Obviously” “That’s a given” “Uh, yeah”

On the daf today, we get the rule that you can’t blame the court or government for your own bad behavior if even a child would know better.

Rav Yehuda says that Shmuel says: A court is not liable to bring an offering unless it issues an erroneous ruling concerning a matter with which the Sadducees do not agree. The Sadducees do not accept the Oral Torah, and they interpret the Written Torah literally. The court is liable only for a matter that is not explicitly written in the Torah or that does not clearly stem from that which is written in the Torah. But with regard to an erroneous ruling concerning a matter with which the Sadducees agree, the judges are exempt. What is the reasoning for this exemption? It is a topic that you could go learn in a children’s school. Since the matter the judges ruled upon is so obvious, their ruling simply exhibits ignorance, and is not deemed a ruling.

Use basic sense. And just because someone says you can do something, if it’s wrong, don’t do it. It reminds me of the poem we learned, “All I really need to know i learned in kindergarten.” If only our leaders would do what’s blatantly obvious (like follow the Golden Rule).

Horayot 3

Two absolutely fantastic gems today!

The first:

One does not issue a decree upon the congregation unless the majority of the congregation is able to withstand it.

Don’t pass laws no one can keep. Understand and be part of the community you’re there to serve.

The second:

With regard to a court session Rabbi Yehoshua says: When there are ten judges who sit in judgment, the chain [kolar]placed around the neck of the person taken to his punishment is suspended around the neck of all of them, i.e., they are all responsible for the decision. The Gemara asks: Isn’t this obvious? The Gemara answers: This teaches us that even a student before his teacher may not be silent in deference to his teacher, as he bears responsibility for an erroneous ruling.

Have some integrity. If you know something is wrong you have to say something or you too are held accountable.

Horayot 2

Today’s daf teaches such an important lesson about what it means to have just courts.

If a court erroneously issued a ruling permitting the Jewish people to violate one of all the mitzvot that are stated in the Torah, and an individual proceeded and performed that transgression unwittingly on the basis of the court’s ruling, then . . . the individual is exempt from bringing an offering. This is due to the fact that he associated his action with the ruling of the court.

I love this. I love that the daf admits that courts get it wrong. I love that the court is held liable and not the individual. (And I love that elsewhere on the daf it says that if you’re a scholar and know they’re ruling wrong – you still need to do the right thing.)

Maya Angelou was not Jewish and while well read, I doubt she read the daf, but I htink her quote, “Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better,” fits the daf perfectly.

We all mess up sometimes, even if we think we are “doing the right thing” or even “following the law.” But when we realize those laws are unjust, or what we thought was right wasn’t – then we need to do better.

Avodah Zarah 76

We have made it to the last page of Avodah Zarah. It’s bitter sweet as it’s been such an entertaining daf. And it certainly ends with a memorable story. As you will recall, we have been learning about how to kasher utensils. (make an item kosher/fit for use) We end by learning that we kasher knives by stabbing them into the ground ten times. And this story is a funny proof text:

This is also taught in a baraita: With regard to a good knife that does not have notches, one can thrust it ten times into the ground. Rav Huna, son of Rav Yehoshua, says: This is sufficient for the purpose of eating cold food with it. This is like that incident involving Mar Yehuda, an important personage of the house of the Exilarch, and Bati bar Tuvi, a wealthy man, who were sitting before King Shapur, the king of Persia. The king’s servants brought an etrog before them. The king cut a slice and ate it, and then he cut a slice and gave it to Bati bar Tuvi. He then stuck the knife ten times in the ground, cut a slice, and gave it to Mar Yehuda. Bati bar Tuvi said to him: And is that man, referring to himself, not Jewish? King Shapur said to him: I am certain of that master, Mar Yehuda, that he is meticulous about halakha; but I am not certain of that master, referring to Bati bar Tuvi, that he is meticulous in this regard. There are those who say that King Shapur said to him: Remember what you did last night. The Persian practice was to present a woman to each guest, with whom he would engage in intercourse. Mar Yehuda did not accept the woman who was sent to him, but Bati bar Tuvi did, and therefore he was not assumed to be meticulous with regard to eating kosher food.

King Shapur kashers his knife after serving Bati bar Tuvi, not because he’s not Jewish, but because he may have slept with a prostitute the night before. I love the king telling Bati that his behavior is sketchy so he can’t be sure his behavior in other areas is not questionable too.

Avodah Zarah has certainly been an entertaining daf. One of my favorite thoughts was all the devout Jews who study daf yomi saying to themselves, “I love Avodah Zarah.” (Which means we love idol worship.) We will miss you!

Tomorrow we start Horayot which is about atoning for erroneous rulings of the court and inadvertent sins of leaders.

Sounds like there will be a lot that relates to today . . .

Avodah Zarah 75

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 knew the rules outlined on our daf today which tell us how to kasher pots, pans, dishes, and utensils.

The Sages taught: One who purchases utensils from the gentiles must prepare them for use in the following manner: With regard to items that the gentile did not use, one immerses them, and they are pure. With regard to items that the gentile used for cold food or drink, such as cups and jugs and flasks, one rinses them and immerses them, and they are pure. With regard to items that the gentile used for hot food or drink, such as large pots, small kettles [hakumkamusun], and samovars, one purges them with boiling water and immerses them, and they are pure. With regard to items that the gentile used with fire, such as spits and grills, one heats them until white-hot and immerses them, and they are pure.

So, to make it simple, you think about how the item is normally used and that’s how you kasher it.

Now the gem: As we head into the High Holy Day season we are trying to get our souls back to their natural pure state – re-kashering them if you will. For some things we only need to “immerse” and we are good to go. These could be the sins between us and God, the ones we only need to confess and turn away from and we are good. The one’s that require us to go through the fire? Those are the one’s between us and our fellow. We need to really do teshuvah for those. We have to admit what we did wrong, feel bad, apologize, make up for what we did and figure out a plan so we will never do it again. It’s fire (both in the slang way where fire is amazing, and fire in that the heat is turned up!)

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 cleanse a winepress, or utensils used by a gentile for wine? Rav says: One cleans it with water. Rabba bar bar Ḥana says: One cleans it with ashes. The Gemara asks: When Rav says: One cleans it with water, does he mean only with water and not with ashes as well? Furthermore, when Rabba bar bar Ḥana says: One cleans it with ashes, does he mean only with ashes, and not with water as well? Rather, their statements must be understood as follows: Rav says: One must cleanse it with water first, and the same must be done with ashes subsequently, and Rabba bar bar Ḥana says: One must cleanse it with ashes first, and the same must be done with water subsequently. The Gemara comments: And they do not disagree.

That’s right folks – if you want to get out stubborn grease and stains, ash and water seems to work wonders.

Surface recommended for ash cleaning include:

Glass: Clean wood stove glass or dirty glass containers.
Metal: Polish tarnished metal items, such as pots, pans, or silver.
Pots and Pans: Remove stubborn, burnt-on grime from cookware.

How to use ashes for cleaning

Gather Ashes: Collect cooled ashes from a clean, untreated hardwood fire.
Make a Paste: Mix a small amount of water with the ashes to create a thick paste.
Apply to Surface: Using a damp cloth, sponge, or toothbrush, apply the paste to the dirty or tarnished surface, like glass or metal.
Gently Scrub: Rub the area gently to remove the grime or polish the surface.
Rinse: Rinse the surface with water to remove the ash and reveal a clean surface.
Test First: Always test the ash paste on a small, hidden area of the item to make sure it won’t cause scratches.

When reading up on this I got on some threads where people shred that this worked better for them than expensive polishes and cleaning products.

I have a fireplace, but I live in Miami and so have never had to make a fire in this house to stay warm. But for those further north – maybe you want to keep those winter ashes for eco-friendly/wallet friendly cleaning.