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

Welcome to a new book of the Talmud! And Beitzah starts off by discussing . . . eggs! You should know that Beitzah means “egg” in Hebrew. . . it is also a slang term for mens’ gonads, so some call this book Bei’a (which I don’t understand as that’s so close to biah which means intercourse . . . )

And indeed, today’s page begins with a discussion about if one can prepare and eat an egg laid on Yom Tov, on a festival. Yom Tov would have been the best name for this tractate of the Talmud as that is what we will be studying over the next 39 days – the rules of a festival, and in particular, how they are different from Shabbat.

Today’s gem is just that our daf has one of those rare occasions when Shammai is more lenient that Hillel – which just goes to show that you never know when people (or schools of thought) will surprise you.

So, how do you prefer your eggs? Fried? Over-easy? Sunny side-up? Scrambled?

Maybe, with a side of Gemara . . .

Our final daf in tractate Sukkah ends with a pretty intriguing story. We hear about how each watch in the temple would enter and leave, how they would divide up the shewbread and sacrificial meat. All go to the north when dividing the shewbread – this signals their arrivals. All, but one . . .

However, there was one exception: The watch of Bilga always divides the shewbread to its members in the south, even when it is the incoming watch. And its ring was fixed in place, rendering it useless, and its niche among the niches in the wall of the Chamber of Knives, where the priests would store their knives and other vessels, was sealed.

So, what is happening here? Bilgah is the name of one of the watches (as we can see in I Chronicles 24:14). According to the Talmud, the way they divided their sacrificial meat was punishment for some infraction. Likewise, in the Temple there were twenty-four rings, one for each watch, which would hold the animals head while the priests were skinning it. There was a notch int he wall where the priests would store their knives. Whatever Bilgah did, it was bad enough that their ring and nitch were closed up so that they could not use them.

So, we have to wonder – what did this group do that was so bad? The Gemara offers two explanations:

The Sages taught in a baraita: There was an incident involving Miriam, the daughter of a member of the Bilga watch, who apostatized and went and married a soldier [sardeyot] of the Greek kings. When the Greeks entered the Sanctuary, she entered with them and was kicking with her sandal on the altar and said: Wolf, wolf [lokos], How much longer will you consume the property of the Jewish people, and yet you do not stand with them when their in exigent circumstances?

The first explanation is that a daughter of one of the members of Bilga married a Greek and when the soldiers came to desecrate the sanctuary, she attacked the alter! She calls it a wolf, endlessly eating the sacrifices of the Jewish people but doing nothing to protect them. The rabbis put into her mouth words that, perhaps, they have wondered – why do we continue to serve? To offer sacrifice? Where is God while we are being subjected to the whims of others?

And some say that the watch was penalized for a different reason. It happened once that some members of the Bilga watch tarried in arriving at the Temple.

So, now we have two ideas. One, an apostate daughter. Two, that they were late and neglected their Temple duties. (Interesting side note – in II Maccabees 4:23, two Helenizing high priests, Simon and Menelaus, were both from the watch of Bilgah and wanted to avoid their Temple service.)

The Gemara wonders: However, according to the one who said it is due to Miriam, daughter of Bilga, who apostatized, do we penalize the entire watch of Bilga because of his daughter? Abaye said: Yes, as people say, the speech of a child in the marketplace is learned either from that of his father or from that of his mother.

As the colloquialism says, “The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.”

Reading this, I can’t help but wonder if Miriam is real – or if both reasons given for the punishment are one and the same; meaning, they are punished because they don’t really buy into the whole sacrificial system. They don’t believe in what they’re doing, so the tools available to other families to make sacrifice easier are not accessible to them.

But they are still there. They are still included.

It’s true that when we try to do things that we don’t believe in, it’s harder for us. As a kid (and adult) there are things I want to do that get done quickly while there are things I have to do but don’t understand why I have to do them that I struggle to finish. I can’t help but think of algebra. I love math, but it’s a common refrain among teens that they ask: when will I ever use this in real life? They have to do it anyway – even though they don’t fully buy in to math as a life skill.

Later, when they are trying to calculate sale prices, or halve quantities for recipes – they use that math that they thought they would never use.

Perhaps we are all like Bilga at times. We don’t know that we believe when it looks so much easier for others. But we show up, we struggle through. We stay in community. And one day, God willing, this practice will not longer be forced, but will be a part of us – bringing us closer to God and one another.

Two little gems from one section on today’s daf: be fair and care for others.

We see fairness modeled on how the priests offered sacrifices during each day of hte festival: The Gemara answers: This is what the baraita comes to teach us: One who sacrificed bulls today will not sacrifice bulls tomorrow; rather, they rotate. Therefore, each watch sacrifices at least two bulls, and most of them sacrifice three. Giving every priest about the same amount of animals to sacrifice over the entire holiday!

We are also taught to think of others, that it’s not just about us, or just about the Jewish people: Elazar said: These seventy bulls that are sacrificed as additional offerings over the course of the seven days of Sukkot, to what do they correspond? They correspond to the seventy nations of the world, and are brought to atone for their sins and to hasten world peace.

We learn in just a few lines that we should strive for equity and justice both within our communities and for the world beyond our community.

May peace come soon and may it begin with us.

Today’s gem is a nice little insult provided by Rava:

Rava said: Who is this who is not concerned about the flour?!

In the debate over how many shofar blasts are offered when Sukkot and Shabbat coincide, he thinks the rabbis are being sloppy with their assertions. He says that whoever made the previous resolution doesn’t care about “the flour” he grinds, meaning the quality of the resolution he offers is quite poor.

Nothing like a Talmudic insult.

Another gem of a daf. One fabulous snippet from Hillel the Elder:

It is taught in the Tosefta: They said about Hillel the Elder that when he was rejoicing at the Celebration of the Place of the Drawing of the Water he said this: If I am here, everyone is here; and if I am not here, who is here?

What does this mean? We should not say to ourselves that we do not need to show up since others will, because everyone might be thinking the same way! We need to step up, we need to show up, if we don’t, we have not done our part – and perhpas no one else will.

Hillel continues:

He would also say this: To the place that I love, there my feet take me, and therefore, I come to the Temple. And the Holy One, Blessed be God, says: If you come to My house, I will come to your house; if you do not come to My house, I will not come to your house, as it is stated: “In every place that I cause My name to be mentioned, I will come to you and bless you” (Exodus 20:20).

You want God to be there for you? Be there for God. You want God to visit you? Show up to God’s house as well (any house of worship). Relationships are a two way street and you need to do your part. If you love a person or a place, let your feet take you there.

Gems from Hillel. The page also features juggling, shofar blasting, and crazy yoga moves that may result in injury. Enjoy.

Great daf! Perfect for S’lichot tonight as we grapple with our yetzeir haRah, our evil inclination. Will the evil inclination die at the end of days? Will we give it a eulogy?

According to the one who said that the eulogy is for the evil inclination that was killed, does one need to conduct a eulogy for this? On the contrary, one should conduct a celebration. Why, then, did they cry?

As Rabbi Yehuda taught: In the future, at the end of days, God will bring the evil inclination and slaughter it in the presence of the righteous and in the presence of the wicked. For the righteous the evil inclination appears to them as a high mountain, and for the wicked it appears to them as a mere strand of hair. These weep and those weep. The righteous weep and say: How were we able to overcome so high a mountain? And the wicked weep and say: How were we unable to overcome this strand of hair? And even the Holy One, Blessed be He, will wonder with them, as it is stated with regard to the eulogy: “So says the Lord of hosts: If it be wondrous in the eyes of the remnant of this people in those days, it should also be wondrous in My eyes” (Zechariah 8:6).

We all have the urge to do what is wrong. Fighting it all the time can feel like over coming mountains. But you climb a mountain the same way you overcome the evil inclinaiton, one little step at a time. No one step is too big, but once we give up and give in, it’s harder to get back on the right path.

Rav Asi said: Initially, when it begins to entice someone, the evil inclination is like a strand of a spider’s web [bukhya]; and ultimately it is like the thick ropes of a wagon. . .

It may look like others don’t struggle to do the right thing – but believe me, everyone does. May you over come every mountain . . . and every strand of hair. One choice at a time, one step at a time, and when our time comes, may we weep with pride at what we have accomplished.

Today’s daf has two elements of debate on it that we still debate today: Can we play musical instruments on Shabbat? Should men and women be seated together or separately?

Instruments on Shabbat: If you have ever attended an Orthodox shul on Shabbat, one of the many things you will note is that there are no instruments. Whereas, in the Reform world, there are often instruments, sometimes there are even special Shabbat bands! Today we learn that instruments, at least according to the daf, could be permitted on Shabbat:

The Gemara asks: But isn’t it taught in the mishna: This is the flute of the Place of the Drawing of the Water, which overrides neither Shabbat nor the Festival. By inference, this is the flute that does not override Shabbat; however, the flute that accompanies the daily offering overrides Shabbat.

Now for a cheap and incomplete reason why Orthodox shuls do not allow instruments: 1) you are not allowed to carry on Shabbat and we don’t want the musicians tempted to carry their instruments for the “gig”; 2) no work is done of Shabbat, so if a guitarist breaks a string, they will be tempted to replace the string – and THAT would be breaking Shabbat.

The Mishnah goes on to teach: MISHNA: One who did not see the Celebration of the Place of the Drawing of the Water never saw celebration in his days. We get a description of giant candelabras, dancers, jugglers, and so many instruments that accompany the celebration, as well as where everyone stood as they processed through the Women’s Courtyard.

So now, the issue of mixed dancing and mixed praying.

The Sages taught in the Tosefta: Initially, women would stand on the inside of the Women’s Courtyard, closer to the Sanctuary to the west, and the men were on the outside in the courtyard and on the rampart. And they would come to conduct themselves with inappropriate levity in each other’s company, as the men needed to enter closer to the altar when the offerings were being sacrificed and as a result they would mingle with the women. Therefore, the Sages instituted that the women should sit on the outside and the men on the inside, and still they would come to conduct themselves with inappropriate levity. Therefore, they instituted in the interest of complete separation that the women would sit above and the men below.

So, the original plan was for men and women not to be separated, but the Sages didn’t like seeing the men and women enjoy one anthers’ company – so they created balcony seating for the women (I wonder what they would think of this still existing two thousand years later?).

The Gemara asks: How could one do so, i.e., alter the structure of the Temple? But isn’t it written with regard to the Temple: “All this I give you in writing, as the Lord has made me wise by His hand upon me, even all the works of this pattern” (I Chronicles 28:19), meaning that all the structural plans of the Temple were divinely inspired; how could the Sages institute changes?

Rav said: They found a verse, and interpreted it homiletically and acted accordingly:

Yep, those rabbis found verses to support the separation of men and women. And while sacred and safe space can sometimes be better achieved when like is only with like, that is not always the case.

My gem? We Jews who mingle in the pews and make Shabbat rock have precedent to do so.

May your Shabbat Rock. Shabbat Shalom.

King David famously played the harp and was a wild dancer. We know that Miriam played the timbrel. Today, we learn that Moses, too, was a musician – he played a wooden flute!

Our Mishna describes a flute being played every day of the festival of Sukkot by the place where one would draw water for the water festival (it could be a scene from Burning Man). But the Mishna argues that you don’t play the flute on Shabbat.

R. Yoseph teaches that the dispute over playing the Temple flute on Shabbat was connected to a larger dispute over whether the main feature of the Temple music was just the voices, or the instruments. Also on the daf, he cites another baraita over a different subject—whether a vessel made of wood is valid.

R. Yose b. Judah declares such a vessel valid because he holds that the essential feature of Temple music was with vessels:

The one who deems the wooden vessel fit holds that the primary essence of song is accompaniment by musical instruments, and we derive that sacred vessels may be crafted of wood from the wooden flute of Moses, which according to this opinion was a service vessel. And the one who deems the wooden vessel unfit holds that the primary essence of song is singing with the mouth, and therefore we do not derive any halakha relevant to service vessels from the wooden flute of Moses, as according to this opinion it was not a service vessel.

This is my gem – the flute of Moses! Who knew?

For more details, we have to jump to another section of the Talmud, Arakhin 10b:11, The Sages taught in a baraita: There was a flute in the Temple; it was smooth and it was thin, i.e., its sides were thin; it was made from reed, and it was in existence from the days of Moses. The king issued a command and they plated the flute with gold, but then its sound was not as pleasant as it was previously. They therefore removed its plating and its sound was then as pleasant as it was before. Similarly, there was a cymbal in the Temple; it was made from copper and its sound was pleasant. It became damaged and the Sages sent for and brought artisans from Alexandria in Egypt and they repaired it, but its sound was not as pleasant as before. They removed the materials with which the cymbal had been repaired and its sound was then as pleasant as it had been before the repair.

Moses played a wooden flute. They tried to make it more beautiful by covering it in gold, but that just muted the sound. How profound. First, we have Moses as a musician, which I love. But more than that, we have a lesson about being natural verses being showy. Sometimes, the glitter and gold gets in the way of letting the true beauty shine through.

You were created for your song, not your appearance.

What a gorgeous page of Talmud. As we prepare for the High Holy Days, we are reminded that “prayer, repentance and charity” lessen the severity with which we are judged. This time of year is a popular time for Jews to give their yearly tithing or philanthropic giving.

Our daf reminds us that giving is important, both the giving of tzedakah, and the giving of kindness. But perhaps kindness is even more important, as we shall see:

Rabbi Elazar said: One who performs acts of charity is greater than one who sacrifices all types of offerings, as it is stated: “To perform charity and justice is more acceptable to the Lord than an offering” (Proverbs 21:3), including all types of offerings. And Rabbi Elazar said: Acts of kindness, assisting someone in need, are greater than charity, as it is stated: “Sow to yourselves according to charity, and reap according to kindness” (Hosea 10:12). This means: If a person sows, it is uncertain whether he will eat or whether he will not eat, since much can go wrong before the seed becomes food. However, if a person reaps, he certainly eats. In this verse, charity is likened to sowing, while acts of kindness are likened to reaping.

And Rabbi Elazar said: The reward for charity is paid from Heaven only in accordance with the kindness and generosity included therein and in accordance with the effort and the consideration that went into the giving. It is not merely in accordance with the sum of money, as it is stated: “Sow to yourselves according to charity, and reap according to kindness.”

The Sages taught that acts of kindness are superior to charity in three respects: Charity can be performed only with one’s money, while acts of kindness can be performed both with his person and with his money. Charity is given to the poor, while acts of kindness are performed both for the poor and for the rich. Charity is given to the living, while acts of kindness are performed both for the living and for the dead.

Both kinds of giving are crucial. We all need sustenance and that can only be achieved through monetary giving. But even when we don’t have money to give, we can give kindness. You will often hear that the hardest thing for those who are on the street asking for money, is how people won’t look them in the eye.

These are human beings. Yes, they are needy. But they need kindness as well as money.

Make eye contact, smile, wish them well . . . and if you can, give them tzedakah as well as kindness.

Why throw tomatoes when you can throw etrogs (citrons)?

While it’s debatable if tomatoes were ever really thrown at bad performances, apparently, throwing etrogs was a thing, as we read on today’s daf.

But first a little background.

First, you need to know that there was a special addition to the last day of Sukkot, the festival day, called a water libation. Water was brought from the Shiloah up through the “Water Gate” to the Temple. They would blow shofar three times then pour water into a special basin. But not everyone agreed that this should be the practice. The Pharisees ruled it was the practice, but the Sadducees objected.

The Sages taught: There was an incident involving one Sadducee priest who poured the water of libations on his feet, (an act of protest) and in anger all the people pelted him with their etrogim.

Ha! Let this be a lesson to know your audience. Not only did the people side with the Pharisees, but they were also holding their lulavs and etrogs! They had ammunition, and they let it fly.

So, should you throw fruit in services when you don’t like the “show”? No. Even in this case, collateral damage was done.

And that day, the horn of the altar was damaged as a result of the pelting and the ensuing chaos.

Don’t worry, everything was fixed: They brought a fistful of salt and sealed the damaged section, not because it rendered the altar fit for the Temple service, but in deference to the altar, so that the altar would not be seen in its damaged state.

But you can bet that the Sadducee did not try and pull that stunt again the next year.