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

Today’s daf reminds me of an assignment done by our two year olds every year in the preschool (it was done by both of my boys too). Before Rosh HaShana, all the nursery children are to bring in three apples. They do a series of activities with the apples, but the one that reminds me of today’s daf is that each child takes a turn lying on the floor while their classmates measure how tall they are in apples. One will be 25 apples tall, another 27 . . . it’s adorable.

Today’s daf is trying to establish a standard for how big a cubit is. In doing so, they want to still validate other ways to take measurement. So, much of the page talks about what different food items we use to measure things.

Honey, i.e., dates from which date honey is extracted, also determines a measure, as with regard to eating on Yom Kippur, a large date-bulk (if you eat a bite of food in the quantity equivalent to as much as a large date, you’ve broken the fast)

Barley is also used as a basis for measurements, as we learned in a mishna: A bone from a corpse the size of a grain of barley imparts ritual impurity through contact and by being carried, but it does not impart impurity by means of a tent,

Wheat is used to measure how long we can be in a contaminated home before our clothing is rendered impure. One log of wine renders a nazarite as having broken her vow, and forty se’ah of water are necessary for ritual immersion.

Growing up my mom always used the top segment of her thumb to measure things. She said it was roughly an inch – she had her measuring tool always with her.

While none of this is too profound yet. It does have me thinking about how we use different standards to measure different things. And begs the question: Shouldn’t we use different standards when measuring a politician, than a regular joe? Shouldn’t we use different standards when measuring people in the context of other times than today? Should’t we use different standards when measuring aptitude for those who have had every opportunity including private tutors and test prep courses than those who have not?

Standards only work within particular confines. Once out of those confines, we need different points of comparison to take an accurate measure.

On today’s daf, we are still trying to figure out how high an entrance way can be (as well as how wide, and made of what) for it to be considered an eruv – a boundary that makes all the homes that face that courtyard “connected.” While yesterday the rabbis derived their conclusions from the Mishkan and the Temple, today, they derive their conclusions from the sukkah (yep, that temporary hut we erect for Sukkot). It’s within this discussion that we get a point that is 1) a need old-timey colloquialism, and 2) proved by modern social sciences:

Rava from Parzakya said: In the case of a sukka, which is generally erected for an individual, he casts responsibility upon himself and is reminded to make certain that the roofing is fit. In the case of an alleyway, which is used by many people, they are likely to rely upon each other and are not reminded to check the height of the cross beam. As people say: A pot belonging to partners is neither hot nor cold.

“A pot belonging to partners is neither hot nor cold.” Love it.

This teaches that when responsibility falls upon more than one person, each relies on the other, and ultimately neither gets it done. In Psychology Today, Dr. Susan Whitbourne explains how if we see a child drowning, and we are the only one around, we are very likely to jump in and save the child. However, if we saw that same child drowning, but we were one in a crowd of observers, we most likely would not jump in to save the child.  This is called the bystander effect.  “The theory states that people ask themselves: ‘Why should I help when there’s someone else who could do it?’ Responsibility for helping diffuses or spreads. Just like a layer of oil, which becomes thinner the larger the area it covers, so our sense of responsibility weakens in the midst of a large group.”  

What’s the solution? What if it’s you who is drowning or being attacked or who needs help?

Assign responsibility. Don’t yell, “Somebody help!” Yell, “You, in the yellow shirt, help me!”

So, for communal issues – ones where we are all equally likely to notice that something has gone awry (like the alleyway above, but I am sure you can think of myriad modern examples) – just because everyone can see it, doesn’t mean anything will be done to fix the problem. We all tend to think it’s someone else’s job. Our rabbi sare telling us – either pretend you’re the only one, and fix it yourself, or assign someone the responsibility.

We are in a new book – and it aint easy.

Ironically, the whole goal of the book is to make the hardest parts of keeping Shabbat as outlined in the last masechet/chapter easier. One of the most difficult rules (and we could argue, one made by the rabbis) is to not carry an item from one domain to another on Shabbat. It took up a lot of those 157 pages. Now, we are introduced to the Eruv (Eruvin is the plural) a magical line that can connect buildings and houses one to another so that you can go visit your neighbor and bring a nice challah on Shabbat without worrying about going from private domain to public domain to private again.

My gem on this page is within the rabbis struggles to define a doorway. In this, they discuss the confusion in the Torah between the tent of meeting, tabernacle and the Temple. (I like it because it’s one that still confuses rabbis today.) But their confusion is not what I love – I love the comparison of our doorways being like the doorways to a sanctuary.

Especially during a time when we cannot leave our homes with the ease or frequency we are used to – this has me thinking about how our homes are currently, and how they can be sanctuaries.

There is a magic, for me, to coming into the house after a long time away and that feeling of “home” of safety, of familiarity, of comfort. But for some, the home is not a place where this is the reaction. And, even for me, that feeling quickly wears off.

This daf makes me question: how do I make my home a sanctuary? How do I create sacred space within my space?

How do you?

Should we make havdalah? Because it’s the end of Shabbat!!!!!!!!!! Congrats. We have made it to the end of another tractate. Tomorrow we start Eruvin (which still is talking about Shabbat, but it’s a new tractate) but before we jump to that text, let’s talk about today’s daf.

Today’s daf ends with a funny image – a rabbi, in a bathtub, absent-mindedly measuring the water (something that we learn earlier in the daf is only permitted if you are measuring for the sake of a mitzvah (and you can also only nullify vows on Shabbat if it’s for the sake of Shabbat)):

Ulla came to the house of the Exilarch where he saw Rabba bar Rav Huna sitting in a tub of water and measuring it. 

He said to Rabba bar Rav Huna: The Sages said that it is permitted to measure on Shabbat only in order to perform a mitzvah. But this measuring, which is not for a mitzvah, did they say that it is permitted?

Rabba bar Rav Huna said to him: I am merely acting unawares.

What a perfect ending for how I am feeling. After having poured over 157 dapim (pages) of Talmud, I still do not feel confident in that I know what all the laws are, or what I should and shouldn’t do – even though it was so detailed! I do, however, feel like taking a nice bath and forgetting what day it is.

Instead of a bathtub, it’s traditional to end with a blessing. Fill in the blanks with Shabbat, you’ve earned it:

Aramaic[1]	Transliteration	Translation
הדרן עלך מסכת ____ והדרך עלן דעתן עלך מסכת ___ ודעתך עלן לא נתנשי מינך מסכת _____ ולא תתנשי מינן לא בעלמא הדין ולא בעלמא דאתי‎	Hadran alakh Masekhet _____ ve-hadrakh alan da’atan alakh Masekhet _____ ve-da’atekh alan lo nitnashi minekh Masekhet _____ ve-lo titnashi minan lo be-alma ha-din ve-lo be-alma deati	We will return to you, Tractate ____ [name of tractate], and you will return to us; our mind is on you, Tractate _____, and your mind is on us; we will not forget you, Tractate ______, and you will not forget us – not in this world and not in the world to come.

My parents have always (and still do) subscribed to the newspaper. While when I visit them today, I tend to peruse the headlines, as a kid my favorite thing to check was the daily horoscope.

Aries. What’s on dock for me for the day? I loved to see what it had to say – even though I knew, even at a young age, that the idea that all people across the world born within the same 30 day span could hardly all have the same temperament or the same fortune. It was just a way of seeing qualities in myself, and being hopeful, or feeling comforted when the day went wrong – it just wasn’t in the stars.

Today’s daf excited that long lost part of me that liked to check my horoscope. Our rabbis tell us about how people born on Sundays are either all good or all bad – because it was the day light and dark were formed during creation. (Fun fact, I was born on a Sunday, hmmmm . . . ) The rabbis do this for every day of the week, even claiming that those born on Shabbat will die of Shabbat since Shabbat was desecrated for them on the day of their birth.

Rabbi Ḥanina objects. But not the way you would think. He objects and insists that it’s not the day of your birth, but the hour that determines your character (which he goes on to explain)!!

I know what you’re thinking – we don’t believe in this. Well, that’s true:

Rabbi Yoḥanan said: There is no constellation for the Jewish people that influences them. The Jewish people are not subject to the influence of astrology. And Rabbi Yoḥanan follows his own reasoning, as Rabbi Yoḥanan said: From where is it derived that there is no constellation for the Jewish people? As it is stated: “Thus said the Lord: Learn not the way of the nations, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the nations are dismayed at them” (Jeremiah 10:2). The nations will be dismayed by them, but not the Jewish people.

Other examples that prove this point follow. Including this from tomorrows daf (And from that which transpired to Shmuel, one can also conclude that there is no constellation for the Jewish people. The Gemara relates that Shmuel and the gentile sage Ablet were sitting, and they saw these people were going to the lake. Ablet said to Shmuel: This person will go and he will not return, because a snake will bite him and he will die. Shmuel said to him: If he is a Jew, he will go and come back. As they were sitting for a while, the person they discussed went away and then returned.)

So, do we or don’t we? Well, we don’t. But, we say Mazal Tov! Which means “good fortune.” We don’t but when someone is pregnant we say, “B’shaah tovah” may the hour (the child comes) be auspicious. We don’t. But maybe we say things are “B’sheret” ordained in the heavens. We don’t. But we may read of horoscope just for un.

Today’s daf asks a good question: Just as we have to figure out how to feed ourselves on Shabbat without breaking any Shabbat rules, how do we go about feeding animals? (Especially considering it’s a biblical commandment to feed your animals before you feed yourself.) What we see are instances that show that if an animal is dependant on a human to get food, the human has to feed them. If they are capable of getting food on their own, then let them fend for themselves.

I am highly allergic to cats, but for at least 2 years we had a cat that would frequent our doorstep. We began to feed her, which was strange for me – buying large bags of cat food. We named her Mango. My kids loved her. We all loved her. We even bought her a bug spray at one point. She was part of the family and even made it into my children’s preschool photos of the family and she was subject to some of their art projects. She was ours, but she was a stray too. She came and went as she liked. I don’t know where she slept.

Then, one day, we were leaving for two weeks. I picked up the bag of cat food and was walking out the door when my husband asked me, “What are you doing?” When I explained I was going to ask the neighbors kid to feed Mango while we were gone, he laughed. He explained that Mango was a stray and would be fine.

Mango never came back.

So, if they can fend for themselves we don’t have to feed them. But maybe a better line is if they are part of the family . . .

While today’s page may feel a bit out of date, as it largely has to do with working a donkey on Shabbat, it reminds us that Shabbat is not just for Jews, not just for humans, but for everything that breathes – flora and fauna included.

But to teach this, of course, we need an example of someone who applies Shabbat law only to themselves, and how, when we do this, great injustice can occur:

Rabban Gamliel’s donkey was laden with honey and he did not want to unload the donkey until the conclusion of Shabbat. (If he took the load off the donkey, he would be in violation of moving the honey.) At the conclusion of Shabbat, the donkey died of fatigue. The Gemara asks: Didn’t we learn in the mishna: He takes the vessels that may be moved on Shabbat off the donkey? Why, then, did Rabban Gamliel not unload the honey? The Gemara answers: This is a case where the honey had spoiled. (Okay, let’ pretend that we don’t know that honey doesn’t spoil for a minute – even if that were so . . . ) The Gemara asks: For what use is spoiled honey suited? If Rabban Gamliel thought it was spoiled, why do to the trouble of hauling it in the first place? The Gemara answers: It can be used to rub on the wounds of camels. Okay, so let’s say it did have a use, then shouldn’t Rabban Gamliel untie the ropes and the bags will fall on their own?! The Gemara answers: It was due to the concern that the jugs containing the honey would crack. He didn’t want to lose the money!

The Gemara asks: And let him bring cushions and blankets and place them beneath the jugs. (We learned earlier on the daf that this is okay and not a Shabbat violation.) The Gemara answers: He was concerned lest they become soiled and he would thereby negate the vessel’s preparedness, i.e., the cushions and blankets would be rendered unusable. Again, putting things before living things.

The Gemara asks: Isn’t there the matter of the suffering of a living creature? He should suffer monetary loss rather than cause the animal to suffer. The Gemara answers: Rabban Gamliel holds that causing a living creature to suffer is prohibited not by Torah law but rather by rabbinic law. Therefore, he need not suffer monetary loss due to the rabbinic prohibition.

Are you mad at Rabban Gamliel? Well, rest assured, the law does not follow him. According to the Shulchan Aruch, the priority of preventing “suffering of a living creature” is not rabbinic, but biblical law, and it trumps any of the excuses Gamliel gives.

The Torah says that our animals get Shabbat as well. All our laws around how we work farm animals, our laws around kosher slaughter, our laws around separating milk from meat, are all there to remind us that animals are living creatures who feel pain, deserve dignity, and need rest. Don’t use Talmudic argument to do something that is patently wrong.

Yesterday’s daf ended with a conversation about what happens after we die. Today’s daf begins with grappling with: Who has a share in the world to come? (Who’s going to heaven?)

We get a few answers. It’s not an exhaustive list, there are other sections of Talmud that give us some other “get in to heaven” guarantees, but here are those listed:

1. We know they have a share of the world to come if people cry during the eulogy
2. We know they have a share of the world to come if people eulogize them by saying that others should follow in his path
3. We know they have a share of the world to come if they are “Anyone with whom our Rabbis are pleased“

Then we get some advice about how to guartentee our spot in the world to come:

1. Do things in public places that you want people to remember in your eulogy. I loved this and have used this as an exercise. Write what you want your eulogy to be and then work backwards from there. So, if in your perfect eulogy, you want your loved one’s to say – She called her mom every day – then call your mom every day! If you want them to say – he stood up for the poor – then go join the Poor People’s Campaign and volunteer with the Foodbank! Think of how you want to be remembered and then be that person.
2. Rabbi Eliezer says: Repent one day before your death. Rabbi Eliezer’s students asked him: But does a person know the day on which he will die? He said to them: All the more so this is a good piece of advice, and one should repent today lest he die tomorrow; and by following this advice one will spend his entire life in a state of repentance. And King Solomon also said in his wisdom: “At all times your clothes should be white, and oil shall not be absent from upon your head” (Ecclesiastes 9:8), meaning that a person always needs to be prepared.

We don’t know how long we have, so let’s let go of resentments, forgive and ask for forgiveness and go ahead and do those things on our to-do lists. As the famous line goes, (sometimes attributed to Eleanor Roosevelt) “Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, and today is a gift… that’s why they call it the present.” This is the only moment we have. . . make it count.

Today’s page is a gem. There are lines that made me laugh out loud; at times it reads like a scene from Grumpy Old Men. There is discussion about how the dead can hear us, how after a year their souls go on to the next world. But this line made me feel called out so it’s the one I am sharing.

And Rabbi Yitzḥak said: What is the meaning of that which is written: “For childhood and youth [shaḥarut] are vanity” (Ecclesiastes 11:10)? Things that a person does in his youth darken [mashḥirim] his face with shame as he grows old (Rabbi Yoshiya Pinto).

Wow. Do you feel called out too?

There are many things in my youth that I still look back on and am embarrassed about. To be honest, there are moments from just last year that I still replay and am embarrassed about.

But I think that’s a good thing. No one is perfect. If we never looked back and cringed – then either we are not being reflective or not growing.

While the rabbis talk about all the bad things that come with old age – wonderful things come with age as well – growth, perspective, and wisdom. And we might look back and cringe at certain phases of our youth, or things we might have once believed or said – but what a privilege to have the chance to grow and change.

What a privilege to age.

Today’s gem reminds us of fickleness of financial security, and connects me to this week’s Torah portion:

When you have eaten your fill, and have built fine houses to live in, and your herds and flocks have multiplied, and your silver and gold have increased, and everything you own has prospered, beware lest your heart grow haughty and you forget the LORD your God—who freed you from the land of Egypt, the house of bondage; . . . and you say to yourselves, “My own power and the might of my own hand have won this wealth for me.”

So much of what we have is not a product of the work of our hands – but the privileges we have been born into. Our Torah portion reminds us not to get to haughty, not to think “I did this,” but to be humble and grateful and know that all the blessings that befall us are an act of Divine grace.

Today’s daf gets at a similar idea in that it acknowledges that there is no difference between the person who has the ability to give and the person who needs to receive except for circumstance. We should not think “look what I did” when we help others, because our forefathers needed help and our progeny will one day need help.

In both cases, if we do what is right, what God’s asks of us, we will all be taken care of either through earning or tzedakah.

Today’s gem:

It was also taught in a baraita with regard to the appreciation of life: Rabbi Shimon ben Elazar says: Perform mitzvot while you still find opportunities, and you have the financial means, and you are still under your own control . . .

The tanna from the school of Rabbi Yishmael taught: it is a wheel [galgal] that turns in the world, upon which people continuously rise and fall (like a wheel of fortune). Rav Yosef said: We hold that a Torah scholar will not become poor. The Gemara challenges this statement: But we see that they do become poor. The Gemara answers: Even so, if there is a Torah scholar who becomes poor, he will still never have to go around asking for charity at people’s doors.

Here’s a beautiful story that captures this idea, that we don’t know when we will need help – but we should always be giving because we recognize that one day we may need and would want others to give.

In a similar vein, the Gemara relates that Rabbi Ḥiyya said to his wife: When a poor person comes to the house, be quick to give him bread so that they will be quick to give bread to your children. She said to him: Are you cursing them, your children? He said to her: It is a verse that is written, as it says: “Due to this thing,” and the Sages expounded that it is a wheel that continuously turns in the world. Similarly, it was taught in a baraita that Rabbi Gamliel, son of Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi, says: The verse that states: “And He will show you mercy and have compassion on you and multiply you” (Deuteronomy 13:18) teaches us that anyone who has compassion for God’s creatures will receive compassion from Heaven, and anyone who does not have compassion for God’s creatures will not receive compassion from Heaven.

I think of how my grandparents needed help. My mom’s parent lived in government housing. My dad’s parents came as immigrants, survivors of the holocaust, with no money, no family, nothing and were supported by the Jewish community.

I think of how my parents modeled giving – both through financial giving and volunteering.

I think of how privileged I am to be able to help others – and I think about how when I had my kids with no parents near by, or when I went through cancer treatment – how the community took care of me.

When we open our hands to others – we are truly giving to ourselves. I want to live in a world where we all live that way. Today, by luck of the draw/by an act of grace/by the wheels of fortune, I am able to give. Here.