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

one gem: The daf begins with an observation that a rabbi said a blessing when the rabbis had already ruled that, in that case, one was not necessary. When questioned why “He said to him: Go out and observe what the people are doing.” Meaning, that sometimes we decide what the rules should be, but the people decide what the rules really are. We can sit in a bubble and theorise about how one should behave but we don’t live in a bubble, and in the real world, we tend to behave as those around us do. There is a term for this in Judaism, minhag haMakom. When in doubt, look around and see what others are doing. For example, some Reform congregations sit for the Shema, some stand. Which is right? To do what everyone else is doing – go along with the custom of the place. This also brings up the issue of if we should keep certain laws if no one is keeping them – perhaps they are outdated, or the goals of the law need to be achieved in another way.

A second gem: “This was also taught in a baraita: The translator is not permitted to raise his voice louder than the reader. The converse is also true; and if the translator cannot raise his voice to match that of the reader, the reader should lower his voice and read.” – why do I think it’s a gem? The metourgemon, here translated as translator, is the interpretor of the text. This person’s job is to, not only put the holy words into the vernacular, but also to interpret them to fit the times. I like how both the original and the interpretation need to be at the same decible level. To me, this teaches how we need to preserve the original, keep it in it’s pure state – and how each time we look at a piece of text, we need to interpret it, make it relevant, and have it speak in our language. This prevents old interpretations from making a text seem stale, and it allows us space to hear the holy speak to us in words that make sense now (especially when there are interpretations that make it sound as though the holy is not just . . .which happened on this daf, and daf 43, and I am sure will happen again, and I will talk about it . . .)

On today’s daf, we are introduced to a strange fruit called the Genosar. Apparently something very sweet from the Kineret region (Tiberius). All the rabbis are a mess over it! Rabba bar bar Hana reports that Rabbi Yohanan would eat 1,000 at a time and still not be satisfied. Rabbi Abbahu ate them until he was so sweaty flies slip off his forehead. Rav Asi apparently ate them until his hair fell out. Rabbi Shimon Lakish would eat them until he became confused. Rabbi Yohanan would “tell the household of the Nasi” and with Rabbi Yehuda Nesia, go and get the authorities to bring him back to his house.

What is this stuff!?!

While the commentaries seem to believe it to be fruit, some suggest it may have fermented and become slightly toxic. They certainly seem drugged up when reading this. Thiet solution to the intoxication – eating slaty fish.

Why is it a gem? I think it shows how substances affect people differently. And how something beautiful and perhaps even beneficial in some cases (sweet fruit in this case) can be abused. It also shows that even the greatest among us might struggle with substance abuse – and how sometimes we need friends to get us the help we need, like Rabbi Shimon Lakish and Yehuda Nesia looking out for Rabbi Yohanan.

Rav Yehuda said: One who goes out during Nisan and sees trees that are blossoming recites: Blessed…who has withheld nothing from His world, and has created in it beautiful creatures and trees for human beings to enjoy. 

I was reading an article today about how to cultivate happiness. One of the ten practices was to go out into nature. It’s scientifically proven to make us happier, just spending a few minutes each day outside, enjoying the beauty and fragrance of the natural world. Right now I have two orchids blooming, and an avacado seed that has srouted roots. Nature is miraculous. Watching it inspires awe.

Rebbe Nachman of Bratslav wrote:

Grant me the ability to be alone; may it be my custom to go outdoors each day among the trees and grass – among all growing things and there may I be alone, and enter into prayer, to talk with the One to whom I belong. May I express there everything in my heart, and may all the foliage of the field – all grasses, trees, and plants – awake at my coming, to send the powers of their life into the words of my prayer so that my prayer and speech are made whole through the life and spirit of all growing things, which are made as one by their transcendent Source. May I then pour out the words of my heart before your Presence like water, O Lord, and lift up my hands to You in worship, on my behalf, and that of my children!

Amen.

Sorry, a bit late, which happens on Shabbat.

a funny piece from this daf – if you gorge yourself on desert, it counts as a meal (and therefore requires the blessings both before and after).

today’s gem – at the end of 42 and the beginning of 43. Rav dies, his students say to each other – let’s go eat at the banks of the Dannak river. Then, after the meal, they are not sure what blessing to say (if it should be for a group meal or individual meal). One student, whose cloak was told to mark him as a mourner, turns his cloak and tears it again saying – our teacher is dead and we still haven’t learned Grace After Meals.

I loved this because when we lose someone, there are so many moments when we lose them. Not just when they leave the world, but every time we want to ask them something, and they are not there, every time we want to share something, or when a scent, sound, or situation reminds us of them. And often, it’s only after we lose people that we realize how much they had to teach us, and we long to have better soaked up their lessons.

So, to my teachers, friends, and family that I have lost – this gems for you.

“Rabbi Ḥiyya said: Bread exempts all the types of food that one eats after it, and wine exempts all types of drinks. . . ” This law teaches that if we are eating a meal with bread, we don’t have to worry about blessings for anything else on the plate, the blessing over bread can cover the rest of the meal. Wine works the same way, if you bless wine, you don’t have to make a blessing over any other beverage.

This sent me down a worm hole to find out if this is true for grape juice as well. I will spare you the many, many, rabbinic opinions. But, many rabbis view grape juice and wine as different. All rabbis agree that red wine is in this elite category. Red wine stayed preferable until the middle ages when blood libels were happening against the Jewish people, at that point, white wine was preferable sine it did not resemble blood.

The Gemara (Bava Basra 97b) states that one may, if in a pinch, squeeze a cluster of grapes into their cup and say Kiddush, this seems to indicate that grape juice is permissible to use for kiddush, and all other sacramental purposes.

The issue is that grape juice, during the time of the Talmud, was not pasteurised. There are rabbis who argue that now that we pasteurise grape juice, it’s not in the same category as wine.

But in today’s world, when you don’t know if the person making kiddush is in recovery, if they’re pregnant, or if they’re on medicine that prevents one from imbibing alcohol, you have to wonder if it’s really better for all of us to default to grape juice first. If today, that may be preferable.

A story is told (by Rav Hershel Schachter) about Rabbi Dr. Abraham J Twersky, the famed Rabbi, author and psychiatrist, who is a world renowned substance abuse expert. The story is told that one of his patients, a Catholic priest, expressed his consternation that he would no longer be able to take communion, which involves drinking wine. Rabbi Twersky asked him why he didn’t use grape juice, explaining that Rav Moshe Feinstein had ruled that Jewish law allowed grape juice to be substituted for wine. The priest asked his bishop who in turn asked the cardinal. The cardinal asked Rabbi Twersky to put the halachic rationale in writing, which he then forwarded to the Vatican. The psak came back – they agreed with the reasoning and would permit using grape juice as sacrament, based on Rav Moshe’s psak!

So, cheers kids! On the purple stuff (or white stuff) or whatever floats your boat.

Gem one, a good value, to take care of animals: “Rav said: One is prohibited from eating before feeding his animals, as it is stated: “And I will give grass in your fields for your animals” first and only then: “And you shall eat and be satisfied” (Deuteronomy 11:15).”

The Bible and Jewish law teach us to treat animals with kindness and
respect and to protect nature and conserve its resources. These
teachings are fundamental to Judaism and its traditions. Our animals rest on Shabbat, we have special laws to prevent the die-out of species, we believe each was created with a purpose. We believe that ideally we would be vegetarian, and we all were before Noah and the flood, and have rules about how to raise and slaughter animals so it is done in the most humane of ways. So, today’s gem is that we are commanded to feed our animals before we eat! If we can show love and consideration to our furry friends, maybe we can do that for one another as well.

Gem 2, just a laugh: On today’s daf, a comment is made that one should pee sitting down to make sure you fully vacate your bladder. For the first time, I felt that there might be a chance that men envy a woman’s ability to pee seated . . . or that maybe peeing standing up is not all it’s cracked up to be.

Gem for the day: “Two students were sitting before bar Kappara when cabbage, plums and pullets were set before him. Bar Kappara gave one of the students permission to recite a blessing. He hurried and recited a blessing over the pullets and his counterpart ridiculed him. Bar Kappara became angry he said (to the one who ridiculed his peer): I am not angry with the one who recited the blessing, but at the one who ridiculed. If your counterpart is like one who never tasted the flavor of meat why did you ridicule him? Bar Kappara continued and said to the second student: I am not upset at the one who ridiculed, rather it is with the one who recited the blessing that I am angry. And he said: If there is no wisdom here, is there no elder here? (Meaning, if you didn’t know the right blessing to say, why didn’t you ask me?)

What do I love? The way Bar Kappara expressed his anger, and corrected the behavior, individually. That he told the student that he was not angry with the other student , but with the behavior the person he is currently talking to. I feel like it’s a reminder to worry and work on our own growth areas, and not those of others. It reminds us to be kind to our peers and those who are learning. That when we give negative feedback, it should be done privately. That mistakes need to be called out, but not in a way that shames others. And that when we don’t know, we should never fear to ask our elders.

Gem 1) Bringing forth bread from the earth, bringing forth water from the rock, and bringing forth the Israelites from Egypt are all linked by this page of Talmud. The rabbis want us to experience these things not as something that only happened in the past. But something that continues in our present. And so, when we bless our bread we say, “hamotzi”, the One who brings forth (not “who brought forth”). Again, a reminder that miracles continue to surround us but that we take them for granted.

A second gem in honor of Tu B’shevat: “Who creates the many forms of life and their needs, for all that You have created.” There is an idea that God did not create any problem that does not have a solution. Any disease – it’s sure is out there somewhere. And so, think of what we are losing when we lose our trees!

This is from the Book, Moral Resistance and Spiritual Authority – it’s a passage from my chapter, The Planet in Peril.

Trees produce the air we breathe and absorb carbon dioxide; their roots prevent soil erosion and absorb and filter water; trees produce needed shade and humidity, along with fruit; they provide homes for animals, insects, and other flora and fauna. In economic terms, one in four people depend directly on forests for their livelihoods. More than 120 prescription drugs derive directly from plants found in forests. Despite all this, the world has lost nearly half its forests to agriculture, development, or resource extraction just in the past century—on top of which, deforestation accounts for 11 percent of human-caused greenhouse gas emissions.

(Connection to agriculture, for which most of the land has been deforested: )This is a concern not just for nature, but for humanity as well.[i] The livestock industry pollutes our air, earth, and water by releasing harmful chemicals such as ammonia, carbon monoxide, cyanide, phosphorus, nitrates, heavy metals, and methane (a potent greenhouse gas) into our environment. Animal waste breeds microbial pathogens including salmonella, cryptosporidium, streptococci, and giardia.[ii] The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has estimated that thirty-five thousand miles of rivers in twenty-two states are severely polluted by animal excrement. And residents breathe the fecal mists, causing a 50 percent increase in asthma, as well as sore throats, headaches, diarrhea, depression, fatigue, and more. The story is even worse in South America, east Asia, and other regions where meat is grown—often for export to the United States—on recently deforested land.[iii]

Planting is key, as Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai taught: “If you have a sapling in your hand and are told that the Messiah has come, first plant the sapling, and then go welcome the Messiah” (Avot D’Rabbi Natan 31b). We cannot wait for heavenly messengers; it’s up to us to consume responsibly, reduce our footprint, and protect vital ecosystems, species, and people, now.

. . . Our planet is now experiencing the worst spate of species die-offs since the loss of the dinosaurs sixty-five million years ago. Although extinction is a natural phenomenon, it occurs at a natural “background” rate of about one to five species per year. Scientists estimate we’re now losing species at one thousand to ten thousand times the background rate, with literally dozens going extinct every day.[iv]

Commenting on the biblical command not to take a mother bird and her young (to eat) at the same time (Deuteronomy 22:6), Nachmanides explains that this mitzvah has nothing to do with compassion, but everything to do with species preservation. “Scripture does not allow us to destroy a species altogether, although it permits slaughter for food from that species. Someone who kills a mother and her children in one day . . . it is considered as if he destroyed the species.” Judaism gives us laws to protect against the purposeful or accidental elimination of a species. And yet that is what we have done; 99 percent of currently threatened species are at risk as a result of human activities, primarily those driving habitat loss, introduction of exotic species, and global warming.[v] Because the rate of change in our biosphere is increasing, and because every species’ extinction potentially leads to the extinction of others bound to that species in an ecological train, numbers of extinctions are likely to increase in the coming decades as ecosystems are derailed.[vi]

So, in honor of Tu B’shvat, plant some trees. Consume with a conscience (that’s what these past pages of Talmud have been about – mindful consumption. Call upon the EPA to protect us, our water, our air, our soil, from harmful chemicals. Lessen your carbon footprint. Consider eating less meat. Support businesses who act in environmentally responsible ways.

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[i]. In addition to the health effects of pollution that follows, according to the World Wildlife Federation, “in the expanding soy plantations of Brazil, poor people are lured from villages and deprived neighborhoods to remote soy estates where they are put to work in barbaric conditions, sometimes at gunpoint, with no chance of escape. Worker abuse is especially prevalent where there is strong agricultural expansion, such as in the Amazon states of Pará and Mato Grosso.” “Forest Conversion,” WWF Global, accessed May 18, 2017, http://wwf.panda.org/about_our_earth/deforestation/deforestation_causes/forest_conversion/.

[ii]. Jeff Tietz, “Boss Hog,” Rolling Stone, July 8, 2008. Page #??

[iii]. Sergio Margulis, Causes of Deforestation of the Brazilian Amazon, World Bank Working Paper 22 (Washington DC: World Bank, 2004).

[iv]. E. Chivian and A. Bernstein, eds., Sustaining Life: How Human Health Depends on Biodiversity  (New York: Oxford University Press, 2008).

[v]. Holly Dublin, “Endangered Species,” Encyclopaedia Britannica Online (2009), http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/186738/endangered-species.

[vi]. “The Extinction Crisis,” Center for Biological Diversity, accessed May 19, 2017, http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/programs/biodiversity/elements_of_biodiversity/extinction_crisis/.

A gem for all the gluten free Jews who have wondered about what they can eat on Passover: “And a person who ate matza baked from rice flour fulfils his obligation on Passover.”

While the rabbis put rice into a different category than wheat, barley, oats, rye and spelt (and so do those with celiac) they allow this to be used for the mitzvah of Matzah, even though rice requires less blessings after consumption than bread.

A second gem. In a dispute about what blessings should be said after eating a date, Rabbi Akiva teaches a general rule (responding to Rabban Gamliel with a teaching of Gamliel from another context – smart on Akiva’s part): “You taught us, our teacher, the general principle that guides resolution of halakhic disputes: In a dispute between an individual and the many, the halakha is in accordance with the opinion of the many.” So, Akiva is saying, “Although you are the Nasi, it is appropriate to act in accordance with the opinion of the many, even if they disagree with you.”

This is, just one reference to the roots of Jewish support of democracy. One voice, one vote. The rabbis teach that not all law could have been given at Sinai for if the Torah had been given in the form of an exhaustive codex, “the world could not have existed.” It can’t cover everything, so it gives us a guideline. And so, when the law is not clear – yes, scholars should study and give their opinions, but then it goes to a vote. I want to lift this up because the right to vote is so critical in achieving just laws. Here, the vote is elevated to a holy place, to a place where the law is decided and then placed along other rules given by God (perhaps slightly lesser status, but still part of what is considered halakhah). When voting roles are expunged, when individuals accused of felonies lose the right to vote, when the elderly, the poor, and college students are hindered in their ability to vote, or even turned away at the polls over thinly veiled prejudices – we are undermining our democracy and manipulating the sacred. So, register to vote. Check your registration status before each election. Register others to vote. And don’t miss an opportunity to participate in this holy act.

Third quick gem: desert gets its own blessing, but you already knew that didn’t you.

Today’s daf was very picayune in trying to figure out exactly what blessing is said over various food items. It discussed what it eatable, what is enjoyable, what counts as the main source of blessing from a plant and what a secondary source.

All of this had me thinking about the beauty of nature and about how wonderous and miraculous nature is. These rabbis seemed very in tune with creation, and knowing where their food came from and each part of the plant. Do we know where our food comes from today? Do we say blessings for the gifts that nature has given us? Do we treat these gifts as holy? How can the practice of making blessings help us to stop exploiting the earth and use her resources sparingly and with respect, care, and love?

Tomorrow night is Tu B’shevat – the birthday of the trees. The three year wait before tithing trees was discussed on today’s daf. Let’s truly celebrate the gifts nature gives by not exploiting nature and examining each and every gift to make sure it gets it’s proper blessing. Maybe this will make us all realize what we have to protect.