Today’s Talmud pages, Bava Batra 68 and 69, contain a little nugget of great importance. It's a discussion of cultivated carob trees, and why, if you want them to be fruitful and tall, you should graft a few cultivated branches onto the wild trees that are strong but not very fertile. How is this insight a metaphor for all of human civilization? And what can it teach us about social media influencers? Listen and find out. Like the show? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Send us a note at takeone@tabletmag.com. Follow us on Twitter at @takeonedafyomi and join the conversation in the Take One Facebook group. We think that you may also enjoy Liel's new book How the Talmud Can Change Your Life: Surprisingly Modern Advice from a Very Old Book, available directly from the publisher, or wherever you purchase books. Listen to the Testimonies Archive, a partnership between Tablet Studios and the USC Shoah Foundation, for eyewitness audio accounts from Israel in the wake of the Oct 7 Hamas attacks. Check out all of Tablet’s podcasts at tabletmag.com/podcasts.

Today’s pages, Bava Batra 66 and 67, continue discussing the objects that are part of a home, and where an olive press fits in. Why was olive oil such a staple of the Talmudic diet? Why bother buying extra-virgin olive oil at all? Listen and find out. Like the show? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Send us a note at takeone@tabletmag.com. Follow us on Twitter at @takeonedafyomi and join the conversation in the Take One Facebook group. We think that you may also enjoy Liel's new book How the Talmud Can Change Your Life: Surprisingly Modern Advice from a Very Old Book, available directly from the publisher, or wherever you purchase books. Listen to the Testimonies Archive, a partnership between Tablet Studios and the USC Shoah Foundation, for eyewitness audio accounts from Israel in the wake of the Oct 7 Hamas attacks. Check out all of Tablet’s podcasts at tabletmag.com/podcasts.

Today’s Talmud pages, Bava Batra 54 and 55, mention the Hatzav, a peculiar plant used to demarcate fields in the olden days. But the Hatzav has since become an absolute darling of Israeli poets, writers, and musicians, who have come to see it as the perfect metaphor for life in a demanding and beautiful and perilous land. Why? And what did the Israeli version of the Rolling Stones do when a big bank paid them to write a song about a Hatzav? Listen and find out.

Today’s Talmud page, Bava Metzia 37 and 38, uses the case of a prolific thief to teach something far more fundamental about justice and Jewish law. Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin joins us to discuss how the law is for everyone, from the lowest of the thieves to the holiest among us. Should we consider the law the ceiling or the floor of our responsibilities? Listen and find out. Like the show? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Send us a note at takeone@tabletmag.com. Follow us on Twitter at @takeonedafyomi and join the conversation in the Take One Facebook group. We think that you may also enjoy Liel's new book How the Talmud Can Change Your Life: Surprisingly Modern Advice from a Very Old Book, available directly from the publisher, or wherever you purchase books. Listen to the Testimonies Archive, a partnership between Tablet Studios and the USC Shoah Foundation, for eyewitness audio accounts from Israel in the wake of the Oct 7 Hamas attacks. Check out all of Tablet’s podcasts at tabletmag.com/podcasts.

Today’s Daf Yomi page, Eruvin 46, contains a striking permission for a tractate so thick with rules and regulations: When in doubt about some question pertaining to an eruv, just follow the more lenient opinion. Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin returns to explain this unexpected ruling, and shed light on what's so special about an eruv that the rabbis would permit leniency as the default. How does an eruv build a community? Listen and find out.

Today’s Daf Yomi page, Eruvin 45, gives permission to sometimes violate the strictures of the eruv if one is rushing to save a life. Dr. Teresa Amato, director of Emergency Medicine at one of the New York City hospitals that treated more Covid-19 patients than any other in the nation, joins us to share stories from the front lines of the war against the plague, and recount which rules and procedures had to be broken, bent, or ignored to care for the mass of patients requiring urgent care. What did nurses and doctors who are observant Jews did when duty called on Shabbat? Listen and find out.

Today’s Daf Yomi page, Eruvin 44, asks a thorny question: Can you use a live human being to demarcate an eruv? Producer Josh Kross returns to offer a lively soccer analogy and muse on why sometimes, being a team player means simply trusting your friends even if they're asking you to literally put your body on the line. What do you think about when Cristiano Ronaldo is about to kick a ball right into your crotch? Listen and find out.

Today’s Daf Yomi pages, Eruvin 42 and 43, kick things off with a sporting discussion about counting steps to properly mark an eruv. Little did the ancient rabbis know, but step-counting would soon become the basis for a multi-million dollar industry of workout apps and gadgets, from the Fitbit to the Peloton bike. But while these gizmos help you keep off the pounds, they also speak in a language that is often, well, religious. How is the rabbis' workout philosophy different from the one currently on offer? Listen and find out.

Today’s Daf Yomi pages, Eruvin 40 and 41, finds the rabbis having a heated conversation about the importance of political norms and respecting the unwritten rules of keeping a community vibrant and cohesive. Seth Mandel, executive editor of The Washington Examiner, joins us to talk about the current and sorry state of political norms in Washington, D.C., and offer up some wisdom our politicians desperately need to learn from the Talmud. How bad is the state of our political process, and how can we make it much better? Listen and find out.

Today’s Daf Yomi page, Eruvin 39, is all about yom tov sheni, or the second day of the holiday we celebrate everywhere outside of Israel. But why do we celebrate it? And is it time, now that we have powerful apps that can tell us precisely when holidays begin and end, to put an end to this custom? Or were the wise rabbis trying to teach us something more valuable, a lesson about holding on to tradition with all of our might? Listen and find out.

Today’s Daf Yomi page, Eruvin 38, asks a question that may sound familiar to anyone who is feeling overwhelmed by life throwing too many challenges their way: What do you do when you get pulled in too many different directions? It's a lot like trying to drive a camel and a donkey at the same time, the rabbis tell us, each animal doing its own thing. Professor Hannah Lebowits joins us to discuss how the notion of eruv can shed light on our particularly challenging moment in time, and why it teaches us to think communally rather than individually. How does an eruv prepare us for light during Covid-19? Listen and find out.

Today’s Daf Yomi page, Eruvin 37, finds the rabbis talking about retroactive designation, or whether or not it's OK to reason your way in retrospect. Which, if you've ever watched a sci-fi or fantasy film, is what the genre does all the time, changing the rules and the history as it goes along. Film critic Jordan Hoffman joins us to discuss this phenomenon, known as ret-conning, and whether or not its a blessing or a shande. Which very famous Star Wars plot point would've greatly upset the rabbis? Listen and find out.

Today’s Daf Yomi pages, Eruvin 35 and 36, take on one of the biggest problems that inform and inspire all of religious life, the problem of doubt. Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin returns to explain why doubt is an essential part of faith, and help us understand how doubt can inspire rather than frustrate us. How should we rethink our attitude to doubt? Listen and find out.

Today’s Daf Yomi pages, Eruvin 33 and 34, begin by asking what sounds like the Jewish version of Schrodinger's Cat: If you put the food you need for an eruv in a closet, lock it up, and then lose the key, is the eruv still valid? Rabba Shani Gross joins us to unlock this complicated question, and explain why it just may be the most pressing conundrum of our time. How's that locked closet a metaphor for Covid-era lockdowns, and what can we learn from it? Listen and find out.

Today’s Talmud page, Bava Metzia 36, uses a somewhat complicated transactional discussion about paid and unpaid bailees to deliver a gorgeous lesson for the ages about the importance of always trying and doing and being our best. Why should we never, ever cut corners and shirk our duties? Listen and find out. Like the show? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Send us a note at takeone@tabletmag.com. Follow us on Twitter at @takeonedafyomi and join the conversation in the Take One Facebook group. We think that you may also enjoy Liel's new book How the Talmud Can Change Your Life: Surprisingly Modern Advice from a Very Old Book, available directly from the publisher, or wherever you purchase books. Listen to the Testimonies Archive, a partnership between Tablet Studios and the USC Shoah Foundation, for eyewitness audio accounts from Israel in the wake of the Oct 7 Hamas attacks. Check out all of Tablet’s podcasts at tabletmag.com/podcasts.

Today's Daf Yomi page, Eruvin 32, continues the crucial and complex conversation about the limits of personal responsibility and transgression. Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin returns to guide us through the thicket of sin and stumbling that makes up so much of our moral lives. Is it ever OK to knowingly transgress so as to save a friend from committing an even bigger transgression? Listen and find out.

Today’s Daf Yomi page, Eruvin 31, urges us to take agency over what matters in life. And what could matter more than our own education? Eric Cohen, executive director of The Tikvah Fund, joins us to talk about how Covid-19 inspired a slew of new educational offerings, and about why high school students are capable of learning and thinking about much loftier things than we give them credit for. Are the kids alright? Listen and find out.

Today's Daf Yomi page, Eruvin 30, introduces one of the most important principles to emerge out of Jewish wisdom: Don't yuck my yum. Chef Einat Admoni joins us to talk about why all dishes, even those you can't stand, have a secret and rich inner life of their own, and how an open mouth and an open mind can change your life. What's the one dish Americans just don't get but really should? Listen and find out.

Today's Daf Yomi pages, Eruvin 28 and 29, find one of the rabbis reminiscing about the wonderful remedies his nurse-mother used to offer when he was ill. Tablet's editor in chief, Alana Newhouse joins us to offer a spirited defense of folk wisdom, and lament the ways in which the traditional male establishment still ignores the insights women have wisely accumulated for years. How did a single nurse stump the best doctors and discovered a cure for jaundice? Listen and find out.

Today’s Daf Yomi pages, Eruvin 26 and 27, inform us that for an eruv to truly turn disparate private domains into one shared public domain, food should be involved. And not just any food—only the kind that sustains us and gives us comfort. Producer Sara Fredman Aeder joins us to talk about how a few perfect cakes brought her community together in the time of Covid-19, and muse about the connections between baking and being together with others. Why is the right pastry the perfect pathway into friendship? Listen and find out.

Today’s Daf Yomi page, Eruvin 25, raises the question of the often complicated relationships between Jews by choice and their non-Jewish families. Rebecca Cynamon-Murphy kept an audio diary right before her conversion, touching, in large part, on this very subject. What’s the hardest thing about her family traditions for a Jew by choice to leave behind? Listen and find out.

Today’s Daf Yomi page, Eruvin 24, comes just in time to wave farewell to summer with a brisk discussion of swimming and swimming pools. Mark Oppenheimer returns to talk to us about that great suburban fantasy, a pool of one’s own. Why so little love for above-ground pools, anyway? Listen and find out.

Today's Daf Yomi page, Eruvin 23, sparks a debate that may sound strange to us: is a shul a place of residence? Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin joins us to discuss the changing status of synagogues through the ages, and propose a radical rethinking of how we approach our houses of worship today. Is it alright to stretch out on the pews and enjoy a good night’s sleep? Listen and find out.

Today's Daf Yomi pages, Eruvin 21 and 22, raise the question of divine reward: What, in other words, do we get if we’re very good and obey all the commandments? Rabbi Dr. Stuart Halpern joins us with a meditation on prizes, punishments, and personal responsibility. Is it true that good things always happen to good people? Listen and find out.

Today’s Daf Yomi pages, Eruvin 19 and 20, raise one of Judaism’s most difficult questions: Do we believe in hell? Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin returns with a soulful and evocative reading of eternal damnation. What can we do in life to avoid getting to the Bad Place? Listen and find out.

Today’s Talmud page, Bava Metzia 35, speaks of the relation between debtor and creditor. Is it enough for a creditor to lend his wealth to debtors because he is an "upright person"? The producers of our sister podcast, Unorthodox, visited the Social Grocery Store in Tel Aviv just last week, a food pantry filled with upright volunteers that serve asylum seekers and migrants struggling to get by. Wondering what the bond is between wealth and righteousness? Listen and find out. Like the show? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Send us a note at takeone@tabletmag.com. Follow us on Twitter at @takeonedafyomi and join the conversation in the Take One Facebook group. We think that you may also enjoy Liel's new book How the Talmud Can Change Your Life: Surprisingly Modern Advice from a Very Old Book, available directly from the publisher, or wherever you purchase books. Listen to the Testimonies Archive, a partnership between Tablet Studios and the USC Shoah Foundation, for eyewitness audio accounts from Israel in the wake of the Oct 7 Hamas attacks. Check out all of Tablet’s podcasts at tabletmag.com/podcasts.

Today’s Daf Yomi page, Eruvin 18, tell us a truly fantastic story: At some point after the whole business with the apple and the snake, Adam gave birth to a bunch of demon children. Shira Telushkin joins us to talk about these primordial pests, and explain why the world of the Talmud is thick with otherworldly creatures. Are demon children simply what you get if you don’t properly educate your kids? Listen and find out.

Today’s Daf Yomi page, Eruvin 17, dives into some of the laws of warfare. Rabbi Avi Shafran, a signatory of a recent letter calling on Jews to abandon the pugilism of partisan politics, joins us to discuss why Jews should look up to Sinai, not Washington, when making their political decisions. Why is our hyper-divisive culture anathema to Jewish values? Listen and find out.

Today's Daf Yomi page, Eruvin 16, deals with the rules of keeping an eruv while camping. Aimee Friedman, author and notable hater of all things outdoorsy, joins us to consider the thorny relationship between some Jews and nature. What to do if you’re in a tent and hear noises late at night? Listen and find out.

Today's Daf Yomi pages, Eruvin 14 and 15, continue to dive deeper and deeper into the concept of the eruv. Rabbi Yaakov Taubes joins us to recap everything we’ve learned in the tractate so far, and give us an insightful look into what eruvin are really for. Why is an eruv the first thing a community usually builds? Listen and find out.

Today’s Daf Yomi pages, Eruvin 12 and 13, teach us about the majestic power of editing. Lisa Sandell, an editor of young adult books, joins us to discuss the editorial process and how it can make—or destroy—a book. What do the best writers understand about their editors? Listen and find out.

Today’s Daf Yomi page, Eruvin 11, gives us a heartwarming story of one great rabbi humbly and eagerly learning from another. Rabbi Dr. Ari Lamm joins us to shed light on what even the most erudite and confident among us have to learn from others, and how that impacts the very nature of learning itself. What key Talmudic message about learning was hidden in the TV show Scrubs? Listen and find out.

Today’s Daf Yomi page, Eruvin 10, gives us an insider’s look into how the Talmud raises—and answers—questions. Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin joins us to shed light on how Jewish law conceptualizes questions versus conclusions. What’s the best way to decide how to live your life? Listen and find out.

Today's Daf Yomi page, Eruvin 9, riffs on the importance of being kind to the folks next door. Harvard professor Nancy Rosenblum, author of Good Neighbors: The Democracy of Everyday Life in America, joins us to talk about what we owe—and don’t owe—our neighbors, and how the public sphere is influenced by our neighborly relations. Are neighbors more or less important in a time of quarantine? Listen and find out.

Today's Daf Yomi pages, Eruvin 7 and 8, raise a question that has haunted American politics from the very first: How to resolve conflicts elegantly and gracefully. Tevi Troy, former Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Services and the author of Fight House: Rivalries in the White House from Truman to Trump, joins us to share some of the most notable examples of big political disagreements handled one, and some handled less astutely. Which president really knew how to keep his advisors from getting too belligerent? Listen and find out.

Today’s Daf Yomi page, Eruvin 5 and 6, have the rabbis debating what, precisely, qualifies as a public space. Justin Davidson, New York Magazine's Pulitzer Prize-winning architectural critic, joins us to talk about how politicians, activists, and urban planners grappled over the exact same question, and what the implications of their discussions had been on our lives. How will cities change in the aftermath of a pandemic demanding social distancing? Listen and find out.

Today’s Talmud page, Bava Metzia 34, unpacks the mystery of the shomer hinam, a person who agreed to watch over something free of charge and then, maybe, coveted the item for himself. Is it still a sin if he agrees to pay for it in full? And what does this seemingly dry, legalistic case teach us about remaining pure-hearted and kind? Listen and find out. Like the show? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Send us a note at takeone@tabletmag.com. Follow us on Twitter at @takeonedafyomi and join the conversation in the Take One Facebook group. We think that you may also enjoy Liel's new book How the Talmud Can Change Your Life: Surprisingly Modern Advice from a Very Old Book, available directly from the publisher, or wherever you purchase books.

Today’s Daf Yomi page, Eruvin 4, concerns itself with the mikvah, the ritual bath where Jewish women and men are commanded to purify themselves. Writer and editor Avital Chizhik-Goldschmidt joins us to explain the magic of fulfilling this commandment. How can dipping cleanse not just the body but also the soul? Listen and find out.

Today’s Daf Yomi page, Eruvin 3, begins with a strange admission: Even though all units of distance are supposed to be precisely the same, the rabbis tell us that there's a happy cubit and a sad one. Historian and author Gil Troy joins us to talk about his latest book, a collaboration with legendary refusnik leader Natan Sharansky, and tell us why some places are indeed inherently happy and some profoundly sad, and what we can do to bring light even to the grimmest of spots, like the Gulag where Sharansky spent nearly a decade. How can Jews help each other to stay in happy places in perpetuity? Listen and find out.

Today's Daf Yomi page, Eruvin 2, is the first in a tractate that's widely considered one of the most difficult, intricate, and, thankfully, rewarding in the entire Talmud. Rabbi Adam Mintz joins us to explain the concept of eruv, the logic behind it, and its contributions to keeping the Jewish people together. Why is there a box of matzo lying around the lobby of a synagogue on Manhattan's Upper West Side? Listen and find out.

Today's Daf Yomi pages, Shabbat 156 and 157, bring to its conclusion the Talmud's longest tractate. Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin joins us to sum up the wisdom we've learned over the last few months, and deliver a much-needed reminder of the beauties and difficulties of being an adult. Why was so much of the tractate spent on technicalities and so little on the magic of our day of rest? Listen and find out.

Today’s Daf Yomi page, Shabbat 154 and 155, teach us that God has a soft spot in His heart for dogs. Lily, 9, and Hudson, 7, join us to talk about their love of dogs, and dispense advice on how to be kinder to your pooch. What's the most important thing you can do to make your dog happy? Listen and find out.

Today’s Daf Yomi page, Shabbat 153, delivers a stunning teaching from the rabbis: Repent one day before your death. Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin returns to help us unlock this quizzical statement, and teach us how to repent better. How does your need to make amends change as you mature and grow? Listen and find out.

Today’s Daf Yomi page, Shabbat 152, contains one curious bit of life advice from the rabbis: You should spend your first forty years on this planet taking pleasure in food, but once you turn forty, it's time to get serious about drinking. Alana Newhouse, Tablet's editor in chief, returns to talk about how drinking in your forties is different than drinking in your twenties, and what different insights you find in cocktails throughout the years. What's the perfect drink for the middle-aged? Listen and find out.

Today’s Daf Yomi page, Shabbat 151, delivers a painful reminder of a universal truth rarely acknowledged: That poverty is cyclical, and that we are all, at some point or another, likely to feel its sting. Father James Martin, a Jesuit priest and author, joins us to compare the attitudes to poverty in the Jewish and Catholic traditions, and leave us with some useful advice about how to be more compassionate. Why is it so important to get to know your less fortunate neighbors? Listen and find out.

Today’s Daf Yomi pages, Shabbat 149 and 150, find the rabbis raising one of the humanity's most ancient and most difficult questions: What, exactly, is art? Ben Kovalis, co-founder of a company that uses artificial intelligence to create original works of art,  joins us to talk about what it takes to train a computer to generate something that previously took a human artist. What would Rashi say about machines learning to emulate our greatest masterworks? Listen and find out.

Today’s Daf Yomi pages, Shabbat 147 and 148, bring up a point that couldn't be any more pertinent: What to do when you feel a strong need to criticize someone? Writer Bethany Mandel joins us to share some of her experiences of being frequently lambasted online, as well as a heartwarming story of what happens when the better angels of our nature prevail. Why should you sometimes try to engage with hateful people? Listen and find out.

Today’s Talmud pages, Bava Metzia 32 and 33, weigh in on the question of who deserves more respect: Our parents or our teachers. It's a hot-button political issue in our never-ending culture wars, and the rabbis offer a definitive, and surprising, take. What is it? Listen and find out. Like the show? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Send us a note at takeone@tabletmag.com. Follow us on Twitter at @takeonedafyomi and join the conversation in the Take One Facebook group. We think that you may also enjoy Liel's new book How the Talmud Can Change Your Life: Surprisingly Modern Advice from a Very Old Book, available directly from the publisher, or wherever you purchase books. Listen to the Testimonies Archive, a partnership between Tablet Studios and the USC Shoah Foundation, for eyewitness audio accounts from Israel in the wake of the Oct 7 Hamas attacks. Check out all of Tablet’s podcasts at tabletmag.com/podcasts.

Today’s Daf Yomi page, Shabbat 146, begins with a meditation on original sin and then goes on to ask whether converts were present at Mount Sinai. Fresh off of her visit to the mikvah, Kerigan Kelly joins us to talk about her conversion process, what inspired her, and what she finds comforting and challenging about being Jewish. Why did the rabbis believe converts each had a guardian angel? Listen and find out.

Today’s Daf Yomi page, Shabbat 145, ponders the differences between scholars in Israel and in Babylonia, and delivers a powerful meditation on belonging, exile, and redemption. Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin returns to explain why sometimes being a minority means having to strive to translate your own experience to the rest of the nation, and how such an experience can create great artistic and religious depths. Why is it sometimes a blessing in disguise to be in exile? Listen and find out.