Moed Katan 10: πραγματικός Yisachar-Zevulun Deals

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Rava said: Any “prakmatia”/commerce is prohibited on the intermediate days of a Festival. Rabbi Yosei bar Avin said: But only with regard to a matter that, if left unattended, will result in significant loss, it is permitted.

This is one of 8 rulings by Rava concerning work on chol hamoed, which leads us to review the Halachos of commerce during these intermediate days of the festivals.

The notion of “prakmatia” as commerce or business opens up the notion of those who support Torah scholars through their commerce and their participation in the reward for learning…

The same word “prakmatia” is used by the midrash זְבוּלֻן יוֹצֵא בִּפְרַקְמַטְיָא

we explore the cultural phenomenon of sharing the spiritual reward by one party with the other's financial support.

Moed Katan 9: Solomon's Closed Gates

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Rav Yehuda said that Rav said: When King Solomon sought to bring the Ark into the Temple the gates clung together and could not be opened. Solomon uttered twenty-four songs of praise, yet his prayer was not answered.

He then recited a verse invoking the merits of his father Dovid "remember the good deeds of David Thy servant." Upon witnessing this phenomenon, the enemies of Dovid were humiliated, and the Jewish People knew that Hashem had forgiven Dovid for the sin of Bathsheba, and the gates finally opened.

This stunning aggadah of the resistance of the Temple gates and the King's access to the structure he tirelessly built, points to the rabbinic imaginative guilt for the sin of Dovid Hamelech and how his indiscretion haunted his son's completion of the Beis Hamikdash's inauguration.

We explore some interesting recent archeological finds regarding the Temple doors, as well as Newton's obsession with the Temple Architecture .

Newton's interest in the Temple was fueled, in part, by his belief that the Temple would serve as the "site of revelation" for the apocalypse.

Moed Katan 8: Gathering Bones (Especially Joseph’s)

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Rabbi Meir also stated another leniency concerning the halakhot of the intermediate days of a Festival:

A person may gather the bones of his father and mother from their temporary graves on the intermediate days of a Festival. In ancient times, it was customary to first bury a corpse in a temporary grave. After the flesh had decomposed, the bones would be collected, placed in a coffin, and buried in a vault together with the bones of the deceased individual’s ancestors.

This is permitted on the intermediate days of a Festival because the fact that one merited to bring the bones of his deceased parents to the graves of their ancestors is a source of joy for him.

The Yerushalmi, however, sees the joy of the occasion in seeing that the flesh has decomposed, which indicates that the person’s sins have been forgiven.

We explore the halochos of digging graves and eulogies on cool hammed…then we review the midrashic sources regarding the search for Yosef’s bones (the Nile or in a Royal Tomb) then make use of archetypal psychology (C G Jung) to expose the inner dimensions of the paradox of Joseph’s bones being laid in the aron alongside the aron of the brit.

Moed Katan 7: Eros vs Agape

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There is a dispute between tanna’im in accordance with the opinion of Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi.

One Sage, holds that the company of the world at large is preferable to the leper. than being secluded with his wife...

Consequently, the priest may examine a confirmed leper during the Festival because the priest will either decide that the leper’s symptoms are still present, in which case the leper’s situation will be no worse than before,

or the priest will declare that his symptoms have subsided, in which case the leper may re-enter the community, which will bring him joy.

This braisa holds man’s main concern is to be allowed back into society even at the cost of not being with his wife,

And the other Sage, holds that the company of his wife is preferable to the leper.

Consequently, the priest may not examine a confirmed leper on the Festival, because if he declares that his symptoms have subsided, the leper will begin his seven day purification process,

during which time he is prohibited from engaging in conjugal relations with his wife.

Due to the distress that this causes him, it is preferable that the priest not examine him at all during the Festival.

This braisa holds that a man prefers to be with his wife even at the expense of entering into a community, preferring to remain sequestered outside the camp alone with his wife.

This debate opens us to the difference between eros and agape and whether recent studies confirm men’s preference of one over the other.

How does these to archetypes fit into Erich Fromm’s theory of love and how does chassidus extrapolate these two types of love in the service of the Divine?

Moed Katan 6: הָאיִשׁוּת ואְתֶ הָעכַבְּרָיִם

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Although many agricultural activities are forbidden on Hol HaMoed and during the Sabbatical year, those tasks that are essential for the ongoing upkeep of fields are permitted.

One example presented in the last Mishna on our daf is the need to destroy pests that would otherwise damage the plants and fields.

The example presented by the Mishna is the need to trap ishut and akhbarim.

The Gemara appears to know that akhbarim are mice. What are ishut?

Rav Yehuda claims that they are creatures without eyes. Although this description sounds strange, it is actually not difficult to identify the animal discussed in the Mishna. It is likely a type of spalax – a blind mole rat – and specifically the spalax ehrenbergi, which is the most common type found in Israel.

We explore the exciting new biology of their anti-cancer protecting genes and their so-called blindness, as well as their role models in Perek Shira and mythology.

Lastly we grieve the loss of Magawa the field mine-sniffing rodent that detected (through the smell of chemicals in the mine) she 17000 landmines in Cambodia

NPR’s coverage of the story.

Moed Katan 5: Rav Yannai’s Offence(s)

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“Rav Yanai had a student who every day would question him; on the Shabbat of the holidays, he refrained from questioning him. Rav Yanai applied to him the verse, ‘And to him who worders his way will I show the salvation of G-d.”

Rav Yannai takes offence at his student for not attending class.

Elsewhere he offends an Am Ha'am Ha'Aretz (Lev Rabba).

We explore the access of all to Torah , the relative weight of age vs scholarship in Talmud

and some recent teacher/disciple relationships in our time.

Moed Katan 4: The Editing of the Talmud Bavli

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Our Daf tells of Ravina and Rabba Tosefa’a who were walking together on Hol HaMoed and saw someone who was watering his vegetable garden.

Rabba Tosefa’a called on Ravina to place the person under a ban for performing a forbidden activity on Hol HaMoed.

Rabba Tosefa’a was one of the last of the amora’im, and he participated in the editing of the Talmud. Although we find a number of his rulings (9x) in the Gemara, he was one of the last of the amora’im, few of his teachings remain.

From the above story, he was a student of Ravina; after the passing of Mar bar Rav Ashi, he headed the academy in Sura for six years.

We compare and contrast 2 of the greatest historians of the redaction of the Bavli who lived 100 years apart, Rav Isaac Halevi (a student of Volozhin) whose Dorot Rishonim was a classic (although the Chazon Ish told his grandson not to republish the sefer!)

and Prof Dovid Weiss Halivni who discovered the stammaists as a separate final layer of redaction.

Moed Katan 3: Sh’mitta/Heter Mechira

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Just like the laws of Shabbat have Avot (primary activities that are forbidden) and Toladot (secondary activities – see Massekhet Shabbat ),

Similarly, the laws of shemitta have both Avot and Toladot.

The Avot are the agricultural activities that are specifically listed in the Torah (see Lev 25:4-5) as being forbidden during the Sabbatical year, primarily activities of planting, pruning and harvesting.

We explore the halachot of shemittah and the thorny issue of the Heter Mechira originated by Harav kook zt'l

Moed Katan 2: Irrigation

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In our daf of the new masechta Moed Katan where irrigation is compared with a physical love affair between husband and wife. In both examples, the man is said to be the dry field and the woman is the water, satiating and relieving him of his thirst.

Rain is referred to as ‘fertility,’ ‘fertilizing the earth.’ The earth receives the rain ‘as the female opens towards the male’ (Yerushalmi Brachot 14a); dew is named ‘the husband of the earth’ (Ta’anit 6b). The Sages thus indicated their preference for irrigation by direct rainfall from heaven, so that ‘the earth is impregnated as a bride by her first husband’ rather than by canals, ‘as a widow impregnated through harlotry (!)’ (Pirkei Rabbi Eliezer, Chapter 4).

We explore the halachic laws derived from our first day in Moed Katan and the use of irrigation as a metaphor for the soul.

Megillah 32: The Music of Torah

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Rabbi Shefatya said that Rabbi Yoḥanan said: Concerning anyone who reads from the Torah without a melody or studies the Mishna without a song, the verse states:

כה וְגַם-אֲנִי נָתַתִּי לָהֶם, חֻקִּים לֹא טוֹבִים; וּמִשְׁפָּטִים--לֹא יִחְיוּ, בָּהֶם.

25 Wherefore I gave them also statutes that were not good, and ordinances whereby they should not live;

Ezek 20:25

as one who studies Torah through song demonstrates that he is fond of his learning.

Furthermore, the tune helps him remember what he has learned.

We discuss the trop and cantillations including that wonderful shalshelet...then review the music of Kabbalah and chassidus, ending with the history of the music of the spheres.

Megillah 31: Blessings and Curses

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The gemara our daf (Megillah 31b) explains that Ezra Hasofer established the practice of reading the klalos sheb'Toras Kohanim, the curses found in Vayikra (26) before the yom tov of Shavuos, and those of Sefer Devarim (28) prior to Rosh Hashana. Tosafos add, in the name of Rabbeinu Nissim, that the klalos of Sefer Devarim, which begin in Parshas Ki Savo, include part of Parsah Nitzavim as well. Because of this takonas Ezra, we always read Parshas Nitzavim on the Shabbos before Rosh Hashana.

The Gaon of Vilna highlights an essential difference between the tochacha found in Vayikra and the berachos u'kallos of Devarim. The tochacha in Vayikra is formulated in the plural, "im b'chukosai timasu", addressing kol echad v'echad, each individual member of Klal Yisroel. The berachos u'klalos of Sefer Devarim, however, which are statements in the singular, embrace the totality of Keneses Yisroel.

We explore the blessings and curses twice listed in the Chumash

Megillah 30: God's Humility

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Having mentioned the haftara read on Yom Kippur, the Gemara cites that which Rabbi Yoḥanan said:

"Wherever you find a reference in the Bible to the might of the Holy One, Blessed be He, you also find a reference to His humility adjacent to it.”

Evidence of this fact is written in the Torah, repeated in the Prophets, and stated a third time in the Writings.

We review how the notion of God's humility becomes a middah for us to emulate in our approach to Torah and others.

Is it possible His humility was reflected in His presence behind the scenes in the book of Esther?

As we close this Massechta it is fitting (after yesterday's Daf Ditty on the Shechina in Exile) to focus on the implications of Rebbe Nachman's story of the Humble King and its implication for theology.

Can we appropriate the Rebbe's deep understanding of the paradox of belief in the divine ONLY when He is absent, and ONLY felt in the longing for Him.

Is this a possible mode of belief for a post-Holocaust generation.

Megillah 29: Shechina in Exile

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Chazal tell us our daf (Megilla 29a) that “when the Jews were exiled to Bavel, the Shechina was with them. When they were exiled to Egypt, the presence of Hashem was with them.” It is for this reason that Yaakov established the prayer of Maariv, a prayer of inspiration and faith recited during times of darkness, when clarity and confidence are challenged.

We explore how this idea of the indwelling of the Divine as a metaphor developed through the medieval and kabbalistic interpretations and gendering of the Divine as Shechina including the feminist appropriation of this myth in modernity.

Megillah 28: Traces of Kedusha/ τέμενος

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Our Mishnah rules: Rabbi Yehuda said further: A synagogue that fell into ruin still may not be used for a mundane purpose.

What are the conditions for desacralization of once sacred space?

How do we approach the sanctity of the Kotel vs the temple Mound?

Can we protect ourselves with weapons in sacred spaces?

We explore the archeological and psychic notion of tenemos

And what of the inner sacred spaces of our soul that get violated?

Megillah 27: Longevity

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In a number of places in the Talmud we find this question presented to leading Sages by their students.

Although the general principle of the Talmud is that rewards for the performance of mitzvot are received not in this world, but in the world-to-come, nevertheless it appears to have been widely accepted that someone who is particular in his performance of a given mitzvah over and above the basic requirements is rewarded with long life.

We explore the notion of longevity in the Late Antique period and Classical Greece with some comments on the new epigenetic clock known as GrimAge clock, a highly accurate multi-tissue biomarker of aging based on DNA methylation levels, also known as Horvath’s clock.

Megillah 26: Selling the Town Square

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The first three mishnayot of this chapter deal with the holiness of the synagogue and the articles found in it. Our mishnah deals with what one may do with the proceeds of a sale of the synagogue or the things in it.

We review the halochos of Kedushas beis ha-Knesses and the issue of selling a no longer in use shul.

We then look at town squares and their history in western culture.

Megillah 25: Divine Mercy or Decree

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Our Mishnah teaches that a number of seemingly innocuous expressions should be avoided. The most alarming is if one claims:

Al kan tzipor yagi’u rahamekha – “Your mercy even extends to the bird’s nest” – is a statement that should not be said.

Two reasons for this are posed by the Gemara. One suggestion is that this statement will create envy among the creations, i.e. that it appears as though God shows favoritism to one creature over the rest.

The other opinion in the Gemara is that one who says this is, in effect, suggesting that God’s commandments are based on mercy, when, in fact, they are gezerot – laws whose reasoning is not ours to understand.

This statement, which appears to limit any study of te’amei ha-mitzvot (the “taste of,” or reasoning behind, the commandments), is the subject of much discussion among Jewish thinkers and philosophers.

We review the extremes of these positions from the Rambam on the rational side to the Hassidic Masters (Izshbitz) on the other.

Megillah 24: Priestly Deformities

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A kohen with blemishes on his hands should not raise his hands [to bless the people.] The reasons a kohen with blemished hands should not bless the people, Rashi (1) explains, is that the blemishes will attract people’s attention.

The Gemara in Chagiga (2) states that gazing at the hands of the kohanim while their hands are raised will result in one’s vision becoming weakened because of the Divine presence which resides on their hands at that moment.

We explore the talmudic approach to disability and some interesting latter day expressions of the conflict between perfection and human frailty.

Megillah 23: Minyan Choices

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Our daf states that we learn that all matters of sanctity require ten adult men from Leviticus 22:23 that states “I should be sanctified among the Children of Israel.”

We then apply a gezeirah shava as the word Toch appears in this verse, and it is said regarding Korach and his entourage(Numbers 16:21) “separate yourselves from amid this assembly.”

We then apply another gezeirah shavah as in the verse just mentioned there is the word Eidah and it is said regarding the ten spies(Numbers 14:27) “How long for this evil assembly.”

Just like regarding the spies there were ten, so too regarding Korach the words Mitoch Haeidah refers to ten men.

We explore the use of minyan halachically as well as alternative options during a pandemic.

Megillah 22: Rosh Chodesh Ambivalences

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The Gemora cites a braisa: This is the general rule: Any day where prolonging the tefillah would cause a loss of work, such as a public fast day or Tisha b’Av (where work is halachically permitted); we call three people to the Torah, but a day where prolonging the tefillah would not cause a loss of work, such as Rosh Chodesh (women have the custom of refraining to work) and Chol Hamoed; we call four people to the Torah. Rashi in Megillah (22b) states that the women abstained from performing work on Rosh Chodesh.

Tosfos (in Rosh Hashanah) states that there is a prohibition against working on Rosh Chodesh. Turei Even writes that in the times that the Beis Hamikdosh was in existence, there was a prohibition of refraining from work which applied to the men as well. This was due to the korban mussaf which was offered for all of Klal Yisroel on that day. A person is forbidden from doing work on a day that he brings a korban.

We explore the ramifications of women and Rosh Chodesh that have survived the talmudic era.