Moed Katan 14: Childhood Traumas

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On our Daf a braisa is cited which states: One rends the clothes of a minor whose relative has passed away, due to the desire to bring about feelings of grief among those who see him? However, there is no inherent requirement for the minor to observe any of the halakhot of mourning.

Rashi suggests the child evokes others to participate in the mourning and add to the honor of the deceased.

We explore what childhood trauma such as loss does later in life (PTSD) as well as the new field of epigenetics whereby massive trauma is transmitted to the next generation based on Prof Rachel Yehudah's landmark studies on World Trade Center disaster survivors and Holocaust survivors.

Moed Katan 13: Theology of Facial Hair

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Our new perek (3) begins with the Mishna as follows:

"And these may shave and cut their hair on the intermediate days of a Festival: One who comes from a country overseas; and one who is released from a house of captivity; and one who comes out of prison on the intermediate days of a Festival...”

We review the Halochos of shaving on Chol Hamoed which leads us to the very license to shave in Poskim.

We explore the cultural history of shaving in antiquity and the way the beard represented an impediment to Jews wishing to participate in the enlightenment west.

Moed Katan 12: Kafe and Kultur

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Rabbi Ami was dismayed because Rabbi Yehuda Nesia drank water heated by a gentile cook [kapeila], didn’t Shmuel bar Yitzḥak say that Rav said: With regard to anything that is eaten raw, like water, even if it was cooked by a gentile, it is not subject to the prohibition against eating food cooked by gentiles?

Rabbi Yaakov Emden in his sefer Mor U’ktziah (204) writes that actually the proper blessing on coffee should be ha’eitz since it is a fruit from a tree and that was the original intent of those that planted the coffee beans; to drink from the liquid. He concludes that the custom is to recite a shehakol anyway, similar to date beer and barley beer.

We explore the halochos of hot water on shabbos and drinking coffee on planes and caffe houses, followed by a review of the chemistry and health of coffee consumption.

We end on the colonial history of coffee and the history of slavery and the culture of the coffee house in Jewish history and modernity.

Moed Katan 11: Fishy Tales

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The Gemara presents a number of rules regarding the consumption of fish in the last mishnah of the first perek. 

It establishes that it is more healthful to eat old fish rather than fresh fish, and that it is harmful to drink water immediately after eating fish. Tosafos comment that the first of these guidelines – that old fish is preferable to fresh fish – applied only in Talmudic times. 

In the new Perek we review how we are permitted to work on the Moed if refraining from work would cause financial hardship.

Our daf explores what 'financial hardship' means.  It uses a number of situations to explore the fences built around this concept of financial hardship.  Coincidentally, one of those examples is a fence.

Beyond financial hardship, the rabbis are concerned about related issues.  One regards communal service: is a person permitted to work on the Moed if s/he is not working for him/herself but for the community?  Further, if a person must work in order to survive day-to-day, and not to prevent financial hardship, is his or her work permitted?

We review further the laws of mourning in times of joy (Rav Soloveitchik's profound analysis) then reviewing recent halachic analyses of 'alternative" medicine (without diving into the COVID rabbit hole yest obliquely referencing recent unproven therapies and anti vaxxers).

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.