Tag Archives: Talmud Tuesdays

Talmudic Advice on Producing Male Children

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With three daughters and no sons, not infrequently do people mention something from the Talmud about how to have male children. Knowing that the statement, in particular, was not the only one suggesting how to have male children, I decided … Continue reading

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Versus Whom Did the חכמים Argue in the Tosefta VI: סדר קדשים

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Continuing on in my series looking for those against whom the “חכמים” argue, brings me to סדר קדשים in the Tosefta, here is the listing:  רבי מאיר – 28 רבי יהודה – 8 רבי – 7 רבי אליעזר – 7 … Continue reading

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Versus Whom Did the חכמים Argue in the Tosefta V: סדר נזיקין

Continuing on in the series of trying to better understand the somewhat mysterious group of חכמים that occasionally appear in the Mishnah as well as the Tosefta – focussing on the Tosefta in this series – primarily by looking at … Continue reading

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“שאף הן היו באותו הנס”: Rabbi Yehoshua, son of Levi’s Including of Women in a Few Holiday Practices

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In a categorical statement, the Mishnah proposes that “כל מצות עשה שהזמן גרמה–האנשים חייבין, והנשים פטורות – All positive commandments that time causes: men are obligated; women are exempt” (mKiddushin 1.7).  However, there are some exceptions (there are always exceptions…). … Continue reading

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Versus Whom Did the חכמים Argue in the Tosefta IV: Looking at the First Three סדרים

So far, in this series, we have seen סדר זרעים, סדר מועד, and סדר נשים – half of the entirety of the Tosefta, looking for the frequency of this mystery group, חכמים.  The main finding of interest is that Rabbi … Continue reading

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Blessing on Seeing a Large Crowd of Jews

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These past couple of days, I have had the pleasure of being with hundreds of other young adult Jews here in New Orleans and there is such a great amount of energy to being with them.  It makes one wonder … Continue reading

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The Mitzvah Against Verbal Oppression (“How Not to Be a Jerk”): An Example from the Babylonian Talmud

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I had the opportunity to be one of the speakers at the tenth annual Jewlicious Festival, held recently in Long Beach.  Ten days ago, one of the two text-based discussions I led, which I called “What Not to Say”, had … Continue reading

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Versus Whom Did the חכמים Argue in the Tosefta III: סדר נשים

Continuing on in my series to see which sages are argued against [the most] in the Tosefta by “חכמים”, an unnamed group of sages, I now continue on with סדר נשים.  So far, as we’ve seen with סדר זרעים and … Continue reading

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Mitzvot in Rabbinic Literature That Are Considered to be Equivalent to All of the Mitzvot (שקולה מצוה זו כנגד כל המצות כולן)

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An interesting phenomenon in Rabbinic Literature is the rhetorical move of considering a particular mitzvah as being as weighty as all of the rest of them. While I have previously written about the study of Torah not being a part … Continue reading

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Versus Whom Did the חכמים Argue in the Tosefta II: סדר מועד

Continuing on in my series to see which sages are argued against [the most] in the Tosefta by “חכמים”, an unnamed group of sages, I now continue on with סדר מועד.  Previously, with סדר זרעים, we saw that Rabbi Meir … Continue reading

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