Gittin 62 - Problems of the unlearned

A Sage should not help an unlearned person to separate the priest's portion from dough. The unlearned person's dough is presumed to be ritually impure, but the priest might think it pure since it comes from the sage.

In contrast, a Sage is allowed to knead the dough for the unlearned, then separate the priest's portion - but teach the unlearned not to touch the dough.

Man can appoint an agent to take a Get to his wife but can retract while the Get is on the way. If he appoints the agent for receiving the Get, she is divorced immediately.

Art: Still Life with Bread and Eggs by Cezanne

Gittin 61 - Baking bread

A woman can loan to her friend a sieve or a hand mill, even if her friend uses forbidden produce of the seventh year, because her friend may use the implements for permitted produce - but she should not cook with her.

One can deposit his tithed produce with a friend who is not careful about tithes and should not suspect that the friend will substitute it. But what about the rule that one should tithe flour when he gives it to his mother-in-law and also after she bakes it into bread? His mother-in-law would substitute burned bread to help her daughter.

Art: The Baker by Job Adriaensz Berckheyde

Gittin 36 - For the Benefit of Society

Witnesses sign on a Get for the benefit of society. They add their names to be found later in case of trouble.


Hillel established Prosbul, which allows debt collection even after the 7th year (Shmita). People were refraining from loans close to Shmita; thus, Prosbul benefits society.

Art: Gerrit Adriaensz Berckheyde - A Notary in his Office

Purpose of the "Daf in < 100 words"...

The project aims to summarize every page (Daf) of the Talmud on the day when it is learned in the Daf Yomi cycle. I assume that I am talking to a brilliant and knowledgeable audience. For this reason, I do not explain the terms every time they occur, such as Get meaning a divorce document. People either know it or will figure it out. By reading the short emails for 7.5 years, one will cover the major points of the Talmud. Those who study the Daf daily will get a short summary as a reminder. I am by no means sufficiently qualified, but my friends will forgive me for the mistakes.

Rebecca Kerzner Bat Mitzvah Speech

January 5, 2008

Torah Portion Vaeira

Shabbat Shalom!

I recently learned the Mishna Bava Metziah with my dad. My favorite Mishna was the last one, "Shtei ginot zo al gab zo".

In this Mishna, there are two gardens, one above the other, and vegetables are growing out of the vertical surface between them. To whom do the vegetables belong?

Rabbi Meir says, "They belong to the owner of the higher garden." Rabbi Yehudah says, "They belong to the owner of the lower garden." Now Rabbi Meir and Rabbi Yehudah argue.

Rabbi Meir says, "If the owner of the upper garden, whom we will call A, wants to take his earth away, there would be no vegetables here!" Rabbi Yehudah says in response, "If the owner of the lower garden, whom we will call B, wants to fill his garden with earth, so that it is level with the upper garden, there would be no vegetables here!" Rabbi Meir then says, "Since each of them can destroy the vegetables, we will look from where the vegetables get their nourishment. Since they draw their nourishment from the earth of A, they should belong to A.

The Mishna continues. Rabbi Shimon says, "Any vegetables that A can reach with his hand and take, belong to him. And the other vegetables, which he cannot reach and take, belong to B.

Rabbi Shimon agrees with Rabbi Meir's view, that the vegetables belong to A because they are growing out of his earth. Rabbi Shimon, however, says that A abandons any vegetable that he cannot reach. Since he would have to go through his neighbor's garden in order to pick the vegetables and it would be embarrassing for him to ask his neighbor's permission do so, it is assumed the he gives them to his neighbor.

This is a fascinating Mishna. What vegetables grow in the vertical wall? These are wild vegetables such as garlic or onions. Why would A destroy the vegetables by taking away his earth, if in doing so he ruins his garden? And why would B want to fill his garden with earth if in doing so he ruins his garden too? In their fight they have gone so far as to destroy their own gardens!

Rabbi Shimon reasons with them. He suggests to A, "Instead of ruining something for others, get what is legally yours." Rabbi Shimon continues, "Now that you can take that which is yours, won't you be ashamed of your neighbor? You would have to go and ask his permission to harm him. Will you actually do it?" And A agrees that he will become a friend of B and will leave those vegetables that he cannot reach to B. A and B are friends again.

There is an surprising connection between this Mishna and the story about the cow that kept Shabbos.

There was once a pious man who owned a cow. Every day, he took his cow out to the field and plowed his land. But on Shabbos he stopped his work and let the cow out to pasture, just as it is written in the Torah: "Six days shall you do your work, and on the seventh day, you shall rest so that your ox and your donkey may rest, and the son of your maidservant and the stranger be refreshed".

So every Shabbos the cow stayed in the barn or walked about in the farmyard. She ate, drank, and rested the whole day.

But the pious man came upon hard times. He was forced to sell his cow to a gentile neighbor. The owner took the cow away to his farm, and the next morning, he harnessed her to a plow and took her out to work. The cow did not disappoint him. Day after day, she worked hard and faithfully. But on Shabbos, when the new master tried to take her out to the fields, the cow would not move. She lay on the ground motionless. The owner tried to pull her up - but the cow refused to stand. He hit her with a whip, but in vain. The cow would not get up.

Angry and excited, the man ran to the Jew who had sold him the cow and exclaimed, "What kind of animal did you sell me? Take your lazy cow back and return my money!"

The pious man was puzzled. "What happened?" he asked. "I sold you a good, hardworking cow. She never gave me any trouble."

"Come and see for yourself," replied the gentile. "Your cow worked all week. But today, she refused to move. I have pulled her, coaxed her, and beat her; but nothing helps! She refuses to budge!"

The pious man immediately understood what happened. Today was Shabbos. His cow had always rested on Shabbos and she didn't want to work today either!

"Take me to the cow," said the Jewish man. "I will make her work for you."

They went out to the fields and found the cow lying in the grass. The pious man went and whispered in her ear, "Dear cow! When you belonged to me, you were able to rest on the Shabbos day just as I did. But I sold you and your new owner is not Jewish. He works on the Shabbos, and from now on, you will have to work too. Please get up and do whatever your new master tells you do to. Pull his plow on the Shabbos just as you pulled it during the week."

Slowly the cow rose to her feet. She was ready to work. The new owner could hardly believe his eyes.

"Wait a minute," he said. "I won't let you go until you tell me the secret of your power. What did you do to the cow? What did you say to her? Are you a wizard? And what shall I do if the cow refuses to work again next Shabbos?"

The pious Jew answered, "I am neither a magician nor a wizard! I simply told the cow that she no longer belongs to me. Now she must do as her new master bids her. When she was my cow she could rest on the Shabbos, for among the Jews, even animals do not work on the seventh day. But now she belongs to you and she will follow your orders. If you want her to work on the Shabbos, she will work."

But the gentile was troubled. "What about me? he cried. "Am I worse than this animal? The cow cannot think or reason, yet she knew enough to keep the Shabbos, while I, a human being, know nothing about God's commandments!"

He hurried back to the cow and took her back into the barn. From that day on, he accepted the laws of the Torah. He converted, studied and became known by the name of Rabbi Yochanan ben Tortha. Tortha means cow. To this day, we still quote his opinions in the Talmud.

The connection comes from what I learned about reincarnation in the book "Gilgulei Neshamot." It says there that the cow in this story was a reincarnation of Queen Vashti from Meggilat Esther and the gentile was King Ahashverosh. Vashti used to make Jewish girls work on Shabbos. Now as a cow, she did not work on Shabbos herself, and even brought her owner to become a Jew and a Rabbi.

What do the Mishna and the story about the cow have in common? It is a man, Rabbi Shimon, the major Kabbalist. In the Mishna Rabbi Shimon appears directly. In the story about the righteous man and the cow Rabbi Shimon is hidden. However, we know that Rabbi Shimon authored the major book about the Kabbalah, the Zohar. This book was later explained by the Arizal, and the students of Arizal explained the reincarnations of Vashti and Ahashverosh. It shows us that on the deeper level the arguments are resolved and peace is restored.

THANK YOU everybody for coming to celebrate my bat-mitzvah, and to all the wonderful people who made this Simcha possible.

Shabbat Shalom!

How do you make an infinite recursion out of gratitude?

Here is a problem. If you are experiencing a pleasure, such as a tasty food morsel when you are hungry, and then feel gratitude, you can show this gratitude to all around you, and then you can thank the Creator for it.

What do you do when you are excited about the Creator?

But the answer is, you thank the Creator for being able to thank him. And you do not stop there. You thank for being able to thank for being able to thank.

And then you concentrate on the infinite recursion which you have reached, repeating these steps over and over again.

Wisdom and Understanding

Yesterday a friend of mine mentioned that he had God in his heart, and that his goal was to be constantly aware of God's presence. Today I found an explanation of this in the Sefer Yetsirah. My friend was talking about Wisdom.

Wisdom is an undifferentiated power of the mind. At this level there is no plurality and everything is one. That is what the Talmud means by saying "Who is wise? He who learns from every man." At the level of Wisdom all people are one. Baal Shem Tov says that one can even learn from evil, because on the level of Wisdom there is no distinction between good and evil.

However, one should not stop here. The Sefer Yetsirah talks about the 32 paths of Wisdom. To reach Wisdom one needs to travel through the paths, which are mysterious and hidden and wonderful, but one has to discover them on his own.

Today marks close to one year since I started this blog. The initial impetus came from the days of Sefirah and the wonderful things I was reading about each of the 49 day. Only then I started with day 33, Lag B'Omer. I will see if I can say something about each day this time around.

Question of the day, what does this picture represent? Answer in comments!