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Category: Talmud Editions & Commentaries

Will the Real Shas Kattan Please Stand Up

Will the Real Shas Kattan Please Stand Up

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Shmuel Lubin is a doctoral candidate in biology and creator of “The Rishonim” podcast. There is an old tradition commonly referenced in the yeshiva community that Masekhet Ketubot is the “Shas Kattan” of Talmud Bavli, that is, it contains ideas that connect to just about every other area of Shas (short for “Shisha Sidrei,” all six orders of the Mishnah). The source and importance of this idea is the subject of a nice article by R. Tovia Preschel, found here….

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From Print to Pixel: Digital Editions of the Talmud Bavli

From Print to Pixel: Digital Editions of the Talmud Bavli

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Ezra Brand is an independent researcher who resides in Tel Aviv. He has an MA from Revel Graduate School at Yeshiva University in Medieval Jewish History, and has studied in the Talmud Department of Bar-Ilan University. He has contributed a number of times previously to the Seforim Blog (tag), and a selection of his research can be found at his Substack blog. His most recent major work is a “Guide to Online Resources for Scholarly Jewish Study and Research”. He…

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The Longest Masechta is …

The Longest Masechta is …

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As Jews, we are often intrigued with trivia about our holy books, and the more esoteric and harder to verify, the better. An example of such trivia is the longest masechta in shas. While it is relatively easy to verify that the longest masechta in terms of pages in the Vilna Shas is Bava Batra, with 176 pages, until modern times it was much more difficult to determine which is the largest masechta in terms of words or characters. Once…

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“Milta De’Bedichuta”: Some Playful Parodies of the Talmud in the Modern Period

“Milta De’Bedichuta”: Some Playful Parodies of the Talmud in the Modern Period

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6-Mar-23 Ezra Brand is an independent researcher based in Tel Aviv. He has an MA from Revel Graduate School at Yeshiva University in Medieval Jewish History, where he focused his research on 13th and 14th century sefirotic Kabbalah. He is interested in using digital and computational tools in historical research. He has contributed a number of times previously to the Seforim Blog (tag), and a selection of his research can be found at his Academia.edu profile. He can be reached…

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Daf Yomi: Seforim on Yevomos and R’ Eliyhau Gutmacher

Daf Yomi: Seforim on Yevomos and R’ Eliyhau Gutmacher

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Daf Yomi just began Yevomos Masseches. This week I had a conversation with Rabbi Moshe Schwed of All Daf. The purpose of the conversation was to briefly highlight some of the rishonim and acharonim “out there” on this messechtah, adding some anecdotes of interest about them. It is available for viewing here and here: A few weeks earlier I gave a presentation, also part of this new series, devoted exclusively to R’ Eliyahu Gutmacher. It is available for viewing here…

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Daf Yomi: Seforim on Chagigah

Daf Yomi: Seforim on Chagigah

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Daf Yomi just began learning Masseches Chagigah. Earlier this week I had a conversation with Rabbi Moshe Schwed of All Daf. The purpose of the conversation was to briefly highlight some of the rishonim and acharonim “out there” on this messechtah, adding some tidbits of interest about them. We recorded it and it’s available for viewing here and here. It is only 32 minutes long. Many aspects could have been discussed at much greater length but R. Schwed had mercy…

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Daf Yomi: Seforim on Moed Katan, Part Two and Three

Daf Yomi: Seforim on Moed Katan, Part Two and Three

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Daf Yomi is in middle of learning Masseches Moed Katan. This week I had two conversations with Rabbi Moshe Schwed of All Daf. The purpose of these conversation were for me to trace the concerns for the fear some had to learn this Masechtah, especially the section devoted to Avelius as it deals with topics related to death. Part two deals with tracing the sources about this from the Sefer Chasdim, Yosef Ometz and the Chasam Sofer. Some other Mesechtas…

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Daf Yomi: Seforim on Moed Katan, Part one

Daf Yomi: Seforim on Moed Katan, Part one

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Daf Yomi just started learning Masseches Moed Katan. Earlier today I had a conversation with Rabbi Moshe Schwed of All Daf. The purpose of the conversation was for me to briefly highlight some of the Rishonim and Achronim “out there” on this masechtah, adding some tidbits of interest about them. A nice amount of the conversation was devoted to discussing if Rashi on Moed Katan was written by Rashi and some time was spent talking about Mechon Harry Fishel. I…

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Daf Yomi: Seforim on Masseches Megilah

Daf Yomi: Seforim on Masseches Megilah

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Daf Yomi just started learning Masseches Megilah this week. Earlier today I had a conversation with Rabbi Moshe Schwed of All Daf. The purpose of the conversation was for me to briefly highlight some of the Rishonim and Achronim “out there” on this masechtah, adding some tidbits of interest about them. We recorded it and it’s available for viewing here and here. It’s only a half hour long. Many aspects could have been discussed at greater length but R. Schwed…

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Daf Yomi: Seforim on Masseches Taanis

Daf Yomi: Seforim on Masseches Taanis

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Daf Yomi just started learning Masseches Taanis this week. Earlier today I had a conversation with Rabbi Moshe Schwed of All Daf. The purpose of the conversation was for me to briefly highlight some of the Rishonim and Achronim “out there” on this masechtah, adding some tidbits of interest about them. A nice amount of the conversation was devoted to discussing if Rashi on Taanis is by Rashi or not. We recorded it and it’s available for viewing here and…

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Rosh Hashana 23b – The Missing Map – Were We Deprived of a Map Drawn by Rashi?

Rosh Hashana 23b – The Missing Map – Were We Deprived of a Map Drawn by Rashi?

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The Mishnah on Rosh Hashana 22b discusses the signal fires which were lit to inform the residents of Bavel of the Kiddush HaChodesh in Yerushalayim. מַתְנִי׳: בָּרִאשׁוֹנָה הָיוּ מַשִּׂיאִין מַשּׂוּאוֹת….. MISHNAH: Initially, after the court sanctified the new month they would light torches on the mountaintops, from one peak to another, to signal to the community in Babylonia that the month had been sanctified. The Mishnah continues וּמֵאַיִן הָיוּ מַשִּׂיאִין מַשּׂוּאוֹת? And from which mountains would they light the torches?…

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Daf HaYomi: Seforim on Masseches Rosh Hashanah

Daf HaYomi: Seforim on Masseches Rosh Hashanah

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Daf Yomi just started learning Masseches Rosh Hashanah this week. This past Monday evening I had a conversation with Rabbi Moshe Schwed of All Daf. The purpose of the conversation was to briefly highlight some of the Rishonim and Achronim “out there” on this Messechtah, adding some tidbits of interest about them. We recorded it and it’s available for viewing here or here. It’s only half an hour long. Many aspects could have been discussed at greater length but R….

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In Praise of the Soncino Talmud

In Praise of the Soncino Talmud

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Not long ago one of our local schools hosted a Giveaway day in its library, making many of the older seforim in its considerable collection free to a good home. As expected, the local citizenry plundered and pillaged, carrying off large numbers of books, many still in quite good condition. I was only able to attend towards the end, “after the last of the gleaners had gone.” Only a few scattered Siddurim and Chumashim were left, when I spotted a…

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Sukkah 4a “What’s Wrong with This Picture?”

Sukkah 4a “What’s Wrong with This Picture?”

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This post is is l’zecher nishmas my uncle and rebbe, Rabbi Sam Genauer ZT”L whose yahrtzeit is the second day of Av. Rabbi Genauer was a talmid of Rabbi Moshe Soloveichik at RIETS. מסכת סוכה ד׳ עמוד א׳ The maximum height of a Sukkah is twenty Amot. The Gemara discusses a situation where the Sukkah is slightly more than twenty Amot high and one builds a raised platform inside the Sukkah. היתה גבוהה מעשרים אמה ובנה בה איצטבא כנגד דופן…

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More on “New Notes Added in the Koren Talmud”

More on “New Notes Added in the Koren Talmud”

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In what seems like another lifetime but was just over a year ago, the Jewish world celebrated the 13th Daf Yomi Siyum HaShas. The beginning of the 14th cycle led to a revisiting of the Koren Talmud Bavli that had appeared in print for the first time in concert with the previous cycle. In a Seforim Blog post, Chaim Katz pointed out that the new English edition included some additional notes based on Rav Kook’s Ein Aya, and I responded…

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