Shabbat, Daf 126

Welcome to the Hundred and Twenty Fifth episode of Daily Daf Differently. In this episode, Rabbi Adina Lewittes looks at Masechet Shabbat Daf 126. This page in Massechet Shabbat teaches us an important principle about the relative weight of proof-texts, showing that one which refers to the actual practice of the sages is more authoritative than one which resorts to legal theory. It also teaches us about the Rabbis’ emphasis upon the economy of words, seeing any repetition or superfluous word as an opportunity, no, an obligation, to interpret.

Rabbi Adina Lewittes is the founder of Sha’ar Communities in Bergen County, New Jersey, a groundbreaking suburban network of small, inclusive, and accessible Jewish communities connected by a broad vision of Jewish renaissance. An entrepreneur in her rabbinate, Rabbi Lewittes earlier founded Congregation Kol HaNeshamah in Englewood, New Jersey, and served as the first female Assistant Dean of the Rabbinical School at JTS during which time she participated in the rethinking and restructuring of the program’s curriculum.

The opening and closing music for this podcast is Ufros from The Epichorus album One Bead.