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Welcome to the Daily Daf Differently. In this episode, Rabbi Joshua Heller looks at Masechet Chagigah Daf 12. Don’t listen to today’s podcast. It’s forbidden by Jewish law. If you must, make sure you do it alone, and not with another person, and you’ll learn about some of the basics of Jewish mysticism, what would […]
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Welcome to the Daily Daf Differently. In this episode, Rabbi Joshua Heller looks at Masechet Chagigah Daf 11. You want the truth? You can’t handle the truth! There are areas of knowledge that are too dangerous to be taught in public? I can understand why esoteric mystical knowledge might fall into that category, but why […]
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Welcome to the Daily Daf Differently. In this episode, Rabbi Joshua Heller looks at Masechet Chagigah Daf 10. Some laws are floating in the breeze, some are hanging by a thread! Are all Jewish observances based in Biblical law, or are some the product of rabbinic creativity? How do we feel about the answer to […]
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Welcome to the Daily Daf Differently. In this episode, Rabbi Joshua Heller looks at Masechet Taanit Daf 15. The fast day Amidah used to include 6 additional blessings (24 instead of the usual 18) We don’t add all of those blessings today, but phrases from each have been merged together to create a new piyyut […]
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Welcome to the Daily Daf Differently. In this episode, Rabbi Joshua Heller looks at Masechet Taanit Daf 14. Is any kind of prayer or supplication beneath our dignity? Does it matter whether we pray with words or actions, sackcloth or bowing? What do Moses, Aaron, Joshua and Caleb, the wicked king Jehoram have to tell […]
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Welcome to the Daily Daf Differently. In this episode, Rabbi Joshua Heller looks at Masechet Taanit Daf 13. In some cultures, people would bathe once a week, whether or not they needed it! Bathing is prohibited on some fast days, but not others. Mourners aren’t supposed to bathe during shiva either, but there are some […]
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Welcome to the Daily Daf Differently. In this episode, Rabbi Joshua Heller looks at Masechet Taanit Daf 12. How fast can you fast? 25 hours? Is 12 hours enough? How about 6.5? Fasting a “half day” for minor fasts is a common Conservative practice. Where did it originate? The opening and closing music for this […]
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Welcome to the Daily Daf Differently. In this episode, Rabbi Joshua Heller looks at Masechet Taanit Daf 11. Is fasting a good thing or a bad thing? Is it rude to eat or enjoy one’s self while others are suffering, or is it wrong to waste blessings that God may have sent our way? The […]
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Welcome to the Daily Daf Differently. In this episode, Rabbi Joshua Heller looks at Masechet Taanit Daf 10. Most prayer books have a cryptic reference to beginning new prayers for rain around December 5th. Why choose a date from the secular calendar and not the Jewish calendar. And why that date? The answer will take […]
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Welcome to the Daily Daf Differently. In this episode, Rabbi Joshua Heller looks at Masechet Taanit Daf 9. On this daf, we ask the question of whether blessings can come to a whole community on the basis of one person’s actions, or whether, perhaps, sometimes rain may fall on one person, and not his neighbors. […]
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