Daily Daf Differently: Masechet Moed Katan

Welcome to the Daily Daf Differently. In this episode, Dr. Joshua Kulp looks at Masechet Moed Katan Daf 29. This short daf completes Tractate Moed Katan. We learn what a person should say when departing from a dead person and what he should say when departing from a live person. Learn this daf carefully and […]

Welcome to the Daily Daf Differently. In this episode, Dr. Joshua Kulp looks at Masechet Moed Katan Daf 28. Is death meaningful? That’s one of the questions this daf asks. What I mean by this is can one observe how a person died, quickly or slowly, at an old age or at a young age, […]

Welcome to the Daily Daf Differently. In this episode, Dr. Joshua Kulp looks at Masechet Moed Katan Daf 27. Burials and funeral can be expensive procedures. They can also be a moment where members of the community use the opportunity to show off their wealth. This happened during Talmudic times and it still happens today. […]

Welcome to the Daily Daf Differently. In this episode, Dr. Joshua Kulp looks at Masechet Moed Katan Daf 26. Everybody knows that if a Torah falls to the ground people have to fast. Correct? But there is no source for this custom in the Talmud. Today we shall see the source in the Talmud that […]

Welcome to the Daily Daf Differently. In this episode, Dr. Joshua Kulp looks at Masechet Moed Katan Daf 25. Today’s rather long daf contains a series of stories of rabbis’ funerals, how the burial processions were conducted, what eulogies were recited and other various tidbits. In the podcast we’ll tell the fascinating story of the […]

Welcome to the Daily Daf Differently. In this episode, Dr. Joshua Kulp looks at Masechet Moed Katan Daf 24. There are several passages in the tractate about mourning on Shabbat and opinions vary. Some sages hold that on Shabbat all mourning customs are suspended, whereas other sages hold that only some mourning is suspended, but […]

Welcome to the Daily Daf Differently. In this episode, Dr. Joshua Kulp looks at Masechet Moed Katan Daf 23. One issue addressed on this daf is remarriage after the death of close relative. Here we see an interesting difference between the death of most relatives, even father or mother, and the death of a spouse. […]

Welcome to the Daily Daf Differently. In this episode, Dr. Joshua Kulp looks at Masechet Moed Katan Daf 22. When a parent dies, the mourning practices are more stringent than when another person dies. This daf lists such differences. Specifically we will examine the issue of attending a celebratory feast–how long must one refrain from […]

Welcome to the Daily Daf Differently. In this episode, Dr. Joshua Kulp looks at Masechet Moed Katan Daf 21. A mourner is not allowed to study Torah. In today’s Daily Daf we look at some rabbis who despite this prohibition continued to teach Torah even when their own children dies. What does this teach us […]

Welcome to the Daily Daf Differently. In this episode, Dr. Joshua Kulp looks at Masechet Moed Katan Daf 20. In today’s daf we will explore the history of the halakhah that if one observes only one hour of shiva before the festival begins, there is no more shiva after the festival. This is one of […]

Welcome to the Daily Daf Differently. In this episode, Dr. Joshua Kulp looks at Masechet Moed Katan Daf 19. Today we will look at a mishnah which finally gets into the laws of mourning, which are the main topic of the rest of the tractate. The Mishnah begins with the intersection of mourning and a […]

Welcome to the Daily Daf Differently. In this episode, Dr. Joshua Kulp looks at Masechet Moed Katan Daf 18. In this daf we explore the fascinating topic of determinism. Is what happens to us determined by our actions and our initiatives? Do we create our own destiny? Or is what happens to us dictated by […]

Welcome to the Daily Daf Differently. In this episode, Dr. Joshua Kulp looks at Masechet Moed Katan Daf 17. Today we look at a fascinating aggadah concerning a rabbi who seems to have engaged in some misconduct, perhaps even sexual misconduct. Does his leadership role in the rabbinic community gain him a pass for his […]

Welcome to the Daily Daf Differently. In this episode, Dr. Joshua Kulp looks at Masechet Moed Katan Daf 16. It is often difficult to use the Bavli to see how Jews/rabbis actually lived their lives during the Talmudic period. Today’s daf gives us the opportunity to see how the sages used the power to excommunicate […]

Welcome to the Daily Daf Differently. In this episode, Dr. Joshua Kulp looks at Masechet Moed Katan Daf 15. This daf lists fourteen practices of mourning, and compares them with laws related a person who has been excommunicated or a person with skin disease (tzaraat). Most of these mourning practices either deprive the person of […]

Welcome to the Daily Daf Differently. In this episode, Dr. Joshua Kulp looks at Masechet Moed Katan Daf 14. Today’s daf is the first daf of the third chapter, a chapter which is concerned mostly with the laws of mourning. The passage upon which I focus today deals with the issue of standardization of halakhah. […]

Welcome to the Daily Daf Differently. In this episode, Rabbi Abby Sosland looks at Masechet Moed Katan Daf 13. Should the sins of the fathers be visited upon the children? Theologically, perhaps, but the rabbis have a different understanding of how things should work–practically and ritually– in the world of here and now. The opening […]

Welcome to the Daily Daf Differently. In this episode, Rabbi Abby Sosland looks at Masechet Moed Katan Daf 12. May a non-Jw do work on Shabbat or Yom Tov that is forbidden for a Jew to do? Rabbi Yehudah Hanasi imagines a world where Jews and non-Jews do favors for one another, and where the […]

Welcome to the Daily Daf Differently. In this episode, Rabbi Abby Sosland looks at Masechet Moed Katan Daf 11. The concept of “Marit Ayin”– how things look to the eye of the observer– can be traced back to the idea on our daf. Even when we may be acting within the law, we have to […]

Welcome to the Daily Daf Differently. In this episode, Sarah Shulman looks at Masechet Moed Katan Daf 10. In Moed Katan 10 we will study the power of intention in actions during and beyond the festival week– what do our actions look like and how do we intend them? The opening and closing music for […]