Shalom, friends!
Did the priests in the Temple in Jerusalem get to put anything on those sacrifices to enhance the flavor before they ate them? A1? Relish? Ketchup? Salt??? Tune in as I discover just how much God loves sodium. Welcome to #DafReactions Menachot 21: Salt Bae
#talmud #dafyomi 🧂
#Talmud
"#Berkowitz, now the chair of #Jewish studies and a #professor of #religion at #BarnardCollege, the path between pre-adolescent #vegetarianism and ancient legal texts was neither straight nor obvious. But the throughline is what she explores in her new #book about #animalkinship and #Jewishlaw. “What Animals Teach Us About Families” insists that animals are living beings with family relationships of their own.
What’s more, Jewish laws about treating animals invite a conversation about these relationships and what they mean to leading a commanded and #ethicallife.
It’s the rare book of Jewish #scholarship that cites “#Bambi” and “#FindingNemo” alongside the #Babylonian #Talmud and the first-century #philosopher #Philo, and that includes a chapter on what readers can do to ensure that animals are treated more humanely.
“The #Bible’s animal-family laws do not protect animal families so much as sensitize us to their presence,” Berkowitz writes."
@mrdk @mjd
Thanks! A great reference on the history and evolution of indices, and its relation to sequential printing technology.
The classical structure and organization of the Talmud might be another early example of a “spatial hypertext”—organized by alternative principles of adjacency and context—to reduce page flipping by the scholar.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talmudical_hermeneutics?wprov=sfti1#
#hypertext #history #talmud
Spatial hypertext: https://cs.brown.edu/memex/ACM_HypertextTestbed/papers/37.html
#OnlineEvent | Sandra Seltzer Silberman HBI Conversations Series - Rabbi Jane Kanarek. Beyond Brutality: Reclaiming Female Presence in Bavli Sotah" |January 29. 2026 6:30 PM CET | Registration: https://brandeis.zoom.us/meeting/register/3_iO-URdQhiMnHnY2PuQbA#/registration
Shalom friends!
If you asked ME what the most difficult sacrificial rite in the Temple was, I’d say, obviously, the laundry!
But what does the Gemara say? Let’s find out! It’s answer might surprise you!
Welcome to #DafReactions Menachot 11: What a Handful 🖖 #talmud #dafyomi #jewishLearning
The wine is the Master’s, but the guests are grateful to the butler.
לשקייה טיבותא למריה חמר / חַמְרָא לְמָרֵיהּ, טֵיבוּתָא לְשָׁקְיֵיהּ
The Talmud (AD 200-500) Collection of Jewish rabbinical writings
Babylonian Talmud, Bava Kamma 92b
More info about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/talmud/81586/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #talmud #wine #refreshment #gratitude #hospitality #ownership #servant #service #thanks
"A resurgence of #medieval anti-#Talmud propaganda is spreading rapidly across #conservative #socialmedia, according to scholars and #Jewish educators tracking #online #antisemitism. Influencers with millions of followers are amplifying accusations that Jewish #religious texts endorse immoral or criminal behavior, claims #historians say were fabricated centuries ago and repeatedly disproven.
Among the most visible examples, political commentator #CandaceOwens recently cited The #Talmudic #Jew, a 1871 #German pamphlet authored by #AugustRohling."
Shalom friends!
We’re out of the fire of Zevachim and into the frying pan (…and also a slightly larger frying pan?) of Menachot! Watch me attempt to get a handle on our new #talmud material, and wonder why on Earth “shewbread” is spelled like that.
Welcome to #dafreactions Menachot 3: Deep Dish vs. Thin Crust!
#dafyomi #jewishlearning
"The #winter moon has always struck me as having a #fairytale sort of beauty. In these days of #midwinter, for those of us in the #Northeast, the brightness of the #moon is even starker and more visible without the leaves on the tree branches. In this season of the #Jewishcalendar, post-#Hanukkah and pre-#TuBishvat, the long post-#solstice nights seem to invite dreaming and stories.
What #stories does #Jewish tradition tell about the moon?
In the #Talmud (Chullin 60b), there’s a tale about the moon and the #sun. The #story goes like this: Once, at the dawn of creation, the moon and the sun were equally bright. (It’s fun to try to imagine what that might have looked like.) The moon wasn’t happy about this sameness and complained to the Holy One, saying, “Is it possible for two kings to wear a single crown?” The moon seemed to imply that she should be made bigger.
The Holy One responded to this request by making the moon smaller..."
From Hadran - Advanced Talmud Learning for Women:
🎉 Join the 2026/5786 #MegillahChallenge! 🎉
Discover Masechet Megillah in a powerful learning journey leading up to Purim. ✨
📅Starting Monday, January 12th, we’ll learn together 4 days a week at a steady, achievable pace.
📘 Why Megillah?
It’s accessible, meaningful, and only 31 dapim. With our 4‑day‑a‑week schedule, you’ll complete the entire masechet right in time for Purim! 🎭
"A rare collection of #Hebrew and #Yiddish books, believed to date back to the early 20th century and possibly looted during the #Holocaust, has been recovered by #Warsaw police after being listed for sale on #Polish auction websites.
Among the recovered works is a volume of the #Babylonian #Talmud. The books were returned to the #Jewish #Historical Institute and the Jewish Community of Warsaw, their original owners, authorities said.
According to police investigators, the #books surfaced in early October when a 39-year-old Warsaw resident was clearing out the belongings of his late father."
https://www.ynetnews.com/jewish-world/article/hktcb2evzl#google_vignette
From Hadran: Together, we can make the study of the Talmud in 2026 more accessible, inspiring, and unifying than ever before.
Join or Donate Here: https://hadran.org.il/friends/
Thank you for being part of our learning family.
With appreciation, Rabbanit Michelle Farber and the Hadran Team
Do you know how fucking terrible a human has to be to make me root for that sack of shit Ben Shapiro? Pretty terrible.
"#Conservative commentator #CandaceOwens sharply criticized #BenShapiro in a recent #podcast episode, responding to his remarks at #TurningPointUSA’s #AmericaFest conference where he condemned her for spreading #conspiracytheories.
#Owens, in profane language, dismissed #Shapiro and referenced historical #antisemitic #tropes, including claims about the #Talmud and #Jewish involvement in the Atlantic #slavetrade. She held up a copy of “Der Talmudjude” (“The Talmud #Jew”), an 1871 book by #AugustRohling, a 19th-century #Catholic #priest whose work has been widely discredited as relying on mistranslations, selective quotations and fabrications to portray #Judaism as hostile toward non-#Jews."
Spirituality & Religious Studiesspiritualityreligiousstudies.wordpress.com@spiritualityreligiousstudies.wordpress.com
2025-12-19Samaritanism
Samaritanism is an Abrahamic monotheistic, ethnic religion. It comprises the collective spiritual, cultural, & legal traditions of the Samaritan people.
Often preferring to be called Israelite Samaritans, who originated from the Hebrews & Israelites. They began to emerge as a relatively distinct group after the Kingdom of Israel was conquered by the Neo-Assyrian Empire during the Iron Age. The Neo-Assyrian Empire was the 4th, & penultimate, stage of ancient Assyrian history.
Central to their continuity as an Indigenous Heritage in the Holy Land is keeping the Patriarchal & Mosaic covenant as specified in the Samaritan Torah. Samaritans believe this is the original & unchanged version of the Pentateuch (which is the first 5 books of the Hebrew & Christian bible) since Moses & the Israelites at Mount Sinai.
The Abisha Scroll is traditionally held by the community to be the oldest existing scroll written by Abisha, son of Aaron the priest, around 3,000 years ago based on living tradition. However, Jewish & Christian theologians have made attempts to dispute this claim which proved unsatisfactory.
Judaism claims Samaritanism developed right alongside their own religion. Samaritanism asserts itself as the true preserved form of the monotheistic faith that the Israelites kept under Moses. Samaritan belief also holds that the Israelites’ original holy site was Mount Gerizim, near Nablus, the State of Palestine (West Bank).
They also believe that Jerusalem only attained importance under Israelite dissenters who had followed Eli (In the Book of Samuel, Eli was a priest & judge of the Israelites in the city of Shiloh) to the city of Shiloh.
The Israelites who remained at Mount Gerizim would become the Samaritans in the Kingdom of Judah. Mount Gerizim is revered by Samaritans as the location where the Binding of Isaac occurred. In comparison to the Jewish belief that it occurred at Jerusalem’s Temple Mount.
Today there are only about 900 registered communal members. This puts Samaritanism as 1 of the smallest ethnoreligious groups globally in the Abrahamic faiths. Samaritans believe that this is a prophecy fulfilled from the scriptures: “You’ll be left few in number.”
Though they hope for a future time when a prophet like Moses known as the “Taheb” (Restorer) will perform 3 signs, namely the jar of manna, the staff of Moses, & Cherubim, or the Golden Candlestick.
This time period they believe is when an era of Divine Favor would return, & the hidden tabernacle of Moses would miraculously be revealed for the Israelite people & Mount Gerizim is restored to its former glory.
Samaritans trace their history, as a separate entity, to a period soon after the Israelites’ arrival into the “Promised Land.” Samaritan historiography traces the schism to High Priest Eli leaving Mount Gerizim, where stood the 1st Israelite altar in Canaan, & building a competing altar in nearby Shiloh.
The dissenting group of Israelites who followed Eli to Shiloh would be the ones who, in later years, would head south to settle in Jerusalem (the Jews). Whereas the Israelites who stayed on Mount Gerizim, in Samaria, would become known as the Samaritans.
Genetic studies in 2004 suggest that Samaritans’ lineages trace back to a common ancestor with Jews in the paternally-inherited Jewish high priesthood (Cohanim) temporally near to the period of the Assyrian conquest of the Kingdom of Israel. They’re probably descendants of the historical Israelite population. The Cohanim refers to the Jewish priestly class, male descendants of Aaron the priest.
The Hasmonean king, John Hyrcanus, destroyed the Mount Gerizim Temple & brought Samaria under his control around 120 BCE. This led to a long-lasting sense of mutual hostility between the Jews & Samaritans.
From this point, the Samaritans likely sought to consciously distance themselves from their Judean brethren. Both peoples came to see the Samaritan faith as a religion distinct from Judaism. By the time of Jesus, Samaritans & Jews deeply disparaged one another, as shown by Jesus’ Parable of the Good Samaritan.
The main beliefs of Samaritanism are:
- There’s 1 God, Yahweh, the same God recognized by the Jewish prophets.
- The Torah is the only true holy book & was given by God to Moses. The Torah was created before the creation of the world & whoever believes in it is assured a part in the world to come. The Torah’s status in Samaritanism as the only holy book causes them to reject the Oral Torah, the Talmud, & all the prophets & scriptures, except for a version of the Book of Joshua (which they don’t hold as Scripture), whose book in the Samaritan community is significantly different from the Book of Joshua in the Jewish “Bible.” Moses is considered to be the last of the line of prophets.
- Mount Gerizim, not Jerusalem, is the 1 true sanctuary chosen by God. The Samaritans don’t recognize the sanctity of Jerusalem & don’t recognize the Temple Mount, claiming instead that Mount Gerizim was the place where the Binding of Isaac took place.
- The Apocalypse, called “the day of vengeance,” will be the end of days. When an entity called the Taheb (basically the Jewish Messiah equal) that comes from the tribe of Joseph will come, be a prophet like Moses for 40 years & bring about the return of all the Israelites, following which the dead will be resurrected. The Tahib will then discover the tent of Moses’ Tabernacle on Mount Gerizim, & will be buried next to Joseph when he dies.
The Samaritans have retained the institution of a high priesthood & the practice of slaughtering & eating lambs on Passover Eve. They celebrated Pesach, Shavuot, & Sukkot. But they use a different method from that used in mainstream Judaism in order to determine the dates annually.
For example, Yom Teru’ah (the biblical name for Rosh Hashanah), at the beginning of Tishrei (This is the 1st month of the civil year & the 7th month of the ecclesiastical year in the Hebrew calendar.), isn’t considered a New Year as it is in Rabbinic Judaism.
Their Sabbath is observed weekly by the Samaritan community every week from Friday to Saturday, beginning & ending at sundown. For 24 hours, the families gather together to celebrate the rest day: all electricity with the exception of minimal lighting (kept on the entire day) in the house is disconnected, no work is done, & neither cooking nor driving is allowed.
The time is devoted to worship which consists of 7 prayer services, reading the weekly Torah portion, spending quality time with family, taking meals, rest & sleep, & visiting other members of the community.
Passover is particularly important in the Samaritan community, climaxing with the sacrifice of up to 40 sheep.
The Counting of the Omar remains relatively unchanged. The Counting of the Omar is a ritual in Judaism that consists of a verbal counting of each of the 49 days between the holidays of Passover & Shavuot. However, the week before Shavuot is a unique festival celebrating the continued commitment Samaritanism has maintained since the time of Moses.
During Sukkot, the Sukkah (the temporary hut built for use during Sukkot) is built INSIDE of houses, instead of OUTSIDE like mainstream Judaism. This Samaritan tradition is traced back to the persecution of the Samaritans during the Byzantine Empire.
The roof of the Samaritan Sukkah is decorated with citrus fruits & branches of palm, myrtle, & willow trees. This is in accordance with the Samaritan interpretation of the 4 species designated in the Torah for the holiday. The 4 species are 4 plants (the etrog, lulav, hadass, & aravah) mentioned in the Torah as being relevant to the Jewish holiday of Sukkot.
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#120BCE #4Species #Aaron #Abisha #AbishaScroll #AbrahamicFaiths #AncientAssyria #Apoclypse #Aravah #BindingOfIsaac #BookOfJoshua #BookOfSamuel #ByzantineEmpire #Canaan #Cherubim #Christians #CitrusFruits #Cohanim #CountingOfTheOmar #Eli #Etrog #GoldenCandlestick #Hadass #Hasmonean #HebrewCalendar #Hebrews #HighPriestEli #HighPriesthood #IndigenousPeoples #IronAge #IsraeliteSamaritans #Israelites #Jerusalem #Jesus #Jewish #JewishProphets #Jews #Joseph #Judah #KingJohnHyrcanus #KingdomOfIsrael #Lulav #Manna #Messiah #MosaicCovenant #Moses #MountGerizim #MountSinai #Myrtle #Nablus #NeoAssyrianEmpire #OralTorah #Palestine #ParableOfTheGoodSamaritan #Passover #PatriarchalCovenant #Pentateuch #Priest #PromisedLand #RabbinicJudaism #RoshHashanah #Sabbath #SamaritanTorah #Samaritanism #Shavuot #Shiloh #StaffOfMoses #Sukkah #Sukkot #Tabernacle #Taheb #Talmud #TempleMount #Tishrei #Torah #WestBank #Willow #Yahweh #YomTeruAh
Shalom, friends,
Just when you thought we’d finished airing the Temple laundry and could fold it neatly and put it away…
turns out there’s more to sort through! 😫🧺
Including: Which body fluids make good detergents?? 👀 Welcome to #DafReactions Zevachim 95: The Substances
#talmud #Dafyomi
"[O]ne of the obligations of #Chanukah is to “publicize” the miracle of a small #Jewish community successfully resisting the surrounding, oppressive culture. The #Talmud, one of the most sacred sources of Jewish wisdom, argues that a menorah should be placed outside of one’s home, ideally at the busiest time of day. This way the general public will see the candles and learn about the miracle. The Talmud builds in a backup plan. For #Jews living during times of persecution, they should light a #menorah inside their homes, where it isn’t visible to outsiders.
I wish I could tell you that this precaution is antiquated and no longer necessary. But, unfortunately, that isn’t the case."
Shalom friends!
The Cohanim are serving…in more ways than one! High Priests meet high fashion!
Let’s check out the looks from the Beit Hamikdash Atelier. Welcome to #DafReactions Zevachim 88! Walking the Red Carpet
💅 #Dafyomi #talmud #Cohanim #jewishlearning
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