dadyomi

[dadyomi]

See, this is what I mean when I say Latin is so complicated the auto-translators struggle too! Very complex thinkers, those Romans.

Also if it is poetical latin and you're splitting the Dies, is that technically a caesura? I'm not up on the nuances of the term as it applies classically, but given the way the ides goes around here, it would be very funny if the phrase inherently involved, as it were, a Caesar.

Die temu ad die

[dadyomi]

Wednesday 8/9, Gittin 85: Rabbi Zeira Seems Confused

Every so often the Talmud will use a rhetorical device where we replace a word with its opposite, and usually it's to sort of...test something out, I guess? And once in a while the Talmud will say "Well, we thought it was one thing but it turns out it's the opposite thing and the Baraita was passed down incorrectly" which you know, happens when your massive compendium of cultural law was retained orally for generations. But I think this is a Secret Third Thing where Rabbi Zeira just knew something was wrong and wasn't quite sure what and everyone was like "Eh, it happens." I feel like there are some amoraim who would have been thrown out of the yeshiva by Rabban Gamliel for the contents of these three passages.

[dadyomi]

Thursday 8/3, Gittin 79: Calling TASA (Talmudic Air and Space Arguing)

At this point the process of divorce in ancient Judaism appears to most resemble Bugs Bunny trying to elude Elmer Fudd.

[dadyomi]

Wednesday 8/2, Gittin 78: Mousetrap, The Marital Edition

What kind of complicated Rube Goldberg-ass divorces were people getting back in the day? I realize divorce back then might not have had the same general implication of acrimony it does today but this daf read like a set of instructions for increasingly elaborate cruelties on the part of the husband.

[dadyomi]

Daf Yomi Week 185: Bathroom Demons

Shabbat Shalom and welcome! I hope everyone had a meaningful fast this week, or stayed safe if you couldn't fast. Astoundingly, I gained a bunch of followers while I was on hiatus for May and June. I hope you've been enjoying the commentary now that I've returned.

I know the Talmud says demons are all around us at all times but declaring that the Demon of the Bathroom can follow you around and tamper with your procreation is certainly a hot take.

While the summer has been pleasant overall, July has felt really difficult for reasons I can't quite identify; not just for me, but also for friends and colleagues. Everyone has said July was hard. I'm counting it as a personal triumph that even during the roughest month of the year so far, I managed to start posting again. Once I got through the first three days it came back pretty naturally, but just opening the app on a Monday morning and reading felt like an epic quest. But honestly, Daf Yomi is one of the few things that has fought me the least in the past two weeks. Probably because I'm used to it being difficult, whereas the quest to procure a new trash can for my kitchen was unexpected.

I couldn't even begin to explain why it was so difficult to buy a trash can but the struggle was real. I hope inanimate objects and pedestrian tasks are easier for you all than they are for me right now.

Anyway, we have 201 weeks to go! We're nearly halfway through the cycle, in fact. September 22nd will mark the halfway point with 193 weeks behind us and 193 to go.

[dadyomi]

Friday 7/28, Gittin 73: Can't Gittin No Satisfaction

Well, all right then, Gemara, falling down on the job but you've been answering your own questions for like three and a half years at this point, I guess you can take a day off.

[dadyomi]

Thursday 7/27, Gittin 72: Gittin Hitched

You just know that "it is prohibited for a divorcee to marry her brother-in-law" is one of those rules that got made because someone specific did something and the drama was just too much.

Realistically a LOT of cultures have rules about women marrying their ex-husband's brother or men marrying their brother's ex-wife and all the various permutations of that. I'm pretty sure there were a couple of gentile English kings who got in hot water for similar behavior. But it's just funny to imagine one of the Sages having to mediate yet another ugly family dispute where a woman left her husband for his brother, and finally decided to put his foot down.

[dadyomi]

[dadyomi]

Wednesday 7/26, Gittin 71: Back In Divorce Court

I was sad to see us leave the Home Remedies section of Gittin, but it does seem like after several tractates of functionally assuming Deaf people aren't capable of living adult lives, the amoraim are getting to grips with the idea that maybe being unable to hear and speak isn't an automatic indication of incompetence. It seems to be fucking with them to consider it and I must say I'm enjoying that.

Also, "A mute, you say?" is cracking me up for some reason.

[dadyomi]

Tuesday 7/25, Gittin 70: Fever

I realize this is a very specific set of circumstances that turnips are only one small part of, but the Talmud's ongoing grudge against turnips never fails to make me laugh.

[dadyomi]

Monday 7/24, Gittin 69: Eye Scorpions

The remedies in today and yesterday's daf were wild to say the least, but I feel "Scorpions in the eyes only in moderation" is one of the hotter takes of the tractate.

[dadyomi]

Saturday 7/22, Gittin 67: Rabbi Deez

("Rabbi Deez?" "Yeah, DEEZ NUTZ.")

In reading this list I thought "a scholar when he chooses to be one" was a funny and affectionate backhand. Then I read "a pile of nuts" and laughed out loud, but the explanation is both less funny and more heartwarming, because it's really very kind and complimentary. What a nice and entertaining list of the Sages.

But I'm still definitely the Rabbi Yehuda. Tag yourself!

[dadyomi]

Friday 7/21, Gittin 66: Sheyd What Now

Real quick Rabbi Yonatan, noted demonologist, you want to pause for a moment and explain what the hell "shadow of a shadow" means? It appears the fate of several divorced men in pits depends on it.

I did do a little rummaging around but the idea is never fully explicated by the Talmud. One theory is that the passage is actually saying the shadow of a shadow is the demonic illusion of a shadow, but that rewrites the entire meaning (and some of the text) of the passage. The only theory I saw that seemed plausible was that it's a shadow that is visible but cast in mostly darkness, the idea being I think that demons wouldn't think to pretend to cast a shadow if it's dark out.

I guess Yonatan didn't get to be an expert by sharing all his mystical knowledge up front.

[dadyomi]

Thursday 7/20, Gittin 65: venn diagram

I'm not going to lie and say I followed most of today's daf (have to get my head back into the weird Talmudspace where the reasoning makes more sense) but I did enjoy the idea of the three ways of treatment, even though that last one feels like a slap at the other two. We do need, sometimes, to remember the difference between habit, law, and empathy.

[dadyomi]

Wednesday 7/19, Gittin 64: Zoning

I was going to post this with the remark that we very narrowly escaped another few weeks of Courtyard And Alleyway Law, but then I realized we were at the end of the daf. I can't be sure we aren't staring at Alley Divorce Court for the next several days, which does turn the reading into something of a cliffhanger, so that's fun.

[dadyomi]

Tuesday 7/18, Gittin 63: Knead a lawyer

All this discussion of agents and delivery logistics is very pragmatic but I've rarely encountered anyone as levelheaded as this lady kneading dough in the middle of a divorce. What a cool cucumber.

[dadyomi]

Monday 7/17, Gittin 62: Halla of a Time

I feel like in some way we have imparted to Tupperware the values we used to place on vessels like this. As though once in the Tupperware the food is inviolate.

(I'm back! That sucked and I missed a bunch of reading! I'm all good now though!)