Daf Yomi for Women - Hadran

Latest Episodes:

Bava Batra 9 - July 4, 28 Sivan Jul 04, 2024

Show notes

Today's daf is sponsored by Miriam & Meir Tannenbaum in honor of the engagement of their son, Avrumy to Rochel Schloss. "With gratitude to Hashem, may they be zoche to build a bayit ne'eman b'yisrael. שירבו שמחות בישראל!"

The community can create stipulations for its inhabitants and impose fines on people who do not keep to them. However, a story is brought to teach that if there is a prominent Torah scholar in the town, the conditions must be agreed upon in the presence of the Torah scholar. Tzedaka collectors and Temple treasurers should be trusted and people should not insist they give an accounting of the money collected. But Rabbi Elazar suggests that one giving money to another should count it out in front of the other and tie it up before handing it over. There is a debate about whether one needs to check whether a person is poor before giving money for food or clothing. What does the city need to provide to a poor person who comes into a city for the night or Shabbat? Does the city give from their charity fund to those willing to knock on doors asking for money? It is better to cause others to perform mitzvot than to do mitzvot. In the times of the Temple, the half-shekel payment atoned for the people - today, giving charity has taken the place of that and atones for people's sins. Rav Sheshet stressed the importance of every coin given to charity; many small coins together can add up to a lot. Rabbi Elazar stressed the importance of giving charity in secret. Rabbi Yitzchak used verses from Yeshayahu 58 to show all the blessings bestowed on those who give charity and console those suffering from poverty.

Bava Batra 8 - July 3, 27 Sivan Jul 03, 2024

Show notes

When Rav Nachman bar Rav Chisda collected taxes from Torah scholars, Rav Nachman bar Yitzchak reprimanded him for not fulfilling verses from the Torah, Neviim and K'tuvim, and explained which verses indicate that Torah scholars are exempt from taxes. Rav Papa ruled that orphans should contribute to digging wells for water and Rav Yehuda ruled similarly, that prohans should contribute to taxes to protect the city. Rav Yehuda also ruled that while Torah scholars do not need to pay for protection, as their Torah protects them, they do need to contribute to digging wells. Rabbi Yehuda haNasi distributed food to needy people during a drought but only gave to Torah scholars, not to amei haaretz. His student Yonatan ben Amram did not want to benefit from the Torah so he disguised himself as an am haaretz and convinced Rabbi Yehuda haNasi to give him food anyway. When Rabbi Yehuda haNasi discovered what had happened, he changed his approach and distributed food to everyone. The Mishna ruled that one who lives in the city for twelve months has to pay for the protection of the city, but a different braita relating to laws of an ir hanidachat, a city where all inhabitants worship idols, only thirty days of living there consider one an inhabitant of the city. How is this reconciled? Another braita gives different amounts of time for people living in the city to be required to give different types of tzedaka funds. Raba collected tzedaka from orphans of a particular family. While Abaye questioned this practice, Raba explained why he insisted in this case. Ifra Hormiz, the mother of King Shapur, sent money to Rav Yosef for "mitzva raba" and Abaye explained to Rav Yosef that she must have meant for redeeming captives. Rava explains this based on a verse from Yirmiyahu 15:2. A braita explains that collection of charity must be done by two people and distribution by three. The charity food is collected and distributed by three people. Why is there a difference? Why are two or three people needed? The people of the city can take charity from one use and move it to a different use, if necessary. The braita refers to the collection of charity as serara, authority, since they would force people to give charity and even seize a collateral from those who would not give, even on erev Shabbat. Isn't this forbidden in a different source? The Gemara distinguishes between collecting from the wealthy and those who are not wealthy. What reward is promised to those who give charity? Charity collectors need to be cautious that they don't arouse suspicion that they are taking money for themselves.

Bava Batra 7 - July 2, 26 Sivan Jul 02, 2024

Show notes

Today's daf is sponsored by Binyamin Cohen and Ranana Dine in honor of their first wedding anniversary. "We got together by learning Daf, and our chevruta eventually led to our chuppah. We are happy to be able to mark our anniversary by sharing our love of Talmud with others through the Hadran community."

Rav Chama brings four rulings - three relating to whether people have the right to make others living next door/on top of them tear down walls, houses, etc. to improve their living space. The fourth relates to concern over people taking advantage of orphans and forging documents to get out of repaying a loan. For what needs can we insist that members of a courtyard share in the costs? Do town residents need to share the costs for a wall, a door, and a lock to protect the city? Do all the residents need to partake equally or do the wealthy pay more (as the enemy generally comes for money), or does each household pay per person (as perhaps the enemy comes to kill), or do the ones living closer to the wall pay more (as they are closer to the danger and need more protection)? Are Torah scholars exempt from payment for the city walls as their Torah learning protects them? Rabbi Yehuda Nesia obligated them but Reish Lakish disagreed and exempted them. Reish Lakish brought a verse to prove his point. Rabbi Yochanan questioned why he chose that verse and not a different verse that illustrates the same point.

Bava Batra 6 - July 1, 25 Sivan Jul 01, 2024

Show notes

Can one use a ma li l'shaker claim against a chazaka, as in the case where a creditor demands payment after the date of the loan was already due and the borrower claims that they returned a loan before loan's due date? Do we believe the borrower since a better claim could have been made (that he/she paid back the loan on time) or is this not accepted since there is a chazaka, assumption that people do not repay loans before the due date? Three tannaitic sources are brought, two of them from our Mishna, to try to answer the question, but all attempts are rejected. If a dividing wall in a courtyard between two neighbors fell and one only wanted to rebuild to a height of four cubits and the other wanted it higher, one cannot force the other to share in the cost of the higher part of the wall. But if the neighbor who did not want to pay for the higher wall built a wall in their courtyard opposite the other at a higher height, indicating they want to connect the walls with a ceiling, they need to share the original wall's cost. If the wall they built is shorter than the dividing wall (but above four cubits) or its length is shorter and only some of it is opposite the other wall, do they need to share the cost of the entire wall or only the part they will use? Rav Huna and Rav Nachman have different opinions on this issue. Although, there are particular cases where each side agrees with the other's position. Rav Nachman and Rav Yosef also discuss different situations where one can assume or not assume that a neighbor agreed to permit usage of their wall to their neighbor. For example, if one permitted one's neighbor to rest small beams on their wall (did not protest when the neighbor did that), does that mean they also would permit larger beams? If one rents a room in a large house, what other parts of the house can the renter use besides the room? If two neighbors live opposite each other, each is required to build a fence for the length of half their roof (each builds it on the half opposite the exposed half of the neighbor) to block the ability of each one to see into the other's roof. Why is there a concern for neighbors looking in and not for people in the public domain looking in? What are the laws when a roof and a courtyard are at the same level opposite each other?

Bava Batra 5 - June 30, 24 Sivan Jun 30, 2024

Show notes

Seder Nezikin Kit - Order Form

Bava Batra bookmark

Ravina's property surrounded Runia's property on all four sides and Ravina put up a fence and insisted that Runia share in the cost, based on the ruling in the Mishna. Runia did not want to pay. They brought the case in front of Rava who ruled that Runia needed to pay at least the amount of money it would have cost him to bring a guard to protect the property. In another incident, Runia brought property adjacent to Ravina's field and Ravina wanted to kick him off the land and buy the property himself based on the law of dina d'bar metzra, that the person living adjacent to a property can insist on purchasing the field and takes priority to any other buyer. Rav Safra told him to let Runia have the property as Runia needed the land more than Ravina did. If a wall dividing a courtyard of two neighbors falls, even if the wall was higher before it fell, the minimum height needed to rebuild is four cubits. If one neighbor wants to rebuild the wall at its original height, they cannot insist that the other neighbor pay half. However, if the neighbor who does not want to pay to make the wall higher, builds an inner wall and plans to attach a roof from the high dividing wall to the new inner wall, that neighbor has shown that the high wall serves their needs and has to share the cost. If there is a debate between neighbors about whether one paid the other for the cost of the wall, who is believed? On what does it depend? Reish Lakish disagrees with Abaye and Rava regarding a case where the creditor and borrower each claim before the date the loan was due that the loan was/was not repaid. Reish Lakish assumes that people do not pay before the date it is due and therefore the borrower is not believed. Abaye and Rava trust the borrower's claim. First, a section of our Mishna is brought to raise a difficulty against Reish Lakish's position and then the next section is brought to raise a question on Abaye and Rava's position, but each difficulty is resolved. The Gemara concludes that we hold like Reish Lakish and even one who is collecting from orphans can collect even without taking an oath, if the father died before the date the loan was due.

Bava Batra 4 - Shabbat June 29, 23 Sivan Jun 28, 2024

Show notes

Study Guide Bava Batra 4

How did Herod, who was a slave, become a king? How did he end up being the one who renovated the Temple? What are the rules for partitions in a garden or in a field where there is no established custom? When one resident cannot force the other to build a wall, the one who wants it builds it exclusively on their property and puts an identifying marker on it. Why does the marker go on the other side of the wall? Why, in the case where both build the wall, do they need to put a marker on both sides? If a neighbor is surrounded on three sides by one landowner and that landowner erected three walls, the inner neighbor does not need to share in the cost of the walls. But if they put up a fourth wall, the inner neighbor must share the costs. There is a debate about whether it matters who put up the fourth wall and whether or not the inner neighbor needs to share the costs of just the fourth wall or all the walls. Does the inner neighbor need to pay according to the actual cost of the wall, only according to the cheapest market rate for a wall, or possibly even only for what it would cost to hire a watchman to protect the field?

Bava Batra 3 - June 28, 22 Sivan Jun 28, 2024

Show notes

Seder Nezikin Kit - Order Form

Bava Batra bookmark

After concluding that mechitza means a wall, the Gemara now brings an alternate version of the previous sugya in which the opposite conclusion is reached - that mechitza is a partition, concluding that one is responsible for preventing heizek re'iya, one neighbor looking into the other's courtyard. Two difficulties are raised against this explanation but are resolved. To resolve the second difficulty, Rabbi Asi brings Rabbi Yochanan's understanding of the Mishna that the case is a courtyard that is less than 4x4 cubits and too small to require dividing. Several difficulties are brought on that understanding and are resolved. The Gemara clarifies the differences between the bricks and stones mentioned in the Mishna. The Gemara infers from the Mishna's line that a wall four cubits high is built from gazit which is five handbreadths wide, then if it is eight cubits in height, the wall needs to be ten handbreadths wide to be sturdy. If so, in the first Temple, how did the wall of the ama taraksin (separating the kodesh from the kodesh kodashim), made of gazit, stand if it was thirty cubits in height and six handbreadths wide? Why did they use a parochet, not a wall, in the second Temple? Rav Chisda rules that one cannot knock down a shul unless one already has a new shul in its place. This leads to a story about Herod and the rebuilding of the Temple and his rise to power.

Bava Batra 2 - June 26, 21 Sivan Jun 27, 2024

Show notes

Bava Batra bookmark

Study Guide Bava Batra 2

Masechet Bava Batra is sponsored by Lori Stark in loving memory of her mother in law, Sara Shapiro and her father Nehemiah Sosewitz. "Sara proudly shared that her father taught her some Talmud at a time when that was not done. He came to Chicago from Stashov Poland and was known for delivering the laundry along with a dvar Torah. Sara was a highly respected Jewish educator in Chicago. May both their memories be for a blessing."

Today's daf is sponsored by Rachel Reshet in memory of Shalom Elimelech ben Esther and Efraim Fishel Yehoshua.

If two neighbors share a courtyard and agree to divide it, they are each required to give space for the dividing wall and share the expenses of building it. Can one force the other to build a wall - both to help with paying for it and for using the space in his property to build it? The Mishna mentions the word mechitza. Does a mechitza mean a wall or a divider? If the word mechitza means a wall, then the Mishna is understood to mean "If both sides agree to build a wall, then there are the rules...," meaning that if they did not agree to build a wall, one can't insist the other build a wall. This reading assumes that damages caused by one looking into another's courtyard (heizek re'iya) are not considered damages. However, if mechitza means divider, then the Mishna is read differently. "If both sides agree to divide, then they need to build a wall." This reading assumes that damages caused by looking into another's courtyard are considered damages. Difficulties are raised against both interpretations, but the one against the second opinion is not resolved and therefore the Gemara concludes that heizek re'iya is not considered damages. However, the Gemara ten brings five tannaitic sources and one statement of an amora which all seem to indicate the opposite, that damages caused by looking into another's courtyard are considered damages. Each source is then explained differently to support the previous conclusion, that they are not considered damages.

Bava Metzia 119 - June 26, 20 Sivan Jun 26, 2024

Show notes

Siyum Masechet Bava Metzia is sponsored by the Gewurz family in loving memory of their dear father and grandfather, Samuel Gewurz, Shmuel Ben Yehudah Leib v'Rachel Mirel, z"l. "He spent the last three years of his life learning Bava Metzia, with a chavruta, almost every day. Together, they made it to the middle of the eighth perek. We finished the eighth perek at the shiva. Now, we complete this study, as a community of learners, in his memory. Yehi Zichro Baruch."

If there is a vegetable growing in between two gardens, one below and one above, Rabbi Meir, Rabbi Yehuda, and Rabbi Shimon disagree about whether the vegetable belongs to the upper garden, the lower garden, or if the upper garden owner gets what he/she can reach. The Gemara narrows down the dispute and brings a braita and a Mishna where there's a similar dispute between Rabbi Meir and Rabbi Yehuda as in the Mishna about a tree growing from another tree, regarding ownership and orla laws. Why is it necessary to mention both cases? They explain that one deals with monetary matters and the other with issurim, prohibited items, and we might not have thought to apply one to the other. Ephraim Safra quotes Reish Lakish, who rules according to Rabbi Shimon (up to what one can reach), and even Shabur Malka, the Persian king, praised Rabbi Shimon for his approach.