Join me for a dip into the daf.
Embracing Divine Enlightenment and discipline brings grace to your mind and beauty to your speech
Why is Tractate Shavuos after Tractate Makkos? • Why is there unique specificity of liable forms of transport on Shabbos? • Who is the author of our Mishnah? • The evolution of Rebbi's understanding of the halachah
You are a prince! King Solomon calls you his son • The foundational value of parental guidance • With maturation we develop receptivity to Divine guidance • Divine wisdom molds human reason, which we cultivate towards the achievement of prophesy
The second tithe: When must it be consumed in Jerusalem, when can it be redeemed to be consumed outside of Jerusalem, when are there lashes for its prohibited consumption? • When is the second tithe considered to have entered Jerusalem, and what are the consequences? • Lashes for ripping out the hair on one's head or gashing one's flesh as an expression of mourning • Lashes for shaving ones beard, and sidelocks
What is the counterintuitive foundation to cultivate authentic experiential knowledge? • How does fearlessness towards one's Creator breed scorn towards wisdom and discipline? • How are ethical and scientific knowledge accumulated in fundamentally different processes?
Through Proverbs one can unlock the riddles of our Sages • Are Monotheism and Democracy incompatible?
When does a human initiate his Divine service and merit eternal life? • To be spared Purgatory's expansion to swallow up one's soul, what is necessary? • Who will survive the Apocalypse? • The exceedingly pious accept Divine justice without judging the Almighty • The Divine Attributes of patience and truth • The Idolatrous City
Mishlei is invaluable even for the wise and understanding • Increase your wisdom and expand your tactical repertoire
The tremendous power of providing for travelers • The importance of feeling shame for one's sins • The transgenerational trajectory of sin • Strive to perceive truths in what you encounter • What is the verdict for king Solomon? • The role of our interpersonal relationships within the framework of Divine Judgement
King Solomon will help dispel your naïveté • With the leverage of Proverbs, one can compensate for inexperience
What events will precede the messianic era? • What features of the Messiah's generation are anticipated? • The unique path to uncompromising truthfulness • The world epochs • Anticipating the Messiah
What you can acquire: Mussar Haskel, well reasoned guidance • Through these parable one can cultivate sound judgement, noble deployment of resources, and peaceful compromises
Types of false prophecies and their consequences • How to discern true prophecies from false prophecies • Scriptural sources for the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead • Queen Cleopatra, master of Psalms , inquires deeper into the resurrection
Access wisdom from the root • The importance of guidance • Where should one invest one's energies? • Where should one withhold further inquiry?
Various prohibitions subject to death at the hands of Heaven and their scriptural derivations • The debate between Rashi and Rambam about the consequences of performing temple service while uncircumcised
Contrasting the introductions between Mishlei and Koheles • Jerusalem's universal character, as reflected in the apocalyptic war and resolution • The pedagogical value of parables
How do we derive the punishment for an incestuous relationship between a father and his daughter? • Pursuing the development of healthy relationships is a straightforward strategy to prevent the development of unhealthy realtionships • What is the consequence of an illicit relationship with one's wife's grandmother? • What types of murder entail capital punishment?
Why did Rabbi Yochanan cry when he delved into this verse? • A glimpse towards understanding the extent of Divine Judgement
During what time frame can a wayward rebellious son become liable? • Precocious maturity of earlier generations • Can a wayward rebellious daughter become liable? • What context of juvenile sinful gluttony will inexorably lead to a murderous menace?
Various categories of idolatrous worship • Serving idols out of love or fear
What forms of bestiality are subject to capital punishment? • When is the animal that was involved killed? • At what ages for boys and for girls are intimate acts legally classified as relations? • How is testimony for blasphemy validated to finalize a conviction?
What is necessary to render something designated for the dead prohibited from alternate use? • What happens to the assets of a person executed for a capital crime or for rebellion against his monarch? • The dangers of issuing curses
How was King Solomon exceptional, and how was he not exceptional? • How do we cultivate within ourselve awe of God? • The means and primacy of honoring God
Cross examination of witnesses • The wantonness needed for a court conviction
Structural biases towards acquittal are incorporated into the judgement of capital cases
What is King Solomon's bottom line assessment of Man?
What framework can we employ to help us make better choices? • A critical perspective on reincarnation
How many judges preside over an arbitration? • When is a judicial ruling binding, yet due to error, the judge is held liable to compensate the wronged party? • When is compromise permitted or encouraged? • How are justice and charitable peace both manifest in judgement? • In judgement, when is one prohibited from being afraid of man?
What does King Solomon convey when addressing me as his son? • How to avoid being overwhelmed • Beyond seeking what is written in the Torah and following the words of our Sages, for the myriad nuances of a life well lived, it is also imperative to engage in thoughtful reasoning.
Different levels of guarantorship • When is it not wicked to encourage a kenunya conspiracy? • Why is a last resort guarantor for a Kesuba not typically liable? • When are oral deathbed dispositions not considered as documented and delivered?
Precautionary measures to prevent the fabrication and use of fraudulent documents • Detecting attempted fraud
Two types of transactional documents • When is the more complex document promoted and why? • Fraud prevention
Ambiguous deathbed gifts • A disgruntled litigant might not float your boat
Wedding gift refunds • When are a bride's blemishes grounds for divorce without requiring the husband to pay Kesuba? • When does a husband lose the right to inherit his wife? • When is a will honored and when is it voided?
Estate distributions • May the oldest brother pay for fine clothing from the estate? • Are wedding expenditures during the father's lifetime indicative of future wedding expenses to be paid from the estate? • A husband's rights to his wife's properties are great, but his father-in-law's widow's rights are greater • Estate size can impact equitabe distribution between sons and daughters
When does a husband writing all his assets over to his wife result in a full gift and when does it result in her appointment as steward over all his assets? • When a woman is gifted all of her husband's assets, when and why is she at risk of losing the entire estate? • When a husband creates a partnership, endowing his wife with a share among his children, what impact does that have on her ability to collect her Kesubah?
From which assets does the firstborn receive a double portion? • From which assets does a widower inherit from his wife?
How was the land of Israel inherited? • Grace, an antidote to resentment
How do we know that a man inherits his mother? • Dayo, limiting the extension of a Kal Vachomer (a fortiori) • A messy controversy: Does a mother bequeath to her children equally, or to her sons before daughters? • Does a mother ever bequeath a double portion? How do we know that a man inherits his wife? • Is the husband's inheritance Biblical or Rabbinic?
If you were an ox, how could you develop an appreciation for the glamourless cattle prod? • Discerning decisive truth among conflicting theoretical truths
When selling an unmeasured field, when is the estimated yet imprecise parcel size binding on both parties, and when are adjustments needed? • Do the same parameters apply to larger transactions? • Price gouging on real property • When adjustments are warranted, when is the purchase price increased and when is part of the property returned to the seller?
When should the blessing borei peri hagafen be recited over wine dreg extract? • What types of wine should not be used for libations but may be used for kiddush, consecration of the hallowed day?
When is it permissible to repurpose and maintain a faulty measure? • Limits on altering measures and currency values • Limits on profit margins • No intervention can be more effective than a calculated intervention towards maintaining lower prices in the longer term • Restrictions on exports of basic necessities when supply is tight help maintain local affordability
The Talmudic debate about what King Solomon sought, yet was denied • Man's potential and the Messianic era
When selling a group of trees, when is the land between them included? • Four types of transactions: When can the Seller, Buyer, neither or both back out?
King Solomon, master of learning and sharing wisdom, was fueled by relentless drive • When is self-promotion appropriate?
What type of Kinyan, symbolic act, can effect the transfer of a boat, or an animal, or a prommisory note?
When selling a field, what is included and what is excluded?