I love reading history. About 90% of my reading is history from all periods and all areas of the world. My degree as an undergraduate was in Chinese History. If…
Month: February 2020
The Nature of Evil – Berakhot 32
Yesterday, we read about Hannah praying for a child and how that teaches us about prayer. Today we read about Moses praying for God to spare the Israelites after the…
Hannah Schools the Rabbis – Berakhot 31
In my last blog entry, I gave a very high-level overview of Hannah in I Samuel. You may want to read that introduction before reading today's entry because we are…
Oops! My Apologies Again – Berakhot 30 Part 2
I goofed and owe all my readers a big apology. My last post concerned Berakhot 30. In The Schottenstein Edition of the Talmud I am using, Berakhot 30 spans the…
Rules, Rules and More Rules – Berakhot 30
With the last Daf of Chapter Four, we get a lot of rules about prayer. Why so many rules? We get one clue today when we discuss why we pray…
Prayer, Ritual & Meaning and the Talmud – Berakhot 29
Several times in the course of this Blog, I have been concerned with the nature of prayer as envisioned by the Talmud. We have already seen rules governing every aspect…
Politics and the Talmud – Berakhot 28
I am well aware that we ended yesterday on a cliffhanger and we all want to know what happens with Rabbi Elazar ben Azarayh. Does he depose Rabbi Gamliel? What…
Impeachment and the Talmud – Berakhot 27
Although apparently a foregone conclusion, as I write this we are in the midst of President Trump's impeachment trial in the Senate. One group believes President Trump has abused his…
A New Prayer and the Talmud – Berakhot 26
In the middle of today's Daf, we end chapter three and begin chapter four. Unlike the previous chapters, where I could not really understand what the division signified, today we…