Shabbat 116 - June 30, 8 Tamuz
Today’s daf is sponsored by Jordy Hyman in honor of the birthday of two special friends, Natalie Taylor and Tanya Winchester Behr, who are both partners in my daf adventure. May your learning continue to be meaning and inspiring, and may we share many siyums together! And by Rabbi Dani Passow, the Orthodox Rabbi at Harvard Hillel in honor of Jaime Drucker, Harvard Hillel's Assistant Director. Jaime inspires me and all our students with her personal dedication to Talmud Torah and commitment to making Torah accessible and meaningful to all. Thank you.
Why are there 2 upside-down letter nuns around the section in Bamidbar "and when the ark traveled"? Why is this passage so central? Can one remove a blank parchment of a sacred book from a fire? The gemara attempts five times to answer this question from other sources but each attempt is rejected. What does one do with sacred books written by a heretic? The gemara discusses debates between Jews and early Christians and a section that was removed by the censure has "drashot" on the word "evangelion" having negative connotations. A story is also brought about a corrupt judge from the early Christians whose corruption was brought public in a creative way by Rabban Gamliel and his sister, Ima Shalom. Why don't we read from ketuvim? Under what circumstances? Rav and Shmuel disagree and there are different versions regarding their disagreement. One can also remove the cover of sacred books. To what type of space is one allowed to remove sacred texts into? The gemara brings a braita in which Rabbi Yismael son of Rabbi Yochanan ben Broka disagrees with the rabbis regarding removal on Shabbat of the hide of the animal being sacrificed before burning on the altar. Can one flay the all the skin or only up to the chest? The rabbis question Rabbi Yishmael and there are various versions of the question asked.