Off the Daf and Into Israel

Jericho Journey   Yoma 39 Mosaic floor of the sixth century “Shalom al Yisrael” synagogue (Photo credit: jewishjericho.org.il) The smell of the incense would make goats sneeze in Jericho . . . While this is definitely the most amusing connection between Jericho and the Bet HaMikdash, it is hardly the only one. On our page alone we hear about how in Jericho you could hear the sound of the Kohen Gadol saying God’s name in the vidui, you could hear the sound of the door hinges of the heichal and the smell of incense traveled so far that women in Jericho used it instead of perfume! In other place in the Gemara we hear of other connections between Jericho and Jerusalem : Jericho dates were the only dates worthy to be brought for Bikkurim, many priests lived in Jericho and it served as a base for aliya laregel and similar stories. (photo credit: Ferrell Jenkins) Leaving aside the Gemara’s hyperbole (maybe goats have very sensitive noses?), the point here is c

Nicanor who made the gates . .  . Yoma 37 In today's daf we have a list of important donors to the Temple. One of the most famous is Nicanor of Alexandria, who donated beautiful gates. The dramatic story of their arrival in Jerusalem only appears on tomorrow's page, have patience. But Barnea Selavan pointed me in the direction of the today's post. In 1902 in Jerusalem an ancient burial cave was discovered on Mount Scopus in Jerusalem. The cave was significant because of the ossuary (burial box for bones) it contained. Many ossuaries have been discovered in Jerusalem from Second Temple times but the ones with inscriptions are the most rare and the most valuable. This one has an inscription in Greek and one in Hebrew. The Hebrew only contains two names: Nicanor Alexa. The Greek is more expansive (translated quote from Wikipedia   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cave_of_Nicanor , which also has some nice pictures): "the bones of the family of Nicanor the Alexa

Can Water Flow Uphill?   Yoma 31 In the context of the Kohen Gadol’s preparations for the avoda, we hear about his requirement to use the mikveh numerous times during Yom Kippur.  Abaye mentions that the water for the mikveh above Shaar haMayim comes from Ein Eitam עין עיתם . This spring must be 23 amot higher than the floor of the azara because  the gates in the azara are twenty amot high, plus another three amot for the depth of the mikveh. I wanted to write a simple post about the identity of Ein Eitam and its connection to the water supply of Har haBayit. However, the more I researched, the more murky the topic became. But I will set out a few ideas and suggestions here, with further reading for those who are interested. Our first question is where is Ein Eitam? It is mentioned as the source for the mikveh here and in the Yerushalmi (Yoma 3:8) as the source for the waters in the כיור , brought by an aqueduct.  Tanakh does not have a reference to a spring called Eitam b

Massechet Yoma, Daf 9  + Throughout Massechet Yoma, we get a glimpse into life with the Beit Hamikdash, the holy Temple, intact. On daf 9, for example, we're told the reasons for the destruction of Jerusalem's holiest place. We read that the first Temple was destroyed because of three cardinal sins - idolatry, adultery and murder. The prophets warn the people of their imminent demise because of these actions - see Jeremiah, chapter 9: "So that I might leave my peopel... for they are all adulterers, a crowd of unfaithful people." The Second Temple, our sages tell us, was destroyed due to unbased hatred among brothers. The Temple authorities were widely perceived as corrupt. Josephus, the first century Jewish historian writing from the Roman court, tells us in his book "The Jewish War" that during the siege of Jerusalem the generals said there's no need to attach the city, the Jews will kill each other..." *** A talented friend and teacher

Shekalim 21 Up the Down Staircase What a beautiful mishna to finish our posts of Shekalim with! The mishna at the beginning of the eighth chapter tells us that if we find vessels in Jerusalem, near the mikve, are they considered pure or impure? Rabbi Meir answers that it depends on where they are found: דרך ירידה לבית הטבילה, טמאין, ודרך עליה טהורין, שלא כירידתן עלייתן. . . Unlike our current inclination to be machmir about things that are unknown, Rabbi Meir says see what information you have and decide based on that. If the vessels are on their way down to the mikve, then clearly they have not been immersed yet and are impure. And if they are on their way up, they have been purified and you should feel free to use them. The mishna assumes that there are two ways to approach the mikve, one going in and one coming out. The commentators understood the basic principle. The Korban HaEdah explains that there was an entrance and an exit to the mikve so that the impure w

Shekalim 19 Cleaning House   In the context of the Gemara’s discussion of the שופרות used for donations to the Temple , the subject of King Yehoash’s method of collecting money arises. As we can see in two parallel sources (Melachim Bet 12 and Divrei haYamim Bet24) Yehoash was disappointed in the collections made by the Kohanim for repairs of the Temple , בדק הבית . He and the Kohen Gadol Yehoyada decided to take matters into their own hands and created the first pushke:     מלכים ב יב: י וַיִּקַּח יְהוֹיָדָע הַכֹּהֵן אֲרוֹן אֶחָד וַיִּקֹּב חֹר בְּדַלְתּוֹ וַיִּתֵּן אֹתוֹ אֵצֶל הַמִּזְבֵּחַ בימין (מִיָּמִין) בְּבוֹא-אִישׁ בֵּית יְהוָה וְנָתְנוּ-שָׁמָּה הַכֹּהֲנִים שֹׁמְרֵי הַסַּף אֶת-כָּל-הַכֶּסֶף הַמּוּבָא בֵית-יְהוָה When the box was full, they would empty it out and use it to pay the craftsmen who did repairs in the Temple . Yehoash ruled in the ninth century BCE, he was a contemporary of the prophet Elisha. Archaeological artifacts from that time period in Israel

Shekalim 18   יופי לך מזבח In the discussion of the mishnah about donations to the Temple , the subject of trees arises. The Gemara wants to understand the size of a tree used on the altar. It concludes that the fire on the altar was one cubit ( אמה ) by one cubit and the trees are sized accordingly. In order to understand which altar the Gemara is referring to, we need to take a look at the different sizes of the altars in history. (We are of course referring to the large altar used for sacrifices, not the מזבח הקטורת .) The first altar was the one built in the desert, for the Tabernacle. Its dimensions were rather small: five cubits by five cubits and three cubits high: שמות כז: א וְעָשִׂיתָ אֶת-הַמִּזְבֵּחַ עֲצֵי שִׁטִּים  חָמֵשׁ אַמּוֹת אֹרֶךְ וְחָמֵשׁ אַמּוֹת רֹחַב רָבוּעַ יִהְיֶה הַמִּזְבֵּחַ וְשָׁלֹשׁ אַמּוֹת קֹמָתוֹ When King Solomon built his altar in the First Temple it was considerably larger: twenty cubits by twenty cubits and ten cubits high. (Note th

Shekalim 14 Limited Time Only: Wine and Oil for your Sacrifice!   It’s always exciting when an archaeological find fits in with history and literary sources, completing a familiar narrative. The find below could actually work with two different stories, depending on how it is interpreted. At the end of 2011, the excavators from the City of David who had been examining the main sewer system below Robinson’s Arch announced a small but momentous discovery. They had found a small stamp, or perhaps a chit, with Hebrew letters on it: As can clearly be seen, the letters read דכא ליה , not Hebrew but Aramaic. The archaeologists interpreted the words to mean טהור לה' , pure to God, a designation that could apply to many of the items used in the Temple . The oil, wine, meal and other food items all had to be pure if they would be used in the Temple . And since the artifact was found right below the Temple Mount , it stands to reason that it labeled an item used in the s

Shekalim   All that glitters is Tyrian silver The only Yerushalmi tractate in Daf Yomi puts our blog on familiar ground. The topic is the Temple and its economy, a quintessentially Eretz Yisrael subject. What was the coin used to pay the מחצית השקל and have we found any today? A little background on ancient coins. We all know Abba bought the Had Gadya for 2 zuzim: but what is a zuz and how much is it worth? The smallest coin of value was a פרוטה peruta. Its weight was equal to one barley seed. If something is not even worth a peruta, you cannot make a transaction with it. Perutot are the most common coins found in archaeology, presumably because people did not bother to pick them up. Here is one version of a peruta: There are eight perutot in an  איסר issar and twenty four issarin in a zuz, also called a dinar. If you are still with me, let’s keep on with the math. A shekel is equivalent to two zuzim, the price of Abba’s goat. So half a shekel shoul

The Holy City of  . . . Lod? Pesachim 62 A side story on today’s daf seems to have a negative view of the city of Lod . The Gemara reports a conversation between Rabbi Simlai and Rabbi Yochanan where Rabbi Simlai asks Rabbi Yochanan to teach him Sefer Yochsin (Divrei HaYamim). Rabbi Yochanan wants to know where Rabbi Simlai is from and upon hearing that he is from Lod and lives in Nehardea, refuses to teach him. Rabbi Yochanan claims that we do not teach people from Lod and from Nehardea and you are from both those places! Why does Rabbi Yochanan look down on Lod (Nehardea is not in Eretz Yisrael so someone else will have to deal with that question!)? Lod is an ancient city, located in central Israel : We already hear about it in Tanakh, it is in the tribe of Benjamin and is resettled in the time of Ezra and Nehemia. It is centrally located, about a day’s walk from Jerusalem , and on the border between the coast and the Shfelah (lowlands). Lod was known as a wealth

A Timely Post   Pesachim 11-12 Yesterday’s mishnah and today’s daf spend a good amount of time discussing time-related issues. We start off with a disagreement between Rabbi Meir and Rabbi Yehuda about the time limit on eating  hametz on the 14 th of Nisan. The Gemara then launches into a discussion about rgw accuracy of witnesses’ testimony regarding time. If one witness says an incident occurred at the 3 rd hour and another says at the 5 th hour, can we synchronize their testimonies and say one meant the end of the 3 rd and one meant the beginning of the fifth? All these discussions are predicated on the fact that people had a sense of time, of the hours in the day. But just how did they tell time before digital watches, cellphone clocks and even Greenwich Mean Time? When the Gemara speaks about hours (the third hour, the fifth hour), it means שעות זמניות , the division of the time between sunrise and sunset into twelve equal pieces. Obviously the length of those

Eruvin 101 How many keys-locks-walls?? By Eli Duker, guest blogger and guide Model of Antonia Fortress, where the second wall began The  Mishna brings a dispute between Rabbi Meir on one hand, and the Sages and Rabbi Yose on the other, regarding the permissibility of unlocking a door when one is in a different reshut than the door. Rabbi Meir forbids it, and the Sages permit it based on their claim that in people were lenient on the matter in the שוק של פטמים in Second Temple-era Jerusalem. Rabbi Yose claims, however, that the Shuk in question was the Wool market.  At first glance it seems strange that he would take issue over a seemingly irrelevant detail. The Gemara questions the relevancy of the Jerusalem key precendent.  It cites Rabbi Yochanan, that as Jerusalem was a walled city whose gates closed at night, its status cannot be that of a “Public Domain” – רשות הרבים.  Hence there is reason to be lenient in Jerusalem; how can the Shuk practice be considered to be r

Eruvin 70+ Another short moral parable on the building of walls and sharing with neighbors: Good fences make good neighbors, so says Robert Frost. That's the poem's famous last line, but what the reader may have forgotten is that first the poet chose to point 'there where it is we do not need the wall'. Perhaps he questions the need to build barriers, suggesting instead a wisdom of manageable togetherness. Fitting for our masechet, for the moral question of ownership and neighborly relations. At first glance, Hillel's take on that is: What's yours is yours and what's mine is yours - a less applicable approach when it comes to the actual halacha of sharing property on Shabbat. Nice in theory, but tough to apply to real life. It seems from the mishna that there is a need at times to establish very clear lines, or at least we try to define them, between properties. Yet the gemara throughout the recent chapters has gone out of its way to figure out how t

In honor of Jerusalem Day, and the fact that our daf repeatedly mentions the walled cities of the Land of Israel, let's take a quick look at our capital city's earliest Israelite walls. Historically, civilized man (or woman, perhaps) built walls. In order to delineate the home, fields, area of work, people created borders to show ownership. And in this part of the world, from Mesopotamia to Egypt, the development of walled settlements played a big role in geopolitics and ancient history. Small Jerusalem saw many a ruler over 4000 years. Most often their victory was through might of sword and a great breaching of the mighty walls, yet it was David in the tenth century BCE who conquered the Jebusite fortifications and made this the Jewish capital for eternity, by finding the way in through a small 'tzinnor', a pipe perhaps, or passageway at a point of weakness. Later, the Assyrian rise to power in 705 BCE led to Judean King Hezekiah's need to expand and stren

Cavemen Eruvin 61 “If a man spent Shabbat in  . . . a cave, even though it was like the cave of Zedekiah king of Judah , he may walk through the whole of it and two thousand cubits beyond.” The daf is obviously talking about a very large cave. What is the cave of King Zedekiah ? Rashi explains that it was a cave through which Zedekiah, the last king of Judah , escaped from the Babylonians. The escape is mentioned in the book of Jeremiah, chapter 52. Zedekiah and his soldiers escape from Jerusalem after the Babylonians breach the wall of the city. He is captured near the plains of Jericho . But there is no cave mentioned in the text.  Rashi again comes to our rescue (here, and with more detail in Ezekiel 12: 13) by telling us about a huge cave that stretched from Zedekiah’s house until the plains of Jericho . Where is this cave? Clearly it was known in the time of the Tannaim. And indeed we come across mentions of Zedekiah’s Cave from the time of the Gemara, through th

Body and Soul   Eruvin 35   Amud Bet of this page discusses what structures are considered part of the city, for the purposes of extending city limits and knowing where to begin counting your two thousand amot limit outside the city. One of the buidings discussed is a nefesh . The Gemara explains that a nefesh that measures four by four amot can be considered part of the city, while one that has only two walls standing cannot. What is a nefesh ? Monumental Second Temple period graves consisted of two parts, a kever and a nefesh . The kever is just what it sounds like: the grave where the person is buried. Sometimes it is above ground, other times it is below. The nefesh is a second section, something that serves some of the functions of a gravestone today.  It is on top and often has a shape rising into the sky, to symbolize the soul ( nefesh ) returning to God. It is an imposing grave marker. One of the more famous graves with a nefesh that we see today is Yad Avsh