Topics covered: Procedure for discouraging or evading a pursuing, angry snake. This snake suggests demonic forces at work, and the procedures contain spiritual as well as physical elements. The world may have been less firm, more “fluid” in earlier …

  Topics covered: Mar Ukva, the Reish Galusa (Exilarch of the Jewish community in Bavel) was happy to share eye salves he’d received from Shmuel, who was also a doctor, but it is better to follow Shmuel’s advice for preventing …

  Topics covered: Torah verses contained in tefillin may be written on bird skin, despite the “holes” from which feathers were plucked. May we write them on fish skin? We won’t know until Elijah comes. Shmuel sent Karna to test …

  Topics covered: No wounding, killing or trapping any living creatures on Shabbos! Here we must draw a careful distinction between the biblical prohibition, for which one becomes liable to bring a sin offering if the transgression is unwitting, and …

  Topics covered: If a member of a group dies, all members of the group should be concerned. What constitutes a group? Not defined, and therefore we should cultivate an expansive definition of this idea in our lives, as John …

  Topics covered: The minimum measure to be Biblically liable for writing on Shabbos is two letters that form a word or carry some distinct meaning. What about one letter that symbolizes something? R’ Yehoshua ben Beteira says yes, Rabbis …

  Topics covered: To be liable for writing on Shabbos, one must write two letters that endure, which generally means they spell a word. One example is Shem, a name made from the first two letters the longer name Shimon. …

  Topics covered: What is makeh b’patish, striking the final blow, and how does it differ from boneh, building? Chiseling a stone in any amount is striking the final blow, even if you plan to chisel more. Striking an anvil, …

  Topics covered: Ending ch. 11 and opening ch. 12. To be liable to bring a sin-offering for violating a biblical Shabbos prohibition, one’s intent must be unwitting at the beginning and end of the carrying/throwing from domain to domain, …