Rabbi's Blog

Dear OZ family,

The Daf Yomi schedule learns one of approximately 5,450 pages of Talmud through a seven and a half year cycle. Today the Daf Yomi cycle concludes the tractate that relates to the coming holiday, Pesach. There is one Mishna, but there are two Talmuds. The Jews of Babylonia thrived for a longer time than the beleaguered Jews of Israel. Therefore, the Talmud that emerged from Babylonia, the Talmud Bavli, developed to a greater extent than the Talmud that was written in Israel, the Talmud Yerushalmi. The Daf Yomi studies the Talmud Bavli, but it was decided that one tractate of the Yerushalmi should be included, and that tractate will begin tomorrow. The Mishna of Masechet Shekalim has no Talmud Bavli but it does have Talmud Yerushalmi, and the 22 dafim of Shekalim are included in the corpus of the Daf Yomi schedule.

There are many reasons for the greater popularity of the Bavli over the Yerushalmi, and perhaps the most important one is Rashi. Rashi not only revolutionized the study of Talmud by opening it up to the masses, but he also collected the works of his predecessor, Rabbenu Gershom, in deciding what the correct wording is, a task that was not replicated for the Yerushalmi. For this reason, the Yerushalmi is often replete with significant version changes on practically every page. This work is now being done on a large scale for Yerushalmi as well, and plans are underway for a wide-scale Yerushalmi Daf Yomi as well.

Today’s daf ends with a discussions that dovetails nicely into the next Masechta. Pesachim ends with the laws of Pidyon Haben, the redemption of first-born males for five Shekalim, and Shekalim is what we will start learning tomorrow. Here is your chance to tune into the study of the Yerushalmi - click here for info: www.OZNY.org/event/Daf.

When the Talmuds were written, the Jews of Israel were very downtrodden, while the Jews of Babylonia mostly flourished. Israel remained that way for the better part of two millennia, and ours is the fortunate time to see it flourish once again, with the Grace of Hashem. In contrast, we read last week of the passing of one of the three remaining Jews in Babylonia (Iraq), Dr. Zafer Fouad Eliyahu, a beloved orthopedic surgeon who never married. The remaining two Jews are his sister, and brother in law, a childless couple. May Dr. Eliyahu’s memory be a blessing.

Please join me in extending condolences to the Getzler family on the loss of our long time member, Doris Getzler. Shiva details will follow.

Stay well. Be healthy.  Be excellent.

Rabbi Allen Schwartz