Today’s Talmud pages, Bava Metzia 23 and 24, ask what makes an item immediately and distinctly recognizable. As it happens, the same exact question occupied some of our finest trademark lawyers as they did battle in court to protect their clients' unique and immediately recognizable brands. What makes something distinct enough to merit a trademark? And why did the Beatles duke it out with Steve Jobs over this very question? Listen and find out. Like the show? Subscribe to our weekly...

Today’s Talmud page, Bava Metzia 22, discusses one of society's most pressing, and most tragically misunderstood, topics, namely how to host a dinner party. What solemn responsibilities do hosts, and guests, have when breaking bread? And why is a good dinner party more like a shootout than like a picnic? Listen and find out. Like the show? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Send us a note at [email protected]. Follow us on Twitter at @takeonedafyomi and join the conversation in the Take...

On today’s episode, we again take a break from Talmud and today's page, Bava Metzia 21, to play you our brand new podcast, Sivan Says: Taking the Torah Personally. It’s a weekly parsha podcast with me, Liel Liebovitz, and Israeli journalist and Torah scholar Sivan Rahav Meir. In our debut episode, Sivan tells us all about the story of Purim; explains how this year's Taanit Esther - Esther's Fast - takes on new meaning for the families of female hostages; and teaches four purim commandments...

On today’s episode, instead of bringing you an episode about Bava Metzia 20, we take a break from Talmud to tell you about a new podcast we’re launching tomorrow called Sivan Says: Taking the Torah Personally. It’s a weekly parsha podcast with Israeli journalist and Torah scholar Sivan Rahav Meir. Sivan joins us on Take One to tell us about the 2000 year old “home page” of the Jewish people. You can find Sivan Says at TabletMag.com/sivansays, or whever you listen to podcasts. Like the show?...

Today’s Talmud pages, Bava Metzia 18 and 19, are a master class in paying attention to detail. Do details really matter? And is it better, when doing anything from looking for your keys to handling your legal documents, to sweat the small stuff or look at the big picture instead? Listen and find out. Like the show? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Send us a note at [email protected]. Follow us on Twitter at @takeonedafyomi and join the conversation in the Take One Facebook group. We...

Today’s Talmud pages, Bava Metzia 16 and 17, begin as an ordinary sounding discussion of legal documents but soon blossom into a profound, and profoundly relevant, life lesson. Why does Rabbi Yohanan urge us to slow down and take a closer look at life's seemingly most ordinary interactions? Listen and find out. Like the show? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Send us a note at [email protected]. Follow us on Twitter at @takeonedafyomi and join the conversation in the Take One Facebook...

Today’s Talmud page, Bava Metzia 15, we're actually going to take a look at a new anthology from Tablet colleague Menachem Butler and co-editor Aviad Hacohen. The anthology, called Praying for the Defenders of Our Destiny: The Mi Sheberach for IDF Soldiers, was prepared in response to the October 7th massacre. It collects over seventy contributions from scholars, rabbis, and thinkers, that investigate the history, composition, and controversies surrounding the Mi Sheberach prayer,...

Today’s Talmud page, Bava Metzia 14, ponders why so many of us, from Talmudic times onwards, have been so obsessed with owning real estate. Scott Harris, real estate agent and the host of a new podcast about the spiritual side of home ownership -- The Pursuit of Home -- joins us to talk about how property assuages our longing for permanence and about why no piece of real estate is ever without its emotional meanings. What mistakes do you usually make when we're house shopping? Listen and find...

Today’s Talmud page, Bava Metzia 13, has the rabbis doing some creative recycling. What to do with a bit of papyrus that's no longer a useful legal document? And how could the ancient world's habits teach us a very valuable lesson about being less wasteful? Listen and find out. Like the show? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Send us a note at [email protected]. Follow us on Twitter at @takeonedafyomi and join the conversation in the Take One Facebook group. We think that you may also...

Today’s Talmud pages, Bava Metzia 11 and 12, raise a question that troubles many of us: What, precisely, makes a person an adult? Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin joins us to shed light on the meaning of growing up and becoming a man or a woman in full. How was Moses the ultimate practitioner of adulting? Listen and find out. Like the show? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Send us a note at [email protected]. Follow us on Twitter at @takeonedafyomi and join the conversation in the Take One...

Today’s Talmud pages, Bava Metzia 9 and 10, wonder how we truly assume ownership of an animal, which is really another way of asking how we assume ownership of our own lives. Do the rabbis want us to devote our days to study and contemplation? Or should we focus on constant and fruitful action instead? Listen and find out. Like the show? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Send us a note at [email protected]. Follow us on Twitter at @takeonedafyomi and join the conversation in the Take...

Today’s Talmud page, Bava Metzia 8, asks us to ponder what it actually means to ride a horse. Lily Leibovitz, a 12-year-old master equestrian, joins us to share the magical sensation of bonding with a strong, enormous animal, and why this connection had enchanted humans for millennia. How do you get the animal to listen to your wishes, and how do you tune in to its needs? Listen and find out. Like the show? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Send us a note at [email protected]. Follow...

Today’s Talmud page, Bava Metzia 7 discusses the validity of a bill of divorce if it is handed to a woman by her husband while he still holds on to it with a string, indicating that if he can pull the string and take it back, the bill of divorce is not legitimate, but if the string is too flimsy, or he can not pull it back, then the divorce is final. Tevi Troy returns to focus on the question of possession, and the specific question of when one truly takes possession of a job in the White...

Today’s Talmud page, Bava Metzia 6, interrogates that old chestnut of TV cop dramas, namely that a guilty suspect is always cool and in command when interrogated while an innocent one is distressed. Is that true? And what impact did this prevalent theory of policing have on wrongfully convicting people of crimes they didn't commit? Listen and find out. Like the show? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Send us a note at [email protected]. Follow us on Twitter at @takeonedafyomi and join...

Today’s Talmud pages, Bava Metzia 4 and 5, tell us a story of theft and accusation riddled with uncertainty. Producer Josh Kross joins us to talk about what we can do when we simply don't have enough information to go on, and why sometimes doubt isn't the worst thing to experience. What to do when you're trapped on a mountain with no power and no clue? Listen and find out. Like the show? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Send us a note at [email protected]. Follow us on Twitter at...

Today’s Talmud page, Bava Metzia 2 and 3, introduce us to a brand new tractate. Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin joins us with a preview of what's in store. What life lessons are we to learn from the famous story about two dudes holding on to a Tallis, each insisting that it belongs to him? Listen and find out. Like the show? Subscribe to our weekly newsletter. Send us a note at [email protected]. Follow us on Twitter at @takeonedafyomi and join the conversation in the Take One Facebook group. We...