This week, our study is led by Rabbi Jeremy Kalmanofsky of Congregation Ansche Chesed in New York City.

The opening and closing music for this podcast is Ufros from The Epichorus album One Bead.

The Tractate ends as the rabbis finally face the truth; the Temple is no longer with us, and our discussions about Temple upkeep have been generally theoretical. So what are our modern commitments regarding Shekalim?

Rabbi Abby Sosland is the Morah Ruchanit (Spiritual Advisor) for the high school at Solomon Schechter Westchester, where she teaches Talmud, Bible, Philosophy and Prayer. Her chapter “Crime and Punishment” — about the laws of capital punishment and incarceration– appears in The Observant Life: The Wisdom of Conservative Judaism for Contemporary Jews (Martin Cohen and Michael Katz, Rabbinical Assembly, 2012). She runs a free High Holiday service at Town and Village Synagogue in downtown Manhattan.

The opening and closing music for this podcast is Ufros from The Epichorus album One Bead.

What a progression the daf makes! From spit on the streets of Jerusalem to the Parochet lying across the Temple Mount, it all depends on where we hold our gaze.

Rabbi Abby Sosland is the Morah Ruchanit (Spiritual Advisor) for the high school at Solomon Schechter Westchester, where she teaches Talmud, Bible, Philosophy and Prayer. Her chapter “Crime and Punishment” — about the laws of capital punishment and incarceration– appears in The Observant Life: The Wisdom of Conservative Judaism for Contemporary Jews (Martin Cohen and Michael Katz, Rabbinical Assembly, 2012). She runs a free High Holiday service at Town and Village Synagogue in downtown Manhattan.

The opening and closing music for this podcast is Ufros from The Epichorus album One Bead.

Continuing our conversation of the Kashrut status of food of uncertain ownership, and a glance at the later history of this issue in Halakhah.

This week, our study is led by Rabbi Jeremy Kalmanofsky of Congregation Ansche Chesed in New York City.

The opening and closing music for this podcast is Ufros from The Epichorus album One Bead.

What do you when you find money on the floor of the Temple, or find a cut of meat in the marketplace? We’ll discuss how to assign ownership of money and evaluate the kashrut of food of uncertain origin.

This week, our study is led by Rabbi Jeremy Kalmanofsky of Congregation Ansche Chesed in New York City.

The opening and closing music for this podcast is Ufros from The Epichorus album One Bead.

Today we examine an important Talmudic concept: Breira, which does not mean – as in modern Hebrew – alternative, but retroactive determination. Can an object be of indeterminate status at one point in time, but later have its earlier status fixed by subsequent events?

This week, our study is led by Rabbi Jeremy Kalmanofsky of Congregation Ansche Chesed in New York City.

The opening and closing music for this podcast is Ufros from The Epichorus album One Bead.

Today’s page is very rich in lore and legend! We will learn about the Temple in Jerusalem being the source of the world’s water, and we’ll study a story of the Temple’s destruction amid mass suicide of the residents of Jerusalem.

This week, our study is led by Rabbi Jeremy Kalmanofsky of Congregation Ansche Chesed in New York City.

The opening and closing music for this podcast is Ufros from The Epichorus album One Bead.

Today our page includes the deservedly famous Midrash that the Torah was given to the Jewish people as “black fire inscribed on white fire.” What does that mean?

This week, our study is led by Rabbi Jeremy Kalmanofsky of Congregation Ansche Chesed in New York City.

The opening and closing music for this podcast is Ufros from The Epichorus album One Bead.

Today we study priorities in giving Tzedaka. How do you give to the poor without shaming them? How do you prioritize the need to construct communal buildings, with the need to support the human beings in society?

This week, our study is led by Rabbi Jeremy Kalmanofsky of Congregation Ansche Chesed in New York City.

The opening and closing music for this podcast is Ufros from The Epichorus album One Bead.

Today we learn about the highly paid artisans in the ancient temple and the way they would hold out for even more money – kind of like pro athletes today. Even back then people suspected affluent public leaders – including Moses! – of corruption.

This week, our study is led by Rabbi Jeremy Kalmanofsky of Congregation Ansche Chesed in New York City.

The opening and closing music for this podcast is Ufros from The Epichorus album One Bead.

In this episode we focus on two very different and unusal issues: Don’t go barefoot and Rabbinic medicine.

Rabbi David Hoffman is an assistant professor of Talmud and Rabbinic Culture and serves as scholar-in-residence in the Development Department of The Jewish Theological Seminary.

The opening and closing music for this podcast is Ufros from The Epichorus album One Bead.

Today we ask “What are appropriate and inappropriate uses of temple property?”

Rabbi David Hoffman is an assistant professor of Talmud and Rabbinic Culture and serves as scholar-in-residence in the Development Department of The Jewish Theological Seminary.

The opening and closing music for this podcast is Ufros from The Epichorus album One Bead.

In this episode we are thinking about endowments and fiduciary responsibility.

Rabbi David Hoffman is an assistant professor of Talmud and Rabbinic Culture and serves as scholar-in-residence in the Development Department of The Jewish Theological Seminary.

The opening and closing music for this podcast is Ufros from The Epichorus album One Bead.

This episode focuses on the question “What’s the meaning of crimson in Jewish ritual?”

Rabbi David Hoffman is an assistant professor of Talmud and Rabbinic Culture and serves as scholar-in-residence in the Development Department of The Jewish Theological Seminary.

The opening and closing music for this podcast is Ufros from The Epichorus album One Bead.

Today we ask “What are our responsibilities when handling communal funds?” A teaching in the Beit Yosef.

Rabbi David Hoffman is an assistant professor of Talmud and Rabbinic Culture and serves as scholar-in-residence in the Development Department of The Jewish Theological Seminary.

The opening and closing music for this podcast is Ufros from The Epichorus album One Bead.

In this episode we ask “What are our responsibilities when handling communal funds?” A teaching in the Rambam II.

Rabbi David Hoffman is an assistant professor of Talmud and Rabbinic Culture and serves as scholar-in-residence in the Development Department of The Jewish Theological Seminary.

The opening and closing music for this podcast is Ufros from The Epichorus album One Bead.

Today we ask “What are our responsibilities when handling communal funds?” A teaching in the Rambam I.

Rabbi David Hoffman is an assistant professor of Talmud and Rabbinic Culture and serves as scholar-in-residence in the Development Department of The Jewish Theological Seminary.

The opening and closing music for this podcast is Ufros from The Epichorus album One Bead.

The shekel tax is a flat amount, equal for all. But when you set something aside for the Temple, you are bound to follow through. So what happens when you set aside too much money for your tax payment?

Rabbi Joshua Cahan received his Ph.D. in Rabbinic Literature from the Jewish Theological Seminary. He teaches rabbinics at the Schechter High School of Westchester. Previously he was the founder and director of the Northwoods Kollel Talmud program at Camp Ramah in Wisconsin and Director of the Jewish Theological Seminary’s Beit Midrash study center. In 2009 Rabbi Cahan published Yedid Nefesh, a traditional, egalitarian bencher (book of sabbath songs & blessings) with commentary.

The opening and closing music for this podcast is Ufros from The Epichorus album One Bead.

Who owns the money that has been designated for the Temple? Who is responsible for its security? This sessions looks at how Temple ownership works differently than private ownership, and how this might apply to money that we designate for charity or taxes but have not yet given.

Rabbi Joshua Cahan received his Ph.D. in Rabbinic Literature from the Jewish Theological Seminary. He teaches rabbinics at the Schechter High School of Westchester. Previously he was the founder and director of the Northwoods Kollel Talmud program at Camp Ramah in Wisconsin and Director of the Jewish Theological Seminary’s Beit Midrash study center. In 2009 Rabbi Cahan published Yedid Nefesh, a traditional, egalitarian bencher (book of sabbath songs & blessings) with commentary.

The opening and closing music for this podcast is Ufros from The Epichorus album One Bead.

Who is required to the pay the tax and who is exempt? This episode focuses on two gray areas – older children and the Tmple priests themselves.

Rabbi Joshua Cahan received his Ph.D. in Rabbinic Literature from the Jewish Theological Seminary. He teaches rabbinics at the Schechter High School of Westchester. Previously he was the founder and director of the Northwoods Kollel Talmud program at Camp Ramah in Wisconsin and Director of the Jewish Theological Seminary’s Beit Midrash study center. In 2009 Rabbi Cahan published Yedid Nefesh, a traditional, egalitarian bencher (book of sabbath songs & blessings) with commentary.

The opening and closing music for this podcast is Ufros from The Epichorus album One Bead.

A comparison of the Israelites giving of the half-shekel to their giving of gold for the Golden Calf doesn’t reflect well on them. The parallels point to a painful tension in both the Bible’s and the Rabbis’ depiction of the Exodus Generation: Their direct experience of God’s power and God’s voice forms the basis for the rest of Jewish history; yet they seem to have been poorly equipped to handle those experiences.

Rabbi Joshua Cahan received his Ph.D. in Rabbinic Literature from the Jewish Theological Seminary. He teaches rabbinics at the Schechter High School of Westchester. Previously he was the founder and director of the Northwoods Kollel Talmud program at Camp Ramah in Wisconsin and Director of the Jewish Theological Seminary’s Beit Midrash study center. In 2009 Rabbi Cahan published Yedid Nefesh, a traditional, egalitarian bencher (book of sabbath songs & blessings) with commentary.

The opening and closing music for this podcast is Ufros from The Epichorus album One Bead.

An introduction to the annual half-shekel tax. The tax was announced on 1 Adar and collected throughout the month so that it could be used to provide the Temple’s public offerings beginning in Nisan.

Rabbi Joshua Cahan received his Ph.D. in Rabbinic Literature from the Jewish Theological Seminary. He teaches rabbinics at the Schechter High School of Westchester. Previously he was the founder and director of the Northwoods Kollel Talmud program at Camp Ramah in Wisconsin and Director of the Jewish Theological Seminary’s Beit Midrash study center. In 2009 Rabbi Cahan published Yedid Nefesh, a traditional, egalitarian bencher (book of sabbath songs & blessings) with commentary.

The opening and closing music for this podcast is Ufros from The Epichorus album One Bead.