“Go around, go around, and do not approach the vineyard.”

We have a conundrum brothers and sisters. Do we soak or not soak our matza or entirely walk around the issue as I feel the Rabbis did today? I know nothing about baking or flour or producing unleavened bread. The matza that I last bought came in a blue and orange box from Manischewitz and I trust that it was produced according to whatever is required.

“How do we know that a bitter herb is specifically a vegetable rather than the bitter oleander bush?” 

Today’s Daf Yomi provides a tutorial in herbology and the type of plants that are deemed acceptable representations of the bitterness of our enslaved ancestors in Egypt. Suffice it to say, that it is important for the bitter herb that we put on our Passover plate to be bitter.

“What you take must belong to you.”

I have been repeating to myself the phrase “what you take must belong to you” since I first read it in today’s Daf Yomi portion of the Talmud. Because we are reading Tractate Pesachim, it is written in the context of eating matza. But it has a much deeper meaning for me embedded in authenticity and embracing one’s story.

“Bread is nothing other than that which is baked in an oven.”

Today’s Daf Yomi considers the essence of bread. What is bread really? What defines it? What are the established boundaries that define its “leaven-ness”? The text discusses matza that is a handbreadth thick and belies everything I have known about the thin cracker-like unleavened bread.

An act performed by the community is different.”

We are reminded in today’s Daf Yomi that the act of eating matza is an mitzva in and of itself, but it is not a simple act of biting into an oversized cracker. Along with the consumption of that single matza is the entire history of all the pain and grief of the Jewish people and a reminder that the matza represents both the “bread of affliction” and the “poor man’s bread.”

“No additional prohibitions can apply to an object that is already prohibited.”

I wrote yesterday that the protracted discussion on purity and teruma caused me to lose the thread of the relevance to Passover. Today, I found my way back in the text, which provides a lesson on the different types of grains.

“A diversion of attention constitutes an inherent disqualification.”

Today’s reading continues the discussion on the improper use and desecration of teruma. I have somehow lost the thread on how this is relevant to the original discussion of ridding one’s household of leaven, but deep within the text is an important message on attention.

“One is punished for misusing consecrated items.”

Today’s text is a reminder of how complicated it is to be a Jew and how much is expected of us. At the essence of that complication is the respect for consecrated items. The Rabbis’ concern for a bulk of teruma can be extended to the welfare of our earth which deserves more respect and care than we have given it.

“And he shall give.”

This has been a very difficult year for all of us, and if there was ever a time to give just a little bit more in any way we can and to anyone in need, this would be the time. Today the Talmud discusses giving just a little more in the context of repaying our debts and making amends for transgressions.

“And he shall give it to him whom he has wronged”

We all know that bread is the staff of life. In today’s Daf Yomi it becomes an important currency in the world of lending. I imagine bread bonds, which are securitized to back the lending of an entire village during the time of the Talmud. These bonds, backed by loaves of bread collected by the village treasurer and stored in a cool room somewhere, could allow for the construction of bathhouses and study halls.

“Level the prices for your pots.”

Today’s Daf Yomi provides a lesson in predatory pricing, which is remarkable to find in the words of Shmuel. Although he overstepped his boundaries because was in Rav’s neck of the woods, Rav also supported his indignation and warned about gauging people on the price they paid for Passover pots. They rally against price gauging in what might have been the Amazon marketplace of their day.

“It shall not be seen by you.”

We have learned over the last few weeks as we dig deeper into Tractate Pesachim that the preferred way to get rid of leaven is to load everything up into a big pit and burn it during the sixth hour of Passover Eve. We also learned that we could scatter the crumbs to the wind or throw them into the sea.

“It shall not be seen, and: It shall not be found.”

When I started this Tractate, I could not imagine what could be said about celebrating the holiday of Passover for four months. I should have known better from the prior three Tractates – the Rabbis can turnover a topic so many times that your head is left spinning. And there are digressions on top of digressions.

“Two verses that come as one.”

Today’s Daf Yomi continues the long-protracted discussion on gaining benefit from forbidden items. We are provided with a list of items that we cannot seek benefit from, including baking bread in an oven lit from prohibited materials, such as the peel of orla fruit, or straw or grain that come from a vineyard that is contaminated by diverse kinds of plantings.

“One life is not preferable to another.”

The discussion that has been taking place for days on deriving benefit from prohibited items takes an interesting turn today once we get past the discourse on cooking meat in milk and planting diverse kinds of seeds in a vineyard. There is more flogging mentioned in the text today, which is fairly upsetting in its lack of proportionality to the crime.

“It shall burnt with fire.” 

There is something both satisfying and purifying to watch a fire consume unwanted stuff. If I lived somewhere out in the country where I had a decent property, I would build a large pyre of discarded items and watch them burn in order to free myself of so many unwanted things. It would be nice if we could also pile all the virus in the world into the fire pit and watch it burn

“Be astounded with yourself.”

All of a sudden, I am getting advertisements in my social media account from purveyors of kosher meat. I am not a meat eater and definitely not kosher, but the algorithms must be picking up on the Daf Yomi’s discussion on deriving benefit from meat over the last few days. It is always somewhat disturbing how that works; at times, I haven’t conducted a search for a new pair of shoes but have simply thought about wanting something comfortable to walk in, and an add appears in my Facebook stream for flats.

“You shall not put a stumbling block before the blind.”

Certain Daf Yomi passages should contain warnings of unpleasant content for the squeamish among us, which I am one. Today’s text is all about blood and tasting the sciatic nerve of a slaughtered animal, which I never knew was a thing. All I know about the sciatic nerve is that I have one and it causes me great pain when I am sitting at my computer for more than twelve hours each day on a not-so-great dining room chair.

“There is no inherent need to mention birds.” 

We learned back in the golden days of Tractate Berakhot when everything was about blessings, that you should feed your animals before yourself. Compassion and responsibility for animals that are dependent on us is one of the enduring lessons I have learned from the past year of reading the Talmud.

“From all food in it which may be eaten, upon which water comes, shall be impure.”

The needle that first appeared in yesterday’s reading has haunted me and disturbed my sleep. Last night I dreamed of a red heifer that was grazing high up on a hill. The animal’s ruddy-brown coat glistened in the pale rays of a late afternoon sun. It was a peaceful scene until I noticed a needle protruding from its abdomen. I woke up at that moment in the middle of the night and could not go back to sleep.