“She tightens it because it pleases her that she will appear fleshy.

I was very excited to read about women’s accessories in today’s portion of the Talmud, even if it is from the perspective of a group of Rabbis who are mostly concerned with dictating what a woman can wear in the public domain on Shabbat. Nevertheless, today’s reading is like a walk-through of the archives of the Fashion Institute of Technology’s library where I worked when I was in graduate school.

“David sought to do evil but did not do so.”

Today’s reading comments on all the ways human beings fail to live up to God’s expectations: they take bribes, pervert justice, collect inflated fees, misappropriate tithes, use excessive force, engage in slander, participate in adultery. We were told yesterday that even the great men in the bible sinned. King David was famous for his affair with Bathsheba and for arranging to send her husband to battle and ultimately, his death. In today’s portion of the Talmud, Rabbi Shmuel bar Naḥmani and the great Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi whitewash King David’s behavior.

“Whoever stops his ears at the cry of the poor, he also shall cry himself, but shall not be heard.” 

What resonated with me today is the responsibility to speak up no matter how difficult the consequences when we see inequity or in the language of the Talmud, “wickedness.” Rav Yehuda provided a good example of this when he challenged his superior. There are men and women among us who speak up when it is inconvenient and risk their livelihoods and safety. An example is Dr. Li Wenliang, an ophthalmologist in Wuhan, China, who warned about the looming outbreak of a mysterious virus in December 2019. 

“Rav Naḥman said to him: If so, you turned the animal into Yalta, my wife, who descended from the house of the Exilarch. That is treatment fit for her, not for an animal.”

It must have not been a wonderful life for domestic animals 2000 years ago, who were mostly in service to their households. I do not get the sense that there were a lot of dogs and cats lazily sleeping on their beds during the day while their humans were out working in order to afford fancy pet food. But there is a demonstrated connection between the Rabbis in the Talmud and their animals as evidenced by the attention to detail. 

“A donkey, even in the summer season of Tammuz, is cold.”

What resonated with me today is the analysis of how hard it is to provide for a person’s sustenance. Some people have put all their heart and soul into starting small businesses that not only provide sustenance for their families but are labors of love and fulfill their human drive to create something that is their very own.

“No resolution was found to this dilemma. Let it stand unresolved.”

What struck me about today’s reading is how tolerant the Talmud is of a diversity of opinion, and how it is willing to just let some differences remain unresolved. My experience so far as I work my way through each day’s text is that it is not a place to go for easy answers, or quick hits of wisdom. It is difficult, winding, rambling at times and unstructured. Usually, however, after a Rabbi said that a different Rabbi said something that is disputed by another Rabbi quoting another Rabbi, there is some sort of final conclusion. Today, there is the simple statement to just let a dispute remain unresolved.

“A distinguished person like Rav Naḥman should be stringent and distance himself from conduct that could be perceived, even mistakenly, as a prohibited act.”

These two narratives -- of HaNasi yielding to the opinion of an elder and Rabbi Ami becoming angry at Rav Nahman for providing the potential for the appearance of impropriety – resonate with our expectations for our leaders. This is the most important question of our day as our society is in the worse crisis many of us have experienced in our lifetime. 

“Since it is not possible to perform a preparatory action with the earth, one is permitted to use the earth by means of thought alone.”

Yesterday’s reading introduced Elisha who was so steadfast in his belief that he had the chutzpah to challenge the Romans. Today there is a mention of the Nazirite who centered their lives on ritual purity.  Their reference in today’s text led me to research who they were. Nazarite" comes from the Hebrew word “nazir” which mean “consecrated” or “separated.”

“You shall shine as the wings of a dove covered with silver and her pinions with yellow gold.”

Among the discussion of insulated food, carpenter wood-shavings, fine flax, wooden boards, fleece and thirty-nine instances of labor, is the story of a small white dove in the palm of a scholar who was using his wits to escape torment. It’s a profound story with a lot of resonance for our times.

Whichever way you look at it, there is a difficulty.”

We might want to be on guard when inviting Rabba and Rabbi Zeira to our homes; they are watching us closely and can be critical if we transgress in the observation of Sabbath laws.

“The value of an object is determined not by its context, but by its intrinsic value.”

The recent readings of what is permissible under set-aside rules, can be compared with the act of setting aside almost anything foreign that I bring into my apartment that does not require refrigeration. I am setting aside on my balcony items that are boxed or bagged in cardboard or plastic so that any trace of lingering virus can fall away.

“There was no resolution found to this dilemma and therefore it stands unresolved.”

I am finding this section of set-aside readings very challenging. Each day I try to find one thing I can glean onto for meaning. Today it was difficult to do even that. The text reprises the meandering themes from the past few days regarding set-aside prohibitions on the Sabbath. This includes a discussion of the independence of an undercarriage from a wagon, the principle of twilight and the recurrent theme of intention. There is a returning discussion of Torah vs. Rabbinic law and varying opinions among the Rabbis that leave certain topics unresolved. 

“This is not a proof, as exigent circumstances are different.”

I have been struggling with the last few days’ readings on “set aside” prohibitions on the Sabbath. Today we take a journey through the ancient Zoroastrian religion, decorating of a sukkah, and fields where wild animals roam. Much of the text contradicts itself, which I have learned from day one of this journey is what the Talmud is about: discussion, refutation, and the struggle to reach a common ground. What resonated with me today was the allowance for exceptions in the face of danger and the continued focus on intention.

“A bed which one designated to place money upon it may not be moved on Shabbat because it is set-aside.”

Today’s reading made me wonder about how money was safeguarded 2,000 years ago and today’s relationship with physical currency. The society was primarily agrarian at the time and payment would have been exchanged through goods and services, although coins were in circulation.

“The status of every vessel, i.e., whether or not it may be used on Shabbat, is determined at twilight.”

Wading through today’s text felt like a visit to a museum of curiosities. Today’s reading contains an odd mixture of public safety announcements, warnings of poor construction in new homes, broken vessels, bees, dead bodies, loaves of bread, babies, eggs, chickens and unsteady beams. Hidden deep within this meandering text and collection of true oddities are two important themes: self-preservation and preserving benefit for the living.

“A person may place a jug of water into a basin of water, both hot into cold and cold into hot.”

The Rabbis have left the bathhouse and returned to the kitchen. Today they turn their attention to pouring hot water into cold and cold water into hot. I imagine the group of Rabbis huddled over two pots (a first vessel – kli rishon and second vessel kli sheni) to determine what is permissible as cold and hot water are poured from one to another. They would have exerted a lot of energy as they poured a large quantity of cold water into an urn emptied of hot water to determine if that scenario is permissible (it is).

“When the Sages of the school of Rav Ashi descended into the river they stood upright. When they emerged from the river they bent over.”

Today’s reading begins with a floating Rabbi: “Rabbi Zeira said: I saw Rabbi Abbahu floating in a bath on Shabbat, and I do not know if he lifted his feet and was actually swimming in the water, or if he did not lift his feet.” We are told that it is obvious that he did not lift his feet because the Rabbi would know that it is not permissible to float in water on the Sabbath. Regardless of how his feet are positioned, I envision a tranquil Rabbi floating in a pool of water with his beard spread out before him taking a quiet moment to himself.

“If the halakha was derived by inference, what of it.”

The Rabbis have left the kitchen and entered the bathhouse. They turn their attention away from eggs and cooking pots and stoves to restrictions governing bathing on the Sabbath. Along the way we are given a lesson in inference and logic. We learn that “it is legitimate to draw conclusions by inference.

“As Rav Tanḥum said that Rabbi Yoḥanan said that Rabbi Yannai said that Rav said…”

The July 4th holiday in the United States is also “National Fry an Egg on the Sidewalk Day.” Frying an egg on the sidewalk is probably the equivalent of the prohibition against cooking an egg on limestone, so I am not sure the Rabbis huddled in the kitchen would approve. But just the thought of a hot summer day in July reminds me of the summer that will eventually come.

“With regard to one who cooks on Shabbat, if he did so unwittingly, he may eat it, and if he cooked intentionally, he may not eat it.”

Intention matters. Today, we revisit the theme that has winded its way through the Talmud since the start of Berakhot. It’s not difficult. Honest mistakes are forgiven, while deceitfulness is not.