fbpx

🛎️AT Daily! is Sal’s live show (Facebook and YouTube at Accidental Talmudist) based on the Daf Yomi cycle of Talmud study. The cycle began on January 5, 2020 and with God’s help, Sal will elucidate every page of the Talmud (2,711pp) over the next seven and a half years!

If you’re new to Talmud study, Key Dafs are a good place to start (scroll down.) Key Dafs feature fascinating Sage stories and explanations of important concepts.

Sal generally goes live on Facebook and YouTube at 6pm Sunday-Thursday, 12:00 pm Friday and about an hour after Shabbat ends every Saturday. For Jewish holidays, same schedule as Shabbat. All times Pacific.

The Talmud is a vast reservoir of Jewish wisdom based on the oral tradition which stretches back to the Revelation at Mount Sinai, when God appeared to two million Jews and transmitted the Ten Commandments, the Written Torah and the Oral Torah.

  • Chap 5, Mishna 1 How are blemished consecrated animals redeemed?Which consecrated animals are sold by estimate?Can disqualified consecrated animals be treated as nonsacred animals so owner gets best price?How can animal be evaluated after it was slaughtered?Which animals are included …

  • Chap 4, Mishna 10 When is one suspect re sabbatical year and when suspect re tithes?How should we treat converts?If one is suspect re one matter suspect re the entire Torah?Who does “but the rabbis say” refer to?What are the …

  • Chap 4, Mishna 6-10 Why should Torah be taught for free?What should you do if no one will teach you for free?Why can you pay to learn Torah but not charge to teach it?What wording shows that payment is for …

  • Chap 4, Mishna 2 – 6 How long may you keep a firstborn if it develops a blemish in its first year?Can the owner keep it for another thirty days after the first year?What if the blemish develops after the …

  • Chap 4, Mishna 1 How long should a small firstborn animal be raised before given to a priest?How long must a large firstborn animal be raised?Can the owner give the animal early if the priest asks?At what age is a …

  • Chap 3, Mishna 4, 5 Why does one clear hair from a firstborn animal’s neck?When is plucking the hair permitted?Why is using a tool prohibited?Can one benefit from hair shed by a blemished bechor?Is the wool permitted after slaughter?What is …

  • Chap 3, Mishna 3, 4 What if animal looks like a pig but seems to be young of a sheep?When is ewe’s future offspring exempted from being a bechor?When is animal merciful and nurses unrelated young?Is the pig-like animal kosher?What …

  • Chapter 3, Mishna 2, 3 Do we assume there’s a fetus in congealed mass of blood which ermerged from kosher domesticated animal?Does that mass prevent future offspring from being bechor?When does fetus have status of neveila?What if source of impurity …

  • Chap 3, Mishna 1, 2 What is relevance of which year goat triplets that have triplets are born?When does animal tithe apply?When are there enough offspring to be subject to tithe within first year of life?Does a murky discharge mean …

Key Dafs

  • Topics covered: Chapter 1, Mishna 5 What is tumah, ritual impurity? How does to relate to tahara, ritual purity, and kedusha, holiness? How is tumah a acquired? How is it transmitted? What are its degrees? What are the consequences of …

  •   Topics covered: Chapter 6, Mishna 1 The first commandment is “Be fruitful and multiply.” If it only meant “Reproduce,” then “be fruitful” would be redundant. Be fruitful is the secret to life: bearing fruit is what we souls were …

  •   Topics covered: Chapter 3, Mishna 6, 7 KEY DAF! Putting our page in context. What have learned so far in our Talmud journey? Why does the concept of eruv matter? Because we transform space by creating an edifice in …

  •   Topics covered: Chapter 1, Mishna 2 Beis Shammai and Beis Hillel disagree on how to correct an alleyway so carrying is permitted there on Shabbos. A certain student gives his own interpretation of the dispute. Who is this student? …

  •   Topics covered: Chapter 24, Mishna 3, 4 “Shatit” dip may be mixed on Shabbos, but its method of prep should be altered. Related teachings brought down from the notebooks of Zeiri and Levi, who learned before Rabbi Chiyya and …

  •   Topics covered: Chapter 23, Mishna 6, Chapter 24, Mishna 1 R’ Abbahu says the souls of the righteous shuttle back and forth between this world and the World of Souls for a year after death. Rav says that if …

  •   Topics Covered: Shevut ecompasses Rabbinic decrees designed either to protect us from committing Biblical transgressions or to enhance the sanctity, spirituality and beauty of Shabbos. The first Mishnah of Chapter 18 teaches that we may move some of our …

  •   Topics covered: How the sages honored Shabbos! This page has too many great, classic teachings in one place, so it’s really worth reviewing and studying. Welcoming the Shabbat bride – source for the 16th century song Lecha Dodi which …

  •   Topics covered: To be liable for writing on Shabbos, one must write two letters that endure, which generally means they spell a word. One example is Shem, a name made from the first two letters the longer name Shimon. …

  • Load More Key Dafs

The Talmud’s core is the Mishnah, written around 200 CE during a Roman persecution so intense that our sage Rabbi Yehuda the Prince feared the Oral Torah would be lost if not set down. The Mishnah is terse and coded, and thus requires interpretation and elucidation in order to be understood. The next layer of commentary was the Gemara, added around 500 CE in the Jewish community of Babylonia, where the centers of learning moved to escape Roman persecution. The Mishnah plus the Gemara equals the Talmud, but the oral tradition never stopped moving forward, with commentaries added in ever century since.

Now Salvador Litvak will attempt to add his own commentary via 40-60 minute live show every day for seven and half years. Sal generally goes live on Facebook and YouTube at 6pm Sunday-Thursday, 11:30 am Friday and about an hour after Shabbat ends every Saturday. For Jewish holidays, same schedule as Shabbat. All times Pacific.

Sign Me Up

Sign me up!

Our newsletter goes out about twice a month, with links to our most popular posts and episodes.