Chapter 4, Mishna 5, 6, 7 We can cook on a festival but we cannot fashion new cooking vessels, nor chop up wood bowls to fuel a wood-burning stove. Nor may we may not break up clay pots or CUT …

Topics covered: Chapter 4, Mishna 3, 4, 5 May we chop wood for an oven fire on a Festival? May we gather wood for the kindling? What about leaves? Why does it matter where the wood is gathered from?

Topics covered: Chapter 4, Mishna 1, 2 Shall we let people who don’t know a Torah law remain ignorant, or risk that they may become intentional sinners? If weekday style work must be done on a Festival for the sake …

Chapter 3, Mishna 5-11 We can’t engage in commerce on a festival, or anything like it, but the Sages clarified the rules so we could obtain food needed during the festival…

Topics covered: Chapter 3, Mishna 4 Some of the beautiful liturgy of Hoshana Raba. What is a bechor? If a consecrated, first-born animal fell into a well on a Festival, may we examine it for a disqualifying blemish? May we …

Topics covered: Chapter 3, Mishna 2, 3 Trapping an animal is not permitted on a festival. What about removing fish from an irrigation ditch? Taking birds from a nest in one’s orchard? An important digression on good manners, and the …

Topics covered: Chapter 3, Mishna 1, 2 When does capturing your animal (for the purpose of slaughtering and cooking) within its fenced enclosure amount to the prohibited labor of “trapping” on a Festival?

Topics covered: Chapter 2, Mishna 6, 7, 8 Why did the Sages scold R’ Elazar ben Azaryah by assigning him “ownership” of a particular lady’s cow? How do Rabbi Shimon and Rabbi Yehuda differ on the unintended consequences of an …

Topics covered: Chapter 2, Mishna 3, 4, 5, 6 When Hillel the Elder was confronted by a gang of Shammai followers in the Temple courtyard, he did a sad and surprising thing for the sake of peace. Then a colleague …