Our Gemara on Amud Aleph quotes the Mishna which states:
And the High Priest would make a feast and holiday for his loved ones and his friends when he emerged in peace from the Sanctuary.
We must ask, what indeed was this feast and Yom Tov all about? Was he truly and simply happy to have emerged safely? If we were to accept that, why is it worthy enough for the Mishna to mention it? We know that there is a standing principle that one offers thank …
Our Gemara on Amud Beis relates the famous story of the Men of the Great Assembly who prayed for the elimination of the desire for sinful sexual behavior. Upon capturing and disabling this agent, they noticed the following unwanted side effect:
Instead of killing the evil inclination they imprisoned it for three days. At that time, people searched for a fresh egg throughout all of Eretz Yisrael and could not find one. (Since the inclination to re …
Our Gemara and Mishna on Amud Beis (Yoma 68b) teaches us a lesson about self-determination:
One who sees the High Priest reading the Torah does not see the bull and goat that are burned; and one who sees the bull and goat that are burned does not see the High Priest reading the Torah. The Mishna explains: And this is not due to the fact that one is not permitted to see both, but because there was a significant distance between them, and the perfo …
The Gemara on Amud Aleph explains the practice of offering water and food to the appointee who walks the scapegoat to the cliff through the wilderness.
At each and every booth people there say to him: Here is food; here is water, if you need it. It was taught: No man who escorted the goat ever needed this food and water. However, they would offer it to him anyway, because one who has bread in his basket is not similar to one who does not have bre …
Our Gemara on Amud Beis tells us an interesting discussion between Rabbi Eliezer and a “wise woman”:
A wise woman asked Rabbi Eliezer: Since all bore equal responsibility for the incident of the Golden Calf, due to what factor were their deaths not equal? Some of the people were killed by the sword of Moses and the Levites, some were killed in a plague, and others were struck with an intestinal illness. He said to her: There is no wis …
The Gemara on Amud Beis relates a machlokes about the year long window that is allowed for the seller to buy back his home in a walled city. Is the year a solar year, that is 365 plus days that it takes for the Sun to be in the exact same position? Or is it a Jewish Lunar year, that is, the same day and month the following year, leap month included?
In truth, the Jewish calendar is based on a combination of lunar and solar inputs; specifically, t …
