Author: Meghan Froy

Orthodoxy — a word that represents a very wide array of approaches to traditional Jewish life — is characterized by defining different roles for men and women. Men are considered obligated in all of the 613 commandments (mitzvot) or religious life, and women are generally given greater responsibility in managing family life. But in no Orthodox […]

The notion that Orthodox Jews — whether out of an excessive fixation or modesty or simple prudishness — have sex through a hole in a sheet is a widespread misconception, so much so that it was lampooned (and promptly debunked) in a famous scene from “Curb Your Enthusiasm.” It’s also completely false.  Not only that, […]

On today’s daf, we learn from a mishnah that if one spreads a sheet over the s’chach (roofing materials) of a sukkah to provide shade from the sun or to catch falling leaves, then the sukkah is unfit for use. In the Gemara, Rav Hisda comments that if a sheet is used for decorative purposes, it does not […]

According to family legend, we’re descended from Zelig Zeides, the chief mathematician of Slutsk. My great-aunt Essie used to brag, with a lot of pride and a little less credibility, that Grandpa Zelig invented the perpetual calendar and bequeathed to all of us a deep appreciation of and a natural talent for all that is math. Our […]

If you, like me, are a regular chicken roaster, you’re halfway to one of the best salad dressings out there: schmaltz vinaigrette, a tangy, savory top coat for a simple salad of mixed greens and whatever you’ve picked up at the farmers market.  Using a warm fat, like bacon or duck fat, in a vinaigrette […]

Today’s daf is the main piece of a beautiful and intricate discussion about why the minimum height for a sukkah, as we learned yesterday, is 10 tefahim, or handbreadths. The discussion consists of three main sections in which this height is compared first to the Ark of the Covenant, then to a whole variety of Temple vessels […]

Today’s daf continues our discussion of sukkahs that are too tall. The rabbis offer a number of ways that someone might try to “shorten” a tall sukkah — raising the floor with dirt, building a platform in the middle of the sukkah — and assess each one for its halakhic permissibility.  As part of this discussion, the Gemara […]

The opening pages of Tractate Sukkah explore, among other things, the essential requirements for a sukkah. On today’s daf, we learn from Rav Shmuel bar Yitzhak that: The law is that one’s sukkah must be large enough to hold one’s head, most of one’s body, and one’s table. This ruling is of particular note because it […]

Welcome to Tractate Sukkah — the Talmud’s discussion of the rituals and laws relating to the holiday of Sukkot! If you’re new here, we’re so glad you’ve joined us. Those who’ve been with us on the Daf Yomi journey for a while know that the Talmud’s discussion of the holidays of Yom Kippur and Passover center on sacrificial rituals performed by priests […]

Yoma is the sixth tractate of the Talmud, and it deals with the laws that govern Jewish observance of Yom Kippur in Temple times, many of them relevant to modern observance. The word “Yoma” means simply “the day” and this hints to the significance of Yom Kippur. It is an annual opportunity for the entire […]