Category: Science and Health

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 […]

Tucked away in a lab, deep within the massive scientific research complex in Rehovot that houses the external campus of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s agriculture department, a small group of Israeli scientists is growing some of the most highly concentrated, pure and potent organic psilocybin “magic” mushrooms ever created by man. While the above […]

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 […]

Pfizer and partner BioNTech plan to ask US and European regulators within weeks to authorize a booster dose of its COVID-19 vaccine, based on evidence of greater risk of infection six months after inoculation and the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Disease […]

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 […]

I have to admit, when I sat down to compose something about this final page of Tractate Yoma, my first impulse was to write something snarky — because this is the (ahem) climax of the entire tractate: A Tanna taught Rav Nahman: One who sees a seminal emission on Yom Kippur, his sins are forgiven. In the course […]

A new nanotechnology device developed by a research team led by Tel Aviv University researchers, will allow the human body to generate electric currents and voltage through the activation of various organs with mechanical force. They study was led by Professor Ehud Gazit of the Shmunis School of Biomedicine and Cancer Research at the Wise […]

Health salads — sweet and tangy slaw-like, cabbage-based salads that often include carrots, bell pepper and cucumber — are a fixture of New York Jewish delis. They’re sold by the pound in the deli case or sometimes generously arrive alongside your complimentary plate of pickles. While the dressing is typically sweetened with sugar, the purported “health” […]