Category: Science and Health

The last time we looked in on Rav Nahman (Sukkah 10) he was hosting colleagues in a sukkah that, according to their view, was not a legal sukkah. On today’s daf, we find him in another awkward situation: There was a certain old woman who came before Rav Nahman. She said to him: The exilarch and all the sages […]

New research found a link between COVID-19 and lasting cognitive deficits, including the acceleration of Alzheimer’s disease, the Alzheimer’s Association said in a press release. The findings, which were announced at the 2021 Alzheimer’s Association International Conference, held virtually and in Denver, reveal that some COVID-19 patients experience short- and/or long-term neuropsychiatric symptoms, including loss of […]

The mishnah that kicks off today’s conversation contains a helpful concession to the human need for creature comfort: All seven days of Sukkot, a person renders his sukkah his permanent residence and his house his temporary residence. If rain fell, at what point is he permitted to vacate the sukkah? When the congealed dish will spoil. There is […]

When was the last time you felt #blessed to attend a Zoom meeting? For me, the answer is almost always “Just a few days ago!” That’s because once a month, I join the virtual gathering of a local broad-based coalition of faith institutions here in Mississippi. It’s always inspiring – and recently reminded me of […]

Sukkot, apparently, is a difficult festival for the bigamous. At least, that is what Rabbi Eliezer thinks. On today’s daf, he receives two questions from the steward of King Agrippas. Here is the second: And the steward further asked Rabbi Eliezer: For someone like me who has two wives, one in Tiberias and one in Tzippori, […]

Ivermectin, a drug used to fight parasites in third-world countries, could help reduce the length of infection for people who contract coronavirus for less than a $1 a day, according to recent research by Sheba Medical Center in Tel Hashomer. Prof. Eli Schwartz, founder of the Center for Travel Medicine and Tropical Disease at Sheba, conducted a […]

Israel will launch its administration of the Moderna coronavirus vaccine on Sunday and begin “widely using” it among the Israeli population, the Health Ministry said Friday. The ministry had announced plans to begin allowing health funds to order and distribute the Moderna vaccine earlier in the month. On Friday, it elaborated on the protocol for […]

Consider the gazelle, the beautiful and swift creature that we encounter frequently in the eight chapters of Song of Songs: “Hark! My beloved! There he comes, leaping over mountains, bounding over hills. My beloved is like a gazelle or like a young stag.” (2:8)  Why is the gazelle accorded such a prominent place in the […]

Having wrapped up its conversation about using an elephant as the wall of a sukkah, the rabbis now consider an even wackier use for the side of an animal: to write a divorce document. I kid you not. The rules and procedures for a Jewish divorce (about which we’ll learn in Tractate Gittin) are derived by the […]

I love today’s page because it reads a bit like something dreamed up by Dr. Seuss:  Can you build your sukkah on a boat? Can you build it on a goat?  On a cart or in a tree?  Sukkot is so much fun you see! OK, the goat one is not on today’s page — […]