What is Talmud Tweets?

What is Talmud Tweets? A short, personal take on a page of Talmud - every day!

For several years now, I have been following the tradition of "Daf Yomi" - reading a set page of Talmud daily. With the start of a new 7 1/2 year cycle, I thought I would share a taste of what the Talmud offers, with a bit of personal commentary included. The idea is not to give a scholarly explanation. Rather, it is for those new to Talmud to give a little taste - a tweet, as it were - of the richness of this text and dialogue it contains. The Talmud is a window into a style of thinking as well as the world as it changed over the centuries of its compilation.

These are not literal "tweets" - I don't limit myself to 140 characters. Rather, these are intended to be short, quick takes - focusing in on one part of a much richer discussion. Hopefully, I will pique your interest. As Hillel says: "Go and study it!" (Shabbat 31a)

Friday, September 7, 2012

Berachot 37 - Changing Thanks


Rice and it’s role. According to the Master (“Mar”), if you chew rice, the blessing is borei prei ha’adamah (“who creates fruit of the ground”). But if it is ground, baked and soaked, the blessing is borei menai mezonot (“who creates various kinds of foods”).

Just interesting to see that the same ingredients can change category depending on how (or if) it is prepared. The source is the same, but our involvement changes it – which changes the way we acknowledge it before G-d. It not just about ingredients, it is also about our partnership with G-d in using those ingredients. You change what you have been given and that changes the way you give thanks.

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