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We all would like to be right all the time. But there are some dangers to have the right on your side without questioning it. I always had a distaste for people who claimed (or gave the impression that) they had morality on their…

Joel, Eruvin 98 ends with a mishna that teaches -amongst other things- that one may stand in a private domain and move things in a public domain. This means, for instance, that if one is in his own house, and sees a potato on…

Last week the weather was better than expected, and the Dutch Mule Corps, the Dutch Jewish motorcycle club -after some discussion of course- went for a ride. And what a ride it was! If you’re interested you can check out the first, second and…

Thank you Julius for your comments. I agree with you that the gemara is not very consistent in applying some of the principles that it introduces – the respect for a teacher that you mention being a case in point. I can see that…

In Eiruvin, Daf 63a the Gemara goes to great lengths to talk about the respect a student must have for his teacher. The story of slaughterer’s knife, and how many Rabbis’ were affected by that. We are left with the story of Rabbi Elazar from Hagronya who…

Today was probably one of the last days of the motorcycle season, so I decided to drive through the polders and visit the Jewish cemetery of Diemen. This relatively young cemetery was founded just over a century ago. It has several rows of people…

Rav Sheishet is quoted to have said that the Jews should not be held responsible for their sins, as they were “drunk without having drunk wine” due to all the hardships they encountered during the continued state of exile. A lame excuse. Everyone is…

Robbert – With today’s daf we are squarely (no pun intended) back in hard-core eruvin territory – although we are, strictly speaking, not dealing with eruvin, but with the cities of the levi’im. I don’t know how the gemara gets here, but that happens…

Joel – Todays daf also speaks about substance over form. The Gemara brings in Raba bar Rav Chanan whose custom it was to go from Artibbena to Pumbedita on Shabbat and formally acquired residence in Tzinta, which was located between the Shabbat limits of…