On today’s page, Zevachim 87, the rabbis debate whether suspended offerings become sanctified by the altar’s “airspace,” expanding holiness into the invisible vertical realm above it. That same question animates New York City’s obsession with air rights, where the unseen world above a roofline becomes the site of future growth. What happens if we start treating the space above our own lives—our ambitions, potential, imagination—as buildable terrain? Listen and find out.
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Zevachim 86 - Rising Light
On today’s page, Zevachim 86, we revisit the principle that holiness only increases, never diminishes, no matter how humble the vessel. Our guest today, Rabbi Eli Sapo of Chabad of the West Side, helps us connect this idea to the spirit of Hanukkah and the growing light we share. How do we notice the ways sanctity rises in our own lives? Listen and find out.
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Zevachim 84 and 85 - What’s the Story?
On today’s pages, Zevachim 84 and 85, the rabbis teach that even legal debates require stories, because only stories reveal the human stakes beneath the rules. Our guest, producer Josh Kross, reminds us that this is precisely why Jewish storytelling still works: it’s grounded in people, in curiosity, and in the refusal to be boring. If the Talmud resonates across centuries, he suggests, it’s because its tales—strange, raw, hilarious, profound—still sound like us. What can today’s daf teach us about telling the stories that endure? Listen and find out.
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Zevachim 82 and 83 - Once Illuminated
On today’s pages, Zevachim 82 and 83, the rabbis teach that an offering placed on the altar cannot be lowered or diminished—it has crossed a threshold from which it can only rise. Our guest, Jessica Kasmer-Jacobs, helps us see how that same idea animates Hanukkah: once the menorah was kindled, its light became part of an unbroken chain that still burns in our homes today. Her new children’s book, The Light That Lasted, available from Doorway Books at doorwaybooks.shop, places each child directly inside that ancient moment, revealing that they, too, sustain the miracle. How does understanding ourselves as part of a story that can only ascend change the way we celebrate? Listen and find out.
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7:48
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Zevachim 81 - Elevating Holiness
On today’s page, Zevachim 81, we dive into the technical rules of blood offerings and discover a larger lesson about making things more holy rather than less. Could pausing before acting, speaking, or posting help us elevate even small moments in life? Listen and find out.
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As Jews around the world engage in a seven-and-a-half year cycle of Daf Yomi, reading the entire Talmud one page per day, Tablet Magazine's new podcast, Take One, will offer a brief and evocative daily read of the daf, in just about 10 minutes. New episodes will be released daily Monday through Friday.