Talking Talmud

More on the laws pertaining to the ritual washing of hands: What if you hold the bread via a cloth or gloves or some such and don't wash? What if the reason you don't touch the food with your hands is because you're finicky, and not about ritual washing? Also, a woman who is feeding her child on Yom Kippur and rinses a hand before doing so -- clearly is not in violation of not-washing on Yom Kippur. Shammai the Elder didn't want to wash even one hand, and he was told he must wash both hands -- on Yom Kippur, because he was avoiding doing so inappropriately. OR it was to rid himself of "shivta" on Yom Kippur, for not having washed ritually in the morning. Plus, the question of whether the person eating needs to wash or the person feeding (a child, for example). Also: a new mishnah! Meat and cheese in the same cloth, and guests at an inn who share a table, though one is eating dairy and one meat.

Rav Dimi tells the story of how not washing before the meal in the ceremonial washing that precedes a meal led to a Jew eating pork. Likewise, a story of a woman who ended up divorced because of not washing after the meal. Another version of the story -- replace "pork" with non-kosher meat and "divorce" with death. Also, the difference between ritual washing and washing for cleanliness, or washing for produce. Plus, the proper way to wash your hands for eating regular meat, in contrast to the extra washing done for terumah.

On using bread as a napkin, to wipe your mouth from a given flavor. Also, how long to wait between milk (cheese) and meat -- perhaps no time at all, as it turns out. Though some were known for waiting a full 24 hours, no less, from meat to dairy. Plus, salt from Sodom -- a very fine salt -- that gave rise to the practice of washing one's hands after the given meal. At one point, it was a very widespread practice, though less so nowadays. Which leads into the discussion of washing one's hands first thing in the morning. And other tidbits that seem to be about kashrut, but may really be about customs.

Chapter 8! And the 3 verses that repeat not to cook a kid in its mother's milk. Also 2 mishnayot. 1 - No meat and milk together, not even on the same table, where "meat" refers to domesticated animals, non-domesticated animals, and birds, but not to fish or grasshoppers. 2 - That policy of no meat and milk on the table together is a matter of dispute between Beit Hillel and Beit Shammai. Note that this is one of the 6 unusual times when Beit Hillel is more stringent than Beit Shammai is, as per a mishnah in Eduyot. Plus, the construction of the mishnah for the sake of mentioning the name of the source, as that is said to bring redemption (and for which the Book of Esther is, perhaps oddly, used for the prooftext).

Finishing chapter 7! But first, a case of several sins in one period of time, including non-kosher meat, and in which it seems that 2 sets of lashes would be sufficient. Or should it be three sets? What is the focal point of this dispute? When did it become a treyfa - quite young, as it turns out. With 3 explanations for the various cases. Plus, a discussion of the measure of eating for a prohibition against certain foods - regardless of whether the food itself gets stuck between a person's teeth. So how does this measure of an olive's worth work? And what if one ingested half an olive's worth? Or what if it were thrown up and reswallowed? Is the measure of benefit for the throat? Or for the stomach?