Episode Details

“ Imagine you're reading some magician textbook, how to do magic… the magician is saying since he transferred the coin from his right hand to his left hand the coin disappeared. But he doesn't actually believe that it disappeared. He's showing you how to make the audience believe it disappeared. If the person reading the handbook thinks the way that you make something disappear is you move it to another hand, the joke is on that person.” - Dan Libenson

Welcome to The Oral Talmud, our weekly deep dive chevruta study partnership, discovering how voices of the Talmud from 1500 years ago can help us rethink Judaism today. 

If you have one good argument, you make it. If you don’t have a single good argument, you make ten. That may be exactly what the rabbis are doing with “an eye for an eye.” As each new proof that the Torah really always meant monetary compensation gets weaker, stranger, and more strained, Benay and Dan begin to wonder whether the arguments are actually designed to fail.

Because maybe the Talmud isn’t trying to convince us that the Torah always meant money. Maybe it’s trying to make sure we realize that it didn’t. In this episode, we follow the rabbis through some spectacular interpretive gymnastics and uncover a possibility hiding underneath them: sometimes changing the tradition requires admitting that you’re changing it.

This week’s text: Bava Kamma 83b

Find an edited transcript and full show notes (references and further reading) on The Oral Talmud webpage for this episode! Access the Sefaria Source Sheet to explore key Talmud texts and find the original video of our discussion. The Oral Talmud is a co-production of Judaism Unbound and SVARA: A Traditionally Radical Yeshiva. If you’re enjoying this podcast, please help us keep both fabulous Jewish organizations going with a one-time or monthly tax-deductible donation at oraltalmud.com. You can find a donate button on the top right corner of the website.