Sky-High Sevaros
Eastern Airlines Flight 885 took off from Miami International Airport at 08:56 on May 5, 1980. They were flying a three-engine Lockheed Tri-Star. The Tri-Star was headed to Nassau International Airport in the Bahamas.
Seder Moed · dafim 2–31
Taanis
Finished December 13, 2021 in this cycle. 7 articles, 6 stories
Map of the dafim
Articles, in daf order
Remembering Morid Ha’gashem
This week on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, daf yomi participants studied Maseches Ta‘anis, daf zayin. The daf starts off by describing the importance of rain to the world.
Something Fishy
It is a staple at most Shabbos tables: fish. Gefilte fish is most popular, but other varieties persist as well. The prices of fish along with many other staples have risen modestly recently.
Not So Fast
The story is told of a group of friends that made a pact that after 120 years they would visit each other in the after-life. One who was in Gehinnom met his friend who was in Gan Eden.
Nakdimon ben Gurion’s Deadline
The following story is mentioned in Ta‘anis (19b–20a): Once it happened when all Israel came up on pilgrimage (oleh regel) to Jerusalem that there was no water available for drinking.
The Simcha of a Siyum
The Mishna at the end of Taanis (26b) quotes Rabban Shimon Ben Gamliel who declares that the most joyous holidays on the Jewish calendar are Yom Kippur and Tu B’Av.
Who Knows Fifteen?
The last mishnah in Maseches Taanis says that the most joyous holidays of the Jewish calendar were Tu B’Av and Yom Kippur. Yom Kippur was understandably a holiday because it is the day that Hashem forgives Klal Yisrael…
Stories in Taanis
Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel Lowers the Price of Birds
When birds for korbanos cost a gold dinar a pair, Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel vows not to sleep until the price falls, and his ruling drops it to a hundredth.
Young Rav Henoch Leibowitz Learns at Night
As a boy in Europe, Rav Henoch Leibowitz found his shul so full of people learning Torah at night that he sat on the legs of his father's shtender.
Rav Moshe Feinstein's Siyum on One Daf
A student who learned Gemara with his father each Shabbos finished one daf, and Rav Moshe Feinstein told him to make a siyum and promised to attend himself.
The Maharshal Retracts His Siyum Bentching Ruling
The Maharshal ruled to add 'shehasimchah bimono' to bentching at a siyum, but after something terrible happened at the first one, he withdrew his new ruling.
The Burial of the Dead of Beitar
Hadrian left the slain of Beitar unburied for years; when burial was finally allowed on Tu B'Av, the bodies had miraculously not decayed.
Sleeping in Graves on Tishah B'Av in the Desert
Each Tishah B'Av in the desert, the generation of the spies slept in graves; in the 40th year they awoke alive and, by Tu B'Av, knew the decree had ended.