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Simcha Feuerman

Psychology, Torah and the Daf Yomi

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Jun 16, 2026, 5:56 AM

Feeding the Beast—or Taming It? And More Chulin 51-53

51. Sheepish Aggression Our Gemara on Amud Aleph discusses an interesting case of animal anatomy and human psychology. By way of introduction, one of the forms of injury that can render an animal tereifa is risuk eyvarim, an internal shattering of...

Jun 5, 2026, 8:10 PM

Eyes in Your Head: The Light of Truth Self Honesty and More Chulin 44-46

Chulin 44 Eyes in Your Head: The Light of Truth and the Wisdom of Self Honesty Our Gemara on Amud Aleph quotes a verse in Koheles (2:14): “The wise have their eyes in their head whereas the fools walk in darkness.”...

May 29, 2026, 6:40 PM

You Are What You Eat: Kashrus, Humanity, and Rambams Blunt Truth Chulin 37-39

Chulin 37 You Are What You Eat: Kashrus, Humanity, and the Rambam’s Blunt Truth Our Gemara on Amud Beis relates the prophet Yechezkel’s reaction to a draconian directive he received from God to eat bread baked over human dung (Yechezkel 4:14.)...

May 24, 2026, 8:24 AM

Don’t Reassure Me: When Kindness Feeds the Compulsion And More Chulin 30-32

Chulin 30 Better Together: When the Group Speaks With One Voice Our Gemara on Amud Aleph uses an interesting phrase to describe the emergence of a Torah idea or ruling: “Nizreka mi-pi chaburah,” which translates as “it came out from the...

May 15, 2026, 10:33 PM

Broken Necks and Red Heifers – Death at the Edge of the Camp Chulin 23-25

Chulin 23 Broken Necks and Red Heifers: Processing Death at the Edge of the Camp Our Gemara on Amud Beis discusses the laws of the Red Heifer and the “Calf-whose-Neck-is-Broken.” These are two unique rituals which have both extreme similarities and...

May 13, 2026, 4:12 PM

Go With the Flow: Rivers, Bridges, and the Local Halacha And More Chulin 16-18

Chulin 16 Melave Malka and the Secret of Resurrection Our Gemara on Amud Beis states a position that in the wilderness the Jews were not allowed to consume ordinary meat. The only time that one could eat meat is if it...

May 5, 2026, 4:33 AM

Poison, Presumption, and the Limits of Legal Thinking and More Chulin 9-11

Chulin 9 Poison, Presumption, and the Limits of Legal Thinking Our Gemara on Amud Beis draws a distinction between doubts that affect kashrus versus doubts that affect danger to health. When it comes to kashrus, we follow various legal formulae such...

Apr 26, 2026, 9:35 AM

Chew on This: From the Mundane Table to the Sacred Altar And More Chulin 2-4

Chulin 2 Chew on This: From the Mundane Table to the Sacred Altar We begin Tractate Chulin which discusses the laws of slaughter and other aspects of kosher food. The Maaseh Rokeach often mines the legal declarations of the Mishna for...

Apr 17, 2026, 6:31 PM

Daily Bread, Daily Dread: When Manna Meets Anxiety And More Menachos 104-106

104 Daily Bread, Daily Dread: When Manna Meets Anxiety In our Gemara on Amud Aleph we find Rav Bevai excusing himself from a particular Torah analytic discussion due to his stress over his basic food security. He drew reference to a...

Apr 12, 2026, 4:20 PM

Ego on the Menu: The Real Korban at Your Table and More Menachos 96-99

97 Ego on the Menu: The Real Korban at Your Table Our Gemara on Amud Aleph speaks of the spiritual power of one’s own table: “Why does the verse begin with the word “altar” and conclude with the word “Table,” even...

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About Me

Rabbi, Psychotherapist with 30 years experience specializing in high conflict couples and families. To see my daily blog posts which have more content go to https://nefesh.org/blogs.php?blogid=12

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