On today’s page, Zevachim 101, the rabbis revisit the terrifying story of Pinchas, whose violent zeal halts a deadly plague but raises lasting moral questions. Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks reflects on why religious passion, however sincere, can never be a blueprint for leadership. When does moral urgency cross the line into dangerous certainty? Listen and find out. To support Tablet and make a tax-deductible donation, click here.

On today’s page, Zevachim 100, the rabbis dwell on acute mourning, a moment when grief interrupts routine, obligation, and even meaning itself. The late Norman Podhoretz offers a powerful meditation on the role of ideas and intellectual responsibility at precisely such moments of rupture. What happens when loss forces us to reconsider what truly shapes history and our lives? Listen and find out. To support Tablet and make a tax-deductible donation, click here.

On today’s pages, Zevachim 98 and 99, we encounter the rules for priests in the period of acute mourning, when they cannot offer sacrifices or partake in the ritual meat. Our teacher and friend, Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin, helps illuminate what this stage says about grief, ritual, and the human confrontation with mortality. How do we make space for loss without losing connection to life’s sacredness? Listen and find out. To support Tablet and make a tax-deductible donation, click here.

On today’s pages, Zevachim 96 and 97, the rabbis explore a case of jealousy between teachers when a promising student decides to learn elsewhere. Presidentischer Rav, Dr. Tevi Troy joins us to draw connections between this debate and famous moments of political switching in American history. How do we decide when it’s right to move on and when loyalty should win out? Listen and find out. To support Tablet and make a tax-deductible donation, click here.

On today’s page, Zevachim 95, the rabbis continue their careful discussion of how sacred garments are cleaned in the Temple. We take a Chanukah pause with a song from Nefesh Mountain, because nothing launders our hearts and our minds and makes them fresh again quite like music. When the details of ritual start to pile up, where do you turn to feel renewed? Listen and find out. Join Nefesh Mountain tonight at the Brooklyn Bowl for a very special Love & Light show! Doors open at 6pm, there's a pre-show candle lighting at 7pm, and the show starts at 8pm. Get tickets here. To support Tablet and make a tax-deductible donation, click here.

On today’s page, Zevachim 94, the rabbis debate how items stained with sacrificial blood should be cleaned, and whether leather counts as clothing in the same way fabric does. As the Gemara weighs leather’s strange status somewhere between garment and skin, it quietly nudges us to think about what leather really is and what it means to use it. If leather isn’t quite like cloth, should we treat it differently in how we wear it and choose it? Listen and find out. To support Tablet and make a tax-deductible donation, click here.

On today’s page, Zevachim 93, the Talmud teaches that even a trace of sacrificial blood must be treated with the same care as the entire offering. Beneath the technical details lies a profound moral vision about the holiness of life itself. If no drop of blood is expendable, how should that change how we see human dignity? Listen and find out. To support Tablet and make a tax-deductible donation, click here

On today’s pages, Zevachim 91 and 92, the Talmud debates waiting for coals to naturally become ash rather than snuffing out the fire. Our guest today, Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin, helps us explore how this ancient rule also mirrors the challenge of keeping our inner fire alive. What does it take to protect the spark that makes us feel awake and inspired? Listen and find out. To support Tablet and make a tax-deductible donation, click here.

On today’s pages, Zevachim 89 and 90, the rabbis teach that what is frequent takes precedence over what is rare, elevating the daily offering above even the holiest special occasions. Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin joins us to show how this principle reveals the overlooked spiritual power of consistency—the quiet, steady commitments that shape who we become far more than moments of intensity. What might our spiritual lives look like if we approached them more like Cal Ripken? Listen and find out.

On today’s page, Zevachim 88, the rabbis debate just how clean the priestly garments must be and whether lightly soiled clothing even needs a full wash. Their insight suggests that not everything requires the same level of cleaning. How do we know when something truly needs refreshing and when good enough is good enough? Listen and find out. To support Tablet and make a tax-deductible donation, click here.

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.

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. To support Tablet and make a tax-deductible donation, click here. To get tickets for Chanukah on Ice click here.

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. To support Tablet and make a tax deductible donation, click ⁠here⁠.

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. To support Tablet and make a tax deductible donation, click ⁠here⁠.

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. To support Tablet and make a tax deductible donation, click here.

On today’s page, Zevachim 80, the rabbis debate what happens when regular water mixes into a flask meant for purification and whether the ritual can still be performed. It raises a quiet question about how much change a sacred act can absorb before it becomes something else. How do we decide when a mixture has tipped too far? Listen and find out.

On today’s page, Zevachim 79, we learn that the status of a mixture can hinges on a variety of disparate factors. These distinctions highlight a larger truth: eating well isn’t just about rules but about cultivating awareness of what goes into our bodies and why. What changes when we slow down long enough to honor the ingredients, flavors, and intentions behind every bite? Listen and find out.

On today’s pages, Zevachim 77 and 78, the rabbis teach that even substances normally prohibited on the altar may be burned if they serve only to create a pleasing aroma, raising the deeper question of why scent is the Torah’s chosen language for divine acceptance. Our guest, Rabbi David Bashevkin, helps us explore how fragrance becomes a symbol of memory, lingering presence, and the subtle traces of holiness that remain even when the source is gone. How does this unique sense invite us to notice what came before and what still echoes in our lives? Listen and find out.

On today’s pages, Zevachim 75 and 76, we learn that when two sanctities are found in separate bodies, one sacred offering may not be diminished in order to preserve another. Our teacher, Rabbi David Bashevkin, joins us to explain how this principle echoed through Jewish history, including debates over whether auctioning off a Torah scroll to fund communal needs dishonors one holy object for the sake of another. What can this tension teach us about honoring the distinct value of the sacred things in our lives? Listen and find out.

On today’s page, Zevachim 74, we honor the daf by letting it quietly sit in the background while we mark Thanksgiving with a different kind of offering: a conversation about gratitude. When he joined us on Unorthodox back in 2018, A.J. Jacobs talked about his quest to thank a thousand people for his daily coffee and what it taught him about Jewish gratitude, interdependence, and noticing the good. What happens to our hearts when we start treating every small comfort as the work of a whole hidden community? Listen and find out.