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December 13, 2024
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Rabbi Dr. Joshua Waxman

Rabbi Dr. Joshua Waxman teaches computer science at Stern College for Women, and his research includes programmatically finding scholars and scholastic relationships in the Babylonian Talmud.

Articles by Rabbi Dr. Joshua Waxman

Rav Nachman bar Yitzchak, Name-Giver?

Last week’s column (“Plain Rav Nachman,” December 5, 2024) presented several opinions as to plain Rav Nachman’s identity. Tosafot argue (A), that he was third-generation

Plain Rav Nachman

In Bava Batra 152a, Rav Nachman bar Yitzchak sat before Rava, and Rava was sitting before his teacher Rav Nachman (bar Yaakov), whereupon Rava asked

Babylonia Versus Nehardea

In Bava Batra 145a, Rav Yosef bar Minyumi quotes Rav Nachman (bar Yaakov). Minyumi is the same as Binyamin. /b/ and /m/ are from the

‘And We Discussed It’

What does the phrase וְהָוֵינַן בַּה— “and we discussed it”— truly mean? It appears in Bava Batra 138. My usual approach is that the phrase

We Don’t Pasken From the Gemara

A baraita on Bava Batra 130b seems to declare that we don’t rule from a straight reading of the Gemara. Thus: תָּנוּ רַבָּנַן: אֵין לְמֵדִין

Rav Pappa and the Papunians

In Bava Batra 90b, fourth-generation Rav Pappa bar Shmuel instituted a measure of three kefiza. His rabbinic colleagues object to him saying that this conflicts

Rabbi Yirmeya’s Open Questions

In Bava Batra 83a, Rabbi Yirmeya raises two dilemmas. Shmuel had earlier specified a distance between a set of three trees to be considered one

X Only Means Y

In Bava Batra 75a, Rabba thrice quotes Rabbi Yochanan about messianic times —- Hashem making a meal for the righteous from the Leviathan’s flesh; a