bava batra 5

when rabbis demand people pay for their own protection, using theft and threats. 

& suggest that some want to pay early, to avoid any trouble later. 

sometimes, more often than is ok, the rabbis in the talmud come across as mobsters. This is one of those times. Ravina's disputes with his neighbour Ronya. Ravina's land surround Ronya's field. Ravina builds a partition and asks Ronya to pay half. Ronya doesn't want the partition and refuses to pay, either half of the full costs, or any of the reductions. Ronya doesn't want this partition. Ravina then instructs his workers to steal from Ronya, demonstrating that Ronya needs the protection of the partition. Rava supports Ravina and forces Ronya to pay for the protection he is receiving. Protection from dangers like having Ravina as a neighbour....

bava batra 4

build! & then the world won't see your darkness. 

Build! with marble, gold-plate, brick, plaster and palms. 

But who will pay for the walls on the border? 

Continuing Herod's story of how an ex-slave came to build a beautiful Temple. Herod kills all the rabbis, except for Bava ben Buta who he blinds with a spiked crown. Hidden, Herod provokes Bava to curse King Herod. Bava refuses to do so. At this Herod realise the wisdom of the rabbis, and repents. Bava suggests the Temple building project as a way to restore light in the world in the face of Herod darkness. Herod uses marble, and wants to gold-plate it. (of course he does, like all violent dictators, Herod has a things about gold) The rabbis persuade him not to because it is already a beautiful building. (The best marble. It was a beautiful building. The best building. No one saw such a beautiful building like this building) Also on this page is a discussion about neighbouring fields, and if one partner wants to build a boundary partition/wall and the other doesn't, who should pay for it and who owns it?

Learning dafyomi is such a welcome break from what is going on in today's world...

Learning this page I wonder if perhaps the right wing orthodox Trump-supporting Jews see him as Herod. Don't disrespect him, don't curse him, show that you are on his side. And perhaps your 'decency' will cause him to reflect and repent. And then he will allow you to build... And the left-wing see Trump as Pharaoh, and take their lead from the midwives who resisted. Unless it's not already clear, I would rather be a mid-wife than a blind-sighted rabbi.

bava batra 3

fragility & threat of rape
causes walls and women to fall.

This page discusses walls of varying thicknesses and their maximum height before they collapse. Also on this page is the story of Herod, a slave in the House of Hasmonean, being sexually attracted to one of the young women. He rebels and kills all of the household, except for this woman. When she realises what he wants, she goes to the roof, declares herself to be the last of the Hasmoneans and any other claims belong to a slave, and then throws herself off the roof. Herod keeps her body preserved in honey, either to fuck or to claim that she was his wife. Either way, she is just a body, to be used to gain legitimacy or abused for necrophilia. A woman on a pedestal. 

bava batra 2

building walls and partitions on the border.
and the need to protect privacy.

all on the fourth day....

Bava Batra opens with how who is responsible for the dividing walls in territories. How much each side should concede, and how to divide the costs. It also discusses if partitions have to solid, or not. If there is such a thing as being damaged by sight. The evil eye. And the importance of maintaining privacy from prying eyes. 

Today is the 4th day of the 45th POTUS. who is hidden somewhere in this drawing. 



I haven't been posting my drawings for so many reasons, excuses, that are too tedious to go into. It's along the lines of "my dog ate it" and "I left it on the bus..."

new mesechet, new resolve to get this blog back on track. with a few changes. One of the difficult things was scanning, adjusting the scan to get the colour/light levels correct, before uploading. And so I am going to experiment with uploading images that I post on my instagram account. (I also post images after running, so if you are like me and that level of smugness of someone trying to regularly exercise annoys you, then best stay away from my instagram account) In these pics I try to photograph my notebook as an object, and not to replicate the appearance of a scanned drawing.  It's an experiment, and although it will save me time, it might not be the best way to show these images.