Hey there and welcome back to Take One, the podcast that brings you just one

personable page of Talmud each day. And today's page, Chulin 5, revolves around a very big personality, Raban Gamliel.

He and his court are discussing the viability of animals slaughtered by Qutim or Samaritans,

a group with a special halakhic status.

But while the discussion is thrilling, no less thrilling is Raban Gamliel's personal story.

Let's be clear, there are several rabbis named Gamliel and the Talmud, because of course,

why wouldn't the Talmud make things a little bit more complicated?

But the one we're dealing with today is almost certainly, at least according to Rashi, Raban

Gamliel of Yavne, who lived in the beginning of the second century CE and was the Nassi,

or the president of the Sanhedrin.

He was a direct descendant of Hillel the elder, but whereas his ancestors, famous rabbis,

all of them, were beloved and admired, our Gamliel was feared.

Maybe it was because he felt he had much to prove with such a sparkling pedigree,

or maybe it was the uncertainty of having to constantly flee the Romans, but whatever it was,

Gamaliel took to his office with an iron fist, tolerating no

dissent and no disrespect. Here's a famous story about him that, I promise, has great

relevance to us moderns. One time, two people came to Raban Gamaliel and testified that

they had seen the waning moon in the morning in the east,

and later that same day observed the new moon in the evening in the west.

Lacking clocks, calendars, or any other modern modes of astronomical calculation,

the rabbis relied on testimonies like these to determine when one month ended and the next began.

Gabliel had a chart in his office with the various shapes of the moon, from crescent to glowing

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