Hey there, and welcome back to Take One, the podcast that brings you just one delightful page of Tom with each day.

And on today's page, Menachot 109, we read kind of a secession type of story,

a story of power, a story of intrigue, a story of a man named Chonio.

Now, when I read these delightful little snippets in the Talmud that are all about things that seem very plausible and feasible to us moderns living right here and right now, stories about power, stories about ambition, stories about things that never change about the human spirit, this is really only one thing I could do. I could pick up the phone and I could call our very own historian Talmud scholar

and most importantly, the president of Sherarav.

Dr. Tari Troy, welcome back.

Liel, thanks so much for having me.

I always love talking about my two favorite subjects, presidents and Gamara.

All right.

Now, tell us, before we even get to the modern equivalence, tell us the story of

Chonio. What happens on today's stuff? What drama unfurls? Oh, I love this story.

Today's stuff tells the story of Chonio. He's a Cohane who's up for the top job, but then

cedes it to his brother, seemingly like a nice thing to do,

but he only then undermines his brother and tricks him into wearing women's clothing and then

denouncing him for wearing the women's clothing. And then finally, Honyo is discovered for his

treachery. And so he runs away and he starts an alternative base for sacrifices.

So he gives his brother the job. He undermines his brother. He gets caught and then he says,

I'm going to start my own thing. I mean, HBO, if you're paying attention, here is your next big hit.

Now, what kind of lessons or illusions do you get when you read the story? What great presidential moment does this invoke?

Well, sometimes my presidential citations or people I refer to are maybe a little obscure,

but this one is somebody that everybody knows from the musical Hamilton.

Because the only guy who I think who lives up to the legacy of Cogneau is Aaron Burr.

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