Menachot 65 - 10 Things I Know "As a Jew"

Take One Daf Yomi

Tablet Magazine

Judaism, Religion & Spirituality

4.8 • 565 Ratings

🗓️ 17 March 2026

⏱️ 7 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

On today’s page, Menachot 65, we learn that the members of the Great Sanhedrin were held to an almost unfathomable standard: they had to be masters of all 70 languages so they would never need a translator. This page challenges us to reconsider the depth of our learning in a modern world where anyone can claim authority with a simple "as a Jew." This episode features the viral "Basic Jewish Literacy Test", which you can find in full at this link: Rabbi Dovid Bashevkin’s 10 Questions. How can we return to a culture of high standards for communal representation? Listen and find out.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey there, and welcome back to Take One, the podcast that brings you just one erudite page of Tomlid each day.
0:19.5	And I'd like to kick off the discussion of today's
0:22.2	Daph Menachot 65 by asking you 10 basic questions. They were compiled and presented on that
0:29.3	most celebrated of all halakhic rabbinic scholarly forms, the social network X, by our beloved
0:37.3	friend and teacher, Rabbi D Rabbi David Bashepkin.
0:39.8	Here it goes.
0:41.1	How many, wrote Rabbi Bashvkin, of these basic questions about Judaism, can you answer?
0:46.3	One, what came first historically, the story of Purim or the story of Hanukkah?
0:52.2	Two, what are the names of the six orders of the Mishnah?
0:56.0	3. Who came first, Maimadides or the Vilna Gaon?
1:01.0	4. What are the names of the four volumes of the Shulhan Aruch?
1:06.0	5. How many mitzvot are there?
1:09.0	6. What are the names of the three daily prayers?
1:13.0	7. Can you name all the Avos and Imahos, patriarchs and matriarchs?
1:18.8	8. Can you name the 12 Hebrew months and the holidays that appear within each one?
1:24.6	9. What does Shneim Micra refer to? And 10, written in Hebrew,
1:31.9	can you read Hebrew? The post, a sort of basic Jewish literacy test, went viral. And my dear
1:40.5	friend and teacher, being a gentle and righteous man, also posted a deeply soulful and encouraging score sheet.
1:48.3	If you got zero out of the ten questions right, Rabbi Bershevkin recommends, rejoice.
1:53.6	It simply means you have an entire world of Jewish learning ahead of you.
1:59.6	Allow me, as is my role, to take a slightly darker tack than my kind and wonderful teacher.
2:06.8	And I begin to do so by citing an idea that kicks off today's duff.
	...

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