Take One

Take One: Berakhot 30 and 31

Today’s daily pages of Talmud wonder: Do we laugh too much?

February 3, 2020

Today’s Daf Yomi pages, Berakhot 30 and 31, contain a grim pronouncement: Too much laughter makes you frivolous, which is why you should wipe that grin off your face and focus on Torah and good deeds. Could that really be the prescription from which emerged Groucho Marx, Mel Brooks, and Amy Schumer? Comedian Judy Gold joins us to break down one hilarious scene and make sense of the Talmudic view of laughter. Why did the rabbis cap off a wedding with a rousing song about death and dying? Listen and find out.

Take One is Tablet Magazine’s daily Daf Yomi podcast.