The Talmud on birds and math

THIS WEEK'S DAF YOMI COLUMN BY ADAM KIRSCH IN TABLET: The Birds. ‘Daf Yomi’: The Talmud’s shortest and most difficult tractate is nominally about the sacrifice of feathered animals. In fact, it sets up a number of mathematical problems that delight the rabbis in their pursuit of pure knowledge.

The birds in a nest can be either pigeons or doves, but both must be of the same species. The two birds are sacrificed in different ways: One is a burnt offering, which means that its blood is sprinkled on the lower half of the altar, and the other is a sin offering, whose blood is sprinkled on the upper half. The woman bringing the sacrifice can either designate which bird is for which purpose or she can leave them undesignated, so that it’s up to the priest to decide.

Earlier Daf Yomi columns are noted here and links.

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