Another tidbit, from Y-mi Sotah 34a (7:8)

The Yerushalmi (according to the Ridbaz) assumes that one must make Havdalah on Shemittah! It concludes that the Havdalah of Rosh HaShanah serves as the Havdalah for Shemittah as well!

Tidbit from the Korban HaEdah to Yerushalmi Sotah 33a

The Yerushalmi states that in Yavneh, the Sanhedrin at the end of the Second Temple period asked Hashem to exempt them from the responsibility on Nistaros that Yehoshua had compelled the nation to take when they crossed the Yarden. The KhE posits that this took place when the Sanhedrin went into Galus 40 years before the Churban. Accordingly, when R' Yochanan ben Zakkai says to Vespasian: "Tein li Yavneh v'chachameha," he is referring to the Sanhedrin that had already been there for years.

Strawberries: See the video, then tell me it you think there's any Heter...

Online Videos by Veoh.com

An Aha! Moment

In his most recent posting at the Tradition Seforim Blog, which, as usual, is both enlightening and entertaining http://seforim.traditiononline.org/index.cfm/2008/8/12/Marc-B-Shapiro-A-Tale-of-Two-Lost-Archives, my friend Marc Shapiro writes, cryptically:

Since my book appeared I have also discovered many more letters, including a collection sent to one of the leaders of the yeshiva world (whose identity I am not at present able to divulge). In my Note on Sources, found after the preface, I mentioned that while such letters might cause me to reevaluate some of my conclusions, I was confident that the picture I presented would not be substantially altered. I was happy to see that nothing in these letters caused me to change any of my earlier thoughts.

WADR to Marc's judgment, I would like to see an impartial third party be the judge of whether and to what extent these new sources should "change any of [his] earlier thoughts"...

On the plus side...

It's always good to get emails like this. Maybe they'll help me get in Olam HaBa!

Dear Rabbi Bechhofer

I just wanted to give you a yasher kochacha and Mazal Tov. I have just completed Seder Zraim of your Yerushlami Shiurim. It's taken me just under a year to get through the Seder. I listen to the Shiurim on my way to and from work and it has turned my many accumulated hours of being stuck in traffic into countless hours of Limmud HaTorah. Thank you for the wonderful Shiurim and the way you present the material. In addition, thanks and yasher kochacha to the people who uploaded the files to the Web sites and who recorded the Shiurim in the first place. I've now moved on to Shabbos.

May you continue to be Marbitz Torah.

A Talmid
(name deleted)
Ramat Bet Shemesh