Brokenness vs Wholeness (39a-39b)

I am a bit behind, writing today on a Tuesday about the daf from Sunday … this is inevitable for a seven and a half year project!

On Sunday we continued to read about blessings and the distinction was made between a blessing on a whole loaf of bread vs one made on a slice or a piece.  And one Rabbi argued that the whole loaf took precedence over the pieces; it was higher, it was better.

And as I read that I remembered the moment in Torah when Moshe Rabeinu broke the tablets and that they were subsequently replaced.

And just as the mishkan has room for the whole tablets and the broken tablets, so too do my blessings extend to that which is whole as well as to that which is broken.

And perhaps that which is broken needs more of our blessings than that which is whole?

A note to our dear readers: there are two voices here – a husband and wife. Each of us posts each day. I (Eleni) generally include the daf numbers in the subject line while my husband (Neil) puts the daf number at the beginning of his post. Neil generally does a summary and makes some comments. I often focus on one or more bits that grab my attention. Our blog names are also right next to the date of the post: elenizl for me (Eleni) and neillitt for Neil. We welcome your comments!