Episodes

  • Ein Yaakov on Kesuvos – Shiur 7: A Tear on Erev Yom Kippur

    Ein Yaakov on Kesuvos – Shiur 7: A Tear on Erev Yom Kippur
    Nov 10 2026
    How long a talmid may leave home to learn, and what it costs the wife who waits. A sigh breaks half the body, yet the Jew walking with a gentile kept his pace. Then Rav Rechumi, who came home once a year on Erev Yom Kippur, until the year he stayed learning and his wife's tear brought down the roof; Yehuda the son of Rabbi Chiya and the pillar of fire; the power of a tzaddik's words, with the Rav's memory of the Rebbe's heart attack for Rosh Chodesh Kislev; and Rebbi's match for his son. Key ideas: • Learning Torah away from home must not come at the expense of one's wife; her tear has great power. • A sigh breaks the body, but a Jew who is used to hardship keeps going. • The words of a tzaddik have the power to bring about what they say, for good even more than for bad. • Be home on the days that matter. Kesuvos 61b–62b. Summary and chapters: https://www.einyaakovshiur.com/kesuvos/7
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    52 mins
  • Ein Yaakov on Kesuvos – Shiur 6: Tzedakah at all times, and feeding those who serve

    Ein Yaakov on Kesuvos – Shiur 6: Tzedakah at all times, and feeding those who serve
    Nov 3 2026
    "Oseh tzedakah b'chol eis": supporting one's own small children as tzedakah given at every moment, the levels of giving, and why tzedakah never leaves the giver poorer. Chazal's warning against changing an inheritance among one's children, and how Avraham could give everything to Yitzchak. A husband's obligations to his wife, how long a mother nurses, and why Adam called his wife Chava. Then the stories of the waiter and the king's food, and why those who serve a meal must be given a taste. Key ideas: • Supporting one's own small children is counted as tzedakah given at every moment. • Tzedakah is like light and like Torah: giving it never leaves the giver with less. • Chazal warn against changing an inheritance among one's children, even from a less worthy child to a better one. • Whoever serves food must be given a taste of it, as the stories of the waiter and the king's food show. Kesuvos 50a–61b. Summary and chapters: https://www.einyaakovshiur.com/kesuvos/6
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    52 mins
  • Ein Yaakov on Kesuvos – Shiur 5: Give no more than a fifth, and start at six

    Ein Yaakov on Kesuvos – Shiur 5: Give no more than a fifth, and start at six
    Oct 27 2026
    Why a person who incurs a greater punishment doesn't also pay damages, Yaakov's fear for Binyamin and the teaching that everything is in Heaven's hands except cold and heat, and how the four deaths of beis din still come after the Churban. The warning against going about as a gossip and guarding one's thoughts by day, a husband's obligations to his wife, and the father who will not support his children. Then the takanah of Usha not to give more than a fifth to tzedakah, and Rav's instruction to take a child into the class from six and "stuff him like an ox." Key ideas: • Everything is in Heaven's hands except cold and heat, which a person must guard himself from. • Guard your thoughts by day, and don't go about talking about others. • The takanah of Usha: a person should not give more than a fifth of his means to tzedakah. • From age six, take a child into the class and fill him with learning. Kesuvos 30a–50a. Summary and chapters: https://www.einyaakovshiur.com/kesuvos/5
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    51 mins
  • Ein Yaakov on Kesuvos – Shiur 4: Three hadasim: dancing before the kallah

    Ein Yaakov on Kesuvos – Shiur 4: Three hadasim: dancing before the kallah
    Oct 13 2026
    Rav Shmuel bar Rav Yitzchak juggled three hadasim before the kallah: why hadasim, why three, and why Chazal saw something in it that only one or two in a generation see. When to stop learning for a levaya or a chuppah, why a king may not forgo his honor, and the bracha on seeing a king. Then Rabbi Pinchas ben Yair's donkey that would not eat untithed grain, and the kezazah, Chazal's way of marking a marriage that should not have been. Kesuvos 17a–28b. Summary and chapters: https://www.einyaakovshiur.com/kesuvos/4
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    40 mins
  • Ein Yaakov on Kesuvos – Shiur 1: Opening Kesuvos: the match made in Heaven

    Ein Yaakov on Kesuvos – Shiur 1: Opening Kesuvos: the match made in Heaven
    Sep 1 2026
    The first shiur on Masechta Kesuvos: what the word kesubah means, why a person's zivug is the one thing he doesn't choose, and why Heaven calls out "the daughter of so-and-so." Why a besulah is married on Wednesday, why our fingers are shaped like pegs that can close the ears, why the chosson and kallah cry under the chuppah, and how even the unborn sang shirah at the Yam Suf. Key ideas: • A person's zivug is decreed in Heaven; it is the one thing in life he does not get to choose. • The Gemara sets a besulah's wedding for Wednesday, and the Rav explains the blessing given to the fish on the day they were created. • Our fingers are shaped like pegs so a person can close his ears to words he shouldn't hear. • At the chuppah, the generations who came before and those yet to come stand with the chosson and kallah. Kesuvos 2a–8a. Summary and chapters: https://www.einyaakovshiur.com/kesuvos/1
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    44 mins