About this episode
Today's shiur is dedicated by Phil Lorang in honor of his wife Ellen Lorang who learns the daf regularly. The student who quotes in the name in Rabbi Yishmael to Rabbi Akiva is Rabbi Meir who learned first with Rabbi Yishmael then with Rabbi Meir. Different versions are brought regarding who he learned with first in the context of one of them forbidding him to use kankanton in his ink for writing a sefer Torah. Each version has a different rabbi forbidding and the other permitting. The gemara tries to resolve these contradictory sources. Why would kankanton be forbidden? The issue connects with the section in the Torah regarding a Sotah that gets erased in preparation of the Sotah water. What made Rabbi Meir unique in his learning? Why if he was so great, do we not hold like him when determining halacha. Why do we rule like Beit Hillel over Beit Shamai? When and how was that determined? How can we rule by a heavenly voice? How wide does a beam need to be? What if it is rounded?