Doing the Daf summary #4

To see this picture debunked, see here

Here is a summary of this week's Daf Yomi posts at my Daf Yomi blog from last week.

On Berachot 24: Rav Elyashiv and Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi -- if Rav Elyashiv, or Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi, is observed doing something at odds with some rabbinic dictum, there is a real possibility that it is because he rejects that specific rabbinic dictum.

Also, the definition of shok, part one and part two. The gemara declares that a woman's shok is erva. But is this the calf or the thigh? Based on certain gemaras, the pasuk which forms the prooftext, and Akkadian, I argue in favor of thigh.

Berachot 25: The Chazon Ish's glasses, and whether translucent glass creates an improper separation for kriat hatorah.

Berachot 26-27: Some thoughts. Hard to summarize, so just check it out.

Berachot 27-28: A quick comparison of the Bavli vs. Yerushalmi's account of the conflict between Rabban Gamliel and Rabbi Yehoshua.

Berachot 28: How do we count the 18 vertebrae in the human spine? After all, contemporary as well as modern accounts give a different number. I don't have a good answer.

Also, how was Resh Lakish in doubt? I suggest that he did not mean that he was uncertain whether Rabbi Yochanan or Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said it, but that, based on the position of Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi, which Rabbi Yochanan adopts, it is a novelty that Rabbi Yochanan would pasken against Rabbi Yehuda in the brayta.

Berachot 29: Havinenu, focus in davening, and whether the widespread existence of siddurim might represent a significant enough change in metzius to trigger a change in halacha.

Berachot 31: A drop of blood no bigger than a mustard seed as halacha psuka, why I would personally find that example distracting, and that Abaye might not making a point of the universality of the practice.