Sotah 48 - May 16, 25 Iyar

Today's daf is dedicated by Goody Weil "in honor of my amazing father, Rabbi Yitz Greenberg, on his 90th birthday. May Hashem give him the strength to continue learning, guiding, thinking, and doing עד 120 שנה והלאה! Why did Yochanan the kohen gadol cancel the confession of the tithes? There were two issues - some were not giving the tithes to the levites and those that were giving tithes, would give to the kohanim instead of the levites, as was instituted by Ezra. He also canceled the orarim and the nokfim. What are these and why were they canceled? He also stopped people from using hammers to work on chol hamoed and people no longer needed to check if tithes had been taken from produce they bought from others. Why? Once there was no longer the Sanhedrin, they outlawed singing with drinking. What manner of singing is permitted and what manner is not? Once there were no longer early prophets, there was no longer the urim v'tumim. Who were the "early" prophets? When prophecies ended, the rabbis would use heavenly voices as a replacement. Different tannaim lament the destruction by describing all sorts of things that we no longer have since the destruction of the Temple. One of them is the 'shamir.' What is it and what was it used for?