Daf Yomi: Chullin 86 | Rabbi Shmuel Silber

Rabbi Silber's Daf Yomi shiur on Chullin 86 covers the halachos of kisui hadam — covering the blood of a properly slaughtered bird or wild animal — and the machlokes over when an unsupervised shechita is presumed valid. Along the way, he shares the Gemara's story of a pious family in Bavel whose merit protected the whole town's flax from ruin, except their own, drawing out how our good deeds can benefit others even when we never see the benefit ourselves. He extends that lesson to prayer: a tefillah that isn't answered the way we asked is never wasted — it still produces good, just not always where we expect it.

• Every prayer produces good somewhere — there's no such thing as an empty or failed tefillah, even when the answer isn't what you asked for.
• The merit you generate through mitzvos and piety can benefit others even when you never see it come back to you — and that's still a success.
• Rebbi taught his students never to wander from the beis medrash mid-session, since the moment you step out may be exactly when your input is needed.
• This daf works out the halachos of kisui hadam and when an unsupervised shechita is presumed valid, following the machlokes between Rabbi Meir and the Chachamim.