texts: Where did the various opinions about tzeis begin?

texts: As discussed here, here, here, and here, there are different opinions as to when one is allowed to break their fast and end Shabbos, ranging from 36 minutes (mine) to 42 minutes to 60 minutes to 72 minutes to different times for fasts and Shabbos/Yom Kippur/Yom Tov. Where did these different opinions start? I understand that all of them are different calculations for when three stars come out, but why do different communities calculate that differently?


texts: Why did Yaakov Avinu not ask G-d about where Yosef was?

texts: Why did Yaakov Avinu not ask G-d about the whereabouts of Yosef during the 22 years that he was away? We know that G-d regularly spoke to Yaakov, so why wouldn't he use one of those opportunities to directly resolve a question that we know he was very distressed about and that was obviously at the forefront of his mind?


texts: What age is the kapoteh donned in Chabad circles?

texts:
The kapoteh is a long black frock coat worn by some Lithuanian Jews and Chabad Chassidim. It is very similar to a bekishe.

I was wondering what age do most Chabad Chassidim start wearing the kapoteh. From bar mitzvah?


texts: Is there a source that says that someone has to be with a mourner at all times from  when he is asked to leave the shul before Lechu Neranena. As I understand the shamash/ warden asks him to leave and then calls him back before Mizmor Shir.... ha shabbos.


texts: How did the Oral Torah survive the years after Joshua died?

texts: In the Book of Judges 2:10 it says that after the death of Joshua and his generation, "there arose another generation after them, who knew not Hashem nor the deed which He had done for Israel."  Implicit in this sentence is that there was no one around who knew Torah (certainly if the entire generation did not know Hashem or His deeds on behalf of Israel, it is kind of hard to believe that they knew or believed in either the Written or Oral Torah).  G-d, soon thereafter brings on the Judges (Judges 2:16).  But if the knowledge of Hashem was lost and forgotton by the previous generation, wasn't there a break in the line of tradition of the Oral Torah, even if G-d restored it through the Judges?


texts: Reward and punishment for indirect mitzvot and averot

texts:
If I create something with a certain purpose, and it's used for another purpose (good or bad), do I have a share in the mitzvot or averot people made with my creation? I'll give three examples to make my question more understandable:

Let's say I create a company that produces cars. And these cars, for some reason, become popular among the reform, liberal and more secular Jewish communities. If they use this car on Shabbat, would I have any share with their Averah?
What if my company creates kitchen knives, and in one occasion a band of criminals used my knives to kill a lot of innocent people. Would I be Halachically considered as being part of this crime?
Now let's go to the other part of the spectrum. What if I create and sell a snack that's tasty and also very nutritious, with the purpose of making me rich. If my product is donated by multiple charities to poor people, and it ends up saving hundreds of lives, would I get a reward for saving these lives even though it wasn't my choice?


texts: Are there any halachic authorities which relate to the non-mechitza, pre-1967 prayers which were held at the Kotel?

texts:
There are various pictures pre-dating the 1967 Six Day War, available on the Internet and in various scholarly sources, clearly showing free mixing among the genders at the Kotel (Western Wall) in the midst of prayers without any mechitza. (It's possible that they never had any formal minyanim there, but that seems unlikely). Are there any halachic authorities which relate to these practices at the Kotel?

Some historical background from this article from the National Library of Israel:
http://web.nli.org.il/sites/NLI/Hebrew/library/reading_corner/Pages/mehitsa.aspx

Jewish testimony from the British era stated that a mehitza was occasionally used during Ottoman rule, but no permanent structure was permitted. A semi-permanent mehitza was built sometime after the British gained control of Israel in World War I. On Yom Kippur, September 24, 1928, an English military officer tore down the mehitza that existed at the time. This led to a bit of a tussle and multiple injuries to some of the assembled.

(Interestingly, during Turkish and British rule, it was described by eyewitnesses as a disgustingly dirty area, with cow dung and sewage strewn about. This also didn't seem to prevent people's praying there despite the relevant halachic prohibitions. Perhaps that is appropriate for a separate SE question.)

Shortly after conquering the Kotel in 1967, the Religious Ministry of the Israeli government put up a permanent mehitza.

A large collection of pictures can be found at The National Library of Israel - 150 Years of Photographs of the Kotel

Here's are some examples:

You can also view a video here from 1909: https://www.facebook.com/HanochDaum/videos/1197498436938514/


texts: Shisha Vachamishim Umatayim - mi yodeya?

texts:
Who knows two hundred fifty-six?
Please cite/link your sources, if possible. At some point at least twenty-four hours from now, I will:

Upvote all interesting and relevant answers.

Accept the "best" answer.

Move on to the next number.

It's been a while since our last power of two, and it'll be a longer while until the next one ...


texts:
What is the difference between חרמין וההקדשות?

Since they are both making something the property of the Temple Treasury

(actually there is a machlokes between Rashi and Tosfos see Rosh Hashana 4a)

In Rosh Hashana 4a (on the bottom in the braisa) mentions both of these things.

What is the difference between them?

Maybe something in Halacha?


texts: 5 "parts" of the nefesh- What is the Rambam's source?

texts:
In his introduction to Avos (Shmomneh P'rakim), the Rambam delineates 5 "parts" of the human nefesh. Is this something that he came to on his own or does he have a source for this?

I know that the Rambam was well versed in both ancient and what was then contemporary philosophy and that it's very likely that this idea came from one of those sources. However, the bit of research I did on this did not turn anything up on this specific point.


texts:
Who knows eighty-nine?
Please cite/link your sources, if possible. At some point in the next few days, I will:

Upvote all interesting answers.

Accept the best answer.

Go on to the next number.


texts: connection between the mishkan and the egel hazahav

texts: do you guys know of any sources that connect the physical construction of the egal with the construction of the mishkan - both are made of gold and the beginning of parshat terumah starts by talking about giving gold for the mishkan but are there other connections? I ask this because I remember hearing about the connections in the past but cannot seem to find them either in the text or in safrut chazal. A little help would be much appreciated.


texts: The disappearance of וסת קבוע and הרגשות

texts:
At some point in history, Jewish women used to have very regularly scheduled Monthly cycles, and used to have some sensation that accompanied the onset of menstruation.  Both of these play important roles in Halacha.  The monthly cycle establishes what is called a וסת קבוע, which affects what days a woman has to take into account that her menstruation is about to begin.  The sensation (הרגשה) is a Biblical prerequisite the absence of which prevents blood from creating ritual impurity, according to most opinions.

At some point in history, women stopped having both of these.  The earliest discussion of the cessation of הרגשה that I have seen is in the שב יעקב, circa 1750.  The Aruch HaShulchan (early 20th century) asserts that women still have הרגשה, they just don't know what it is well enough to recognize it, but this is just a different way in which it was lost (it became undetected).

Rav Yaakov Kaminetzky reported that when he was in Europe most women had regular Monthly cycles.  Today, it is very rare, although apparently not unheard of, from what I have been told.

My question is - is there any Rabbinic speculation about why these changes, with significant Halachic ramifications and/or implications, occured when they did?  Are they associated with any world events?  Is there any metaphysical significance attributed to the changes?


texts: process for Gabbai to call his son to the Torah

texts: If the father is the Gabbai ,how should he call his son up for an Aliyah ? Does the father use his own name for example Yaakov ben Moshe? or Yaakov Bnee?


texts: Pre existing flame for Havdala after Yom Kippur

texts: Doe anyone know the reasoning for the requirement to use a flame that was lit over Yom Kippur for Havdala?


texts: Why Do We Need A Special Limud To Allow Salting Meat On Shabbos?

texts:
The passuk says in Vayikra (2:13)

על כל קרבנך תקריב מלח

You shall offer salt on all your sacrifices.

The Gemara in Menachos (21a) says that this passuk is coming to teach us that:

ואפילו בשבת תקריב

Even on shabbos you must salt the korban before offering it on the altar

Why do we need an extra passuk to allow salting the animal on shabbos? What prohibition or melacha is there in salting the korban?


texts:
Who knows one hundred eleven?
Please cite/link your sources, if possible. At some point at least twenty-four hours from now, I will:

Upvote all interesting answers.

Accept the best answer.

Go on to the next number.


texts: A practical joke that leads to a mitzvah

texts:
When I was in Yeshiva, someone somewhere in Klal Yisrael played a practical joke.  Sometime during the week of Parshas Vayeishev, a text message went around saying something to the effect of "a 17 year old boy was kidnapped by Arabs.  Please daven for Yosef ben Rachel."  Someone in my Yeshiva received the text message, and showed it to the Gabbai at the end of seder, who proceeded to go to the bima and lead recitation of Tehillim on behalf of this boy.  The "joke" was that no one was kidnapped, and Parshas Vayeishev is when Yosef (ben Rachel) was sold through Yishmaelim down to Mitzrayim.

The inappropriateness of it notwithstanding, does this jokester get schar (reward) for having been the catalyst of the sincere recitation of many people?  All of those reciting Tehillim were doing it sincerely, and they were reciting verses (so it doesn't seem to be tefillas shav).  Does he get credit for having caused something positive?

We find in midrashim that there is a concept of reward even for positive acts done with negative intentions, for example Moshe was afraid to confront Og because he had the merit of having informed Avraham that Lot was kidnapped, and this despite the midrash which says that Og's intention was that Avraham should be killed in battle.


texts: Is it justified to stone cars being driven on Shabbat?

texts:
Several public and private travel guides, such as The Rough Guide to Jerusalem and the British government's travel advisory for Israel, warn against driving in Jerusalem on Shabbat, as residents of certain neighbourhoods may stone the car.

I know that driving on Shabbat is generally prohibited by the orthodox Judaism practised in these neighbourhoods.  But what is the halachic or rabbinical basis, if any, for their stoning cars to enforce this prohibition?  If there is such a basis, is it permitted to throw stones even at cars driven by gentiles (who are presumably the primary target audience of the above-mentioned travel guides)?  Or must one first ascertain that the car is being driven by a Jew, and that the driving is not being done due to a life-threatening emergency?


texts: Seven compartments of Gehinnom according to Midrash Tehillim

texts:
In Midrash Tehillim (Midrash Shocher Tov) on Psa. 11:6,(1) it is written,

  וכנגדם שבע בתי דירות בגיהנם ואלו הן שאול ואבדון גיא דומה וצלמות וארץ תחתית וארץ ציה

Perhaps I'm not looking at the right place, or it could be that it's just not there, but that seems like six compartments named rather than seven. What's the name of the seventh compartment?

You can see a similar citation here:

  וכנגדן שבע בתי דירות בגיהנם, ואלו הן שאול ואבדון גיא דומה וצלמות וארץ תחתית וארץ ציה

Here is how I count the compartments:

שאול
אבדון
גיא דומה
צלמות
ארץ תחתית
ארץ ציה

I know other sources such as massekhet Eruvin list other names for the seven, but I'm only interested in understanding the quote from Midrash Tehillim.

The only thing I can think of is that גיא דומה should actually be understood as:

וגיא ודומה

Footnotes

(1) Page "33," 11 lines up from the phrase מזמור יב.


texts: 42 camps and 42 non-refuge Levite cities (Masei)

texts: What is the significance of the numerical correspondence between the 42 camps or waypoints mentioned in the recounting of the forty years of wandering (Bamidbar 33) and the fact that 42 of the 48 Levite cities mentioned in the same parsha (Masei) are of the ordinary non-refuge kind (Bamidbar 35:6)?


texts: Torah Commentary of R. Isaac Samuel Reggio

texts: Is the commentary of R. Isaac Samuel Reggio on the Torah available for free online?


texts: Sasson and Simcha: What in the world is going on?

texts:
Once upon a time, there were two heretics, named Sasson and Simcha. Sasson said to Simcha, "I'm better than you. Even Yeshaya HaNavi agrees so; he put my name first, as it says, 'They will get Sasson and Simcha' (Yeshaya 35:10)."

Simcha retorted, "You wanna bet? My name also appears first, as it says, 'The Jews had Simcha and Sasson' (Esther 8:17)."

Sasson shot back, "Well, guess what? The Jews are just going to make a messenger out of you, as it says, 'With Simcha shall they go forth' (Yeshaya 55:12)."

Simcha countered, "Oh yeah? It's still better than your fate; they're going to use you to draw water, as it says, 'You will draw water with Sasson' (Yeshaya 12:3)."

Another heretic, whose name also happens to be Sasson, said to R' Avahu, "In the future you're going to serve me water, as it says, 'You will draw water be-Sasson.'"

R' Avahu smiled and replied, "That would be the case had the passuk said 'le-Sasson,' for Sasson. But the passuk says 'be-Sasson,' with Sasson. Obviously, then, the passuk means we're going to skin you and use your skin as a water bucket."

All of this can be found in Sukkah 48b.

So... Is this just the earliest Purim Torah, or is there something serious going on here that's going right over my head?

(Yes, I'm exaggerating my translation in Purim Torah style, but those were their arguments.)


texts: Rosh's view on a yard near a roof: do both pay for 10 tefach?

texts:
The Bavli, Bava Basra 6:2, discusses the case that someone's rooftop is adjacent to another person's courtyard floor, and then the case where the rooftop is actually lower (but not much lower) than the courtyard floor.

In the first case, it indicates that the rooftop's owner must pay for a four-cubit-tall barrier between his roof and his neighbor's yard, so that he cannot see what's going on in his neighbor's yard.

In the second case, it indicates that the two neighbors must chip in on a ten-handbreadth-tall barrier (much shorter than four cubits) between the roof and the yard, so as to prevent either neighbor from accidentally overstepping their common boundary.[1] The Rosh adds that the rooftop's owner must then pay, by himself, to build that barrier up to four cubits, so he cannot see what's transpiring in the courtyard.

Logically, then, it seems to be that the Rosh should hold — as, indeed, Shulchan Aruch (160:1) later holds — that in the first case, where the rooftop and courtyard are on a level, the lowest ten handbreadths of the wall should be paid for by both neighbors. But he doesn't say so, and the g'mara doesn't say so. Does he, in fact, hold that way?

[1] More precisely: to make overstepping the boundary noticeable to the one doing so. But that's neither here nor there.


texts: Go in Peace - why are we sending the Angels away

texts:
On Friday night we welcome the angels by singing Shalom Aleichem  the question is why do we tell them:

  צֵאתְכֶם לְשָׁלוֹם מַלְאֲכֵי הַשָּׁלוֹם מַלְאָכֵי עֶלְיוֹן

Essentially sending them away that seems to be a quite ungracious host so why do we do it?


texts: Can a Chazan silently say Yom Kippur piyutim in English?

texts: Some shuls (such as mine) do many sections of most piyutim silently. Is the Shat"z allowed to do the silent portions in English and just say the ending of the piyut aloud in Hebrew?


texts: Why do Nachash נחש & Mashiach משיח have the same Gematria?

texts:
I once heard a beautiful explanation of why נחש nachash & משיח mashiach have the same Gematria of 358 but I can’t recall it.
Does anyone know what the connection between these two seemingly antithetical forces are? Hopefully someone here will jog my memory!


texts: A site to search Kosher Symbols by characteristics?

texts:
Several years ago, I found a website that let me search and sort Kosher symbols by look and other characteristics. It seemed like each symbol was tagged with its distinctive features. This was very useful when trying to find information on the Kosher agency when all you had was the symbol.

For example, if one was trying to find more information about a Kosher symbol that had a Magen David, one could just look at all the symbols that had a Magen David.

There are guides that list kosher symbols, such as this one (their 2012 print edition has 1127 symbols and the online edition from 2007 has 867 symbols), but they are not searchable by symbol, only location.

I can't find the site now (maybe it no longer exists). Does anyone know of this site or a suitable replacement?


texts:
What is the halacha on how imminent the danger of death has to be for you to be allowed to invoke pikuach nefesh and break a commandment to save a life?

Obviously if someone is drowning before your eyes and you can save him by breaking a commandment (without seriously endangering your own life), you do it.  But what if the danger is, say, exposure to radiation that will cause cancer 20 years later?

I know that in cases of uncertainty on whether a life is really at risk, you err on the side of offering assistance. [Yoma 8:6]  But here I am asking about timing, not uncertainty.  Any sources?


texts: Halacha (Kitzur) brings that besides for the Simanim (symbolic foods) mentioned in the Gemara Horiyas and Shulchan Aruch you can Make your own according to the Language of the Country you live in, this had lead to some creative stuff lets see some original Ideas for the Yehi Ratzons and symbolic foods (the  example in the Kitzur brings carrots(Meren) which in Yiddish the language of his country also means to inrease)?


texts:
When I was in Yeshiva many years ago I heard one of the rebbeim (teachers) of the yeshiva speaking to a young man that had converted to Judaism and that was very successful in learning about "his status" in regards to certain halachos (that perhaps might not be nohag now a days) and how a convert is different.

One of the things the Rabbi said was that "you should know the Ari Zal writes that the neshemas (souls) of a convert comes from the 'highest places' in Shamayim." Now I realize this hard to perhaps understand what a soul coming from a high place really means but it was meant to show how "special" this person really is.

Is it known where this is brought down from the Ari Zal or in any other sifrei kabballah or sefer at all?


texts: Why "Hamotzi Lechem" instead of "Hamotzi Chitah"?

texts:
A bread question in time for Pesach!

The words to the blessing over bread are:

  בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה' אֱלֹקינוּ מֶֽלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם, הַמּוֹצִיא לֶחֶם
  מִן הָאָרֶץ

which ends with "...who brings forth bread from the earth"

Except, obviously, that's not how bread works - wheat (חיטה) is brought forth from the earth, it's then processed in a number of ways and later baked into bread. So why do we thank G-d for something that he doesn't do (directly)?

I've heard a few different explanations of this, but I don't remember them, and I wanted to share one or two at my Seder. I tried searching here for a similar question, but the best match was probably this, Why do we say hamotzi lechem min haaretz instead of min haadama?, which isn't exactly my question.


texts: Authorship of Rabbenu Gershom's Commentary to Talmud

texts:
Who authored the commentary attributed to Rabbenu Gershom to tractate Temurah and other tractates such as Bava Batra?

I recall reading some who doubted the traditional attribution, or suggesting that the text evolved.


texts: Why the Children of Avraham and not Yitzchok and Yacckov?

texts:
In the song Kol Mikadesh it says:

  זרע אברהם אוהבו

Translated as: Children of Avraham his Beloved

Why does the song mention only Avraham and not any of the other forefathers in this stament what is special about avraham that he is the only one mentioned in the song?


texts: I am looking for the initial mention of the word "Hefsek" where it refers to a gap or interruption between saying a blessing and carrying it out. Shulchan Aruch, Orech Chaim, 167:6 discusses how certain statements do not create a Hefsek after the blessing, and I am looking for the earliest definition of what a Hefsek is.


texts: What is good and what does it mean that God is good?

texts:
What does the term "tov" (good) mean? I am asking especially in how it relates to God.

I.e. what does "tov" mean and what does it mean that God is "tov"?

An example where God is ascribed "tov" is in Derech Hashem ch.2:

  ובהיותו הוא לבדו יתברך הטוב האמיתי, לא יסתפק חפצו הטוב אלא בהיותו מהנה
  לזולתו בטוב ההוא עצמו שהוא בו יתברך מצד עצמו, שהוא הטוב השלם והאמיתי

("in that He alone is the true good...")


texts: What were the marriage rights of the temporary wives of Rav and Rav Nachman?

texts:
According to the gemaras at Yoma 18b and Yevamos 37b, Rav and Rav Nachman (and presumably other chachamin) would send representatives to cities a week before the rebbe intended to visit to find the rebbe a temporary wife, often for just one day.  Several questions arise:

Did Rav and Rav Nachman give their temporary wife a kesubah and a get at the end of the marriage?  Or was there a mutual understanding that the marriage would end as of a certain date, making a get unnecessary?  Wouldn't such an understanding have to be in writing to establish proof that the temporary wife was no longer m'kadesh to the rav?  See this link.
If the temporary wife was giving a kesubah, would she be entitled to the full 200 zuzim for a virgin and 100 zuzim for someone previously married?
If a virgin married Rav or Rav Nachman for one night without receiving 200 zuzim upon her "divorce,"  what would be the value of her subsequent kesubah?


texts: Is it Ossur (forbidden) to sleep alone in a room or house?

texts:
It says in Mesechet Shabbos 151b "R' Chanina said: It is forbidden to sleep alone in a house..."

Is this the Halacha?

And are Jews typically careful about this nowadays? If not, why not?


texts: Where is it taught that you can't sleep with socks

texts: I remember hearing that you can't sleep with socks. I think Rambam stated this (correct me if i am wrong), but where in Rambam was it said and why do we do it?


texts: How exactly was extinguishing used constructively to build the Mishkan/Tabernacle?

texts: One of the 39 categories of forbidden labor on Shabbos is "extinguishing" (mechabeh); how exactly was it used in a constructive fashion when building the Mishkan?


texts: Contradiction between Mishnah and Tosefta?

texts:
Mishnah Keilim 11:4 says:

קלוסטרא, טמאה ... רבי יהושע אומר, שומטה מפתח זה ותולה בחברו בשבת. רבי טרפון אומר, הרי היא לו ככל הכלים, ומטלטלת בחצר

A door bolt is susceptible to impurity ... Rabbi Joshua says: he may remove it from one door and hang it on another on Shabbat. Rabbi Tarfon says: it is like all other vessels and may be carried about in a courtyard.

Tosefta Keilim Bava Metzia 1:3 says:

קלוסטרא רבי טרפון מטמא וחכמים מטהרין וברוריא אומרת שומטה מן הפתח זה ותולה בחבירו בשבת כשנאמרו דברים לפני ר' יהושע אמר יפה אמרה ברוריא

A door bolt: Rabbi Tarfon declares unclean and the sages declare clean. And Beruria says: one removes it from this door and hangs it on another on the Sabbath. When these things were reported before Rabbi Joshua, he said: beautifully did Beruria rule.

Am I correct that the Mishnah concludes that a bolt is tamei, and the Tosefta concludes that a bolt is tahor, and there is therefore a direct contradiction?


texts: If a pregnant lady craves for something not kosher is she permitted to eat it? Source? Does it depend how much she wants it, etc.?


texts:
If it's prohibited to live among Leitzim, what is someone supposed to do if he is a Leitz? Just where exactly is he supposed to live?

This question is Purim Torah and is not intended to be taken completely seriously. See the Purim Torah policy.


texts: Why does a Na'arah Me'orasah convert who has illicit relations not receive Skilah?

texts:
Kesuvos 4:3:

  הַגִּיּוֹרֶת שֶׁנִּתְגַּיְּרָה בִתָּהּ עִמָּהּ, וְזִנְּתָה, הֲרֵי זוֹ בְּחֶנֶק. [...] הָיְתָה הוֹרָתָהּ שֶׁלֹּא בִקְדֻשָּׁה וְלֵדָתָהּ בִּקְדֻשָּׁה, הֲרֵי זוֹ בִסְקִילָה. [...] הָיְתָה הוֹרָתָהּ וְלֵדָתָהּ בִּקְדֻשָּׁה, הֲרֵי הִיא כְבַת יִשְׂרָאֵל לְכָל דָּבָר.

  A women who converted with her daughter, and [the daughter] committed adultery [as a Na'arah with Kiddushin], she receives choking. [...] If [the daughter's] conception was not in holiness [i.e. the mother hadn't converted yet] but her birth was in holiness [i.e. the mother had converted already], she receives stoning. [...] If her conception and birth were [both] in holiness, she is like the daughter of a Yisrael for all matters.

The pesukim explicitly prescribe stoning as the penalty for adultery as a Na'arah (Devarim 22:20); however, as the Bartenura points out, this is only in the context of v. 21:

  כי עשתה נבלה בישראל

  For she has done this disgusting thing in Yisrael

which excludes a convert, who is not part of the general community.

Is this just a Gezeiras HaKasuv that a Na'arah convert doesn't receive stoning for adultery? Or is there a conceptual distinction between a convert and a born Jewess which explains this ruling?


texts: A local (jewish/frum owned) store near me sells these little glass cups with mousse in them (produced by a non Jewish company). Do such cups require tevillah from the stores perspective? follow up question is, presuming it didn’t require (or it did but they didn’t toivel it, would I now need to toivel it


texts: What can someone do to protect his property/children from children?

texts:
From the answers here, the schulchan aruch h"m 349.3 and the aruch hashulchan 349.1:
it seems that if a child (below 12/13 years old) damages you no one is responsible (but is he stole and the thing still exists or it was exchanged for something that still exist (by the child) we can take it from him).

What can someone do to protect his property (or children) from children?
For example, can he inflict corporal punishment on them (to scare them from doing it again)?
Can he only protect his property when the child is on his property or while the child is doing the damage(Shulchan Aruch Harav Nizkei Haguf 3)?


texts:
I normally think of lost property as being found in a public place (see Devorim 22 (2) “you shall bring it into your house”).

If it is already in a person's house as with a wrongly delivered letter (by the mail service or by hand) , in what way do the laws of returning lost property change?

I might have thought he has lost the ability to ignore the item ((Rashi on 22 (1)) if for example he is an honored sage, and it it is beneath his dignity to lead animals or carry packages in public places).


texts: Why are some masechtot names plural (e.g. gitin, kidushin) while others are singular (e.g. tomid, nida and shabos)?


texts:
There's a debate between Turnus Rufus and Rabbi Akiva if one should give charity.

Turnus Rufus claims that one shouldn't, since one shouldn't feed those who the king hates, so if The King refuses to support someone, it's a sign that he should stay hungry.

Rabbi Akiva answers that it's only true by servants, but Jews are children.

This implies that the debate is philosophical, not legal

Then Turnus Rufus turns around and says that it's no longer true, as after Jews sin we're slaves and not children.

Good answer.

Now, Rabbi Akiva answered " הלא פרוס לרעב לחמך ועניים מרודים תביא בית" - Won't you give your bread to the hungry and bring the desperate poor to your house?.

When [do] the desperate poor [need to be] brought home? In exile, and nonetheless, the verse says "Won't you give your bread to the poor?"

So Rabbi Akiva gave a legal answer.

This doesn't answer the original question - if Hashem decreed that people suffer, who gives us the right to free them?

And if you want to go technical, there's lots of verses which stress the importance of Tzedakah?


texts: Are there Siddurim that have a lot of tefilos that are not used in regular siddurim (lesser-known tefilos)?

texts: Tefilos that are in sifrei segulot of diffrent Gedolims seforim


texts: How to bring kinnim after having mixed up birds

texts:
In certain cases, the Torah prescribes the bringing of a pair of birds as an offering, one as a chatat and the other as an olah. See Lev 12:8, Lev 14:22, Lev 15:14, Lev 15:29, and Num 6:10.
The mishna in Kinnim 1:3–4 (2–3 in some editions) describes what happens when birds from multiple offerings get mixed up together. Mishna 1:3 includes (translation from Sefaria):

חַטָּאת שֶׁנִּתְעָרְבָה בְחוֹבָה, אֵין כָּשֵׁר אֶלָּא כְמִנְיַן חַטָּאוֹת שֶׁבַּחוֹבָה. וְכֵן עוֹלָה שֶׁנִּתְעָרְבָה בְחוֹבָה, אֵין כָּשֵׁר אֶלָּא כְמִנְיַן עוֹלוֹת שֶׁבַּחוֹבָה
A sin-offering that became mixed with a [pair of] obligatory [birds], only the number of sin-offerings [contained] in the obligatory [pair] are permitted [to be sacrificed]. Similarly, an burnt-offering that became mixed with with obligatory a [pair of] obligatory [birds], only the number of burnt-offerings [contained] in the obligatory [pair] are permitted [to be sacrificed].

Mishna 1:4 includes (translation from Sefaria):

חובה שנתערבה זו בזו, אחת לזו ואחת לזו, שתיים לזו ושתיים לזו, שלוש לזו ושלוש לזו--מחצה כשר, ומחצה פסול.  אחת לזו, ושתיים לזו, שלוש לזו, ועשר לזו, ומאה לזו--הממועט כשר
If obligatory [bird offerings] became mixed with each other, one [pair] from this one [woman] and one [pair] from this one [woman], two [pairs] from this one [woman] and two [pairs] from this one [woman], three [pairs] from this one [woman] and three [pairs] from this one [woman]; half are permitted [to be sacrificed] and half are invalid. [However if] this one [woman] had one [pair], and this one [woman] had two [pairs], [or] three for this one, [or] ten for this one [or] one hundred for this one, [only] the smaller number [of birds] are permitted [to be sacrificed].

We see that after a mix-up and after the allowed offerings from the mix-up are brought, a person is in one (or more) of the following situations, and they don't know which one applies to them: (1) they owe an olah without a chatat, (2) they owe a chatat without an olah, (3) they owe a pair (chatat and olah), (4) they owe nothing. Additionally, if they needed to bring multiple offerings, they do not know for which offering they may have already (partially) fulfilled their obligation.
One common way to bring an offering that may not be required is to offer it with a stipulation: if it's required, then great, but if not, then it should be considered as a voluntary offering.[citation needed] However, voluntary bird offerings cannot be brought as a chatat (see Kinnim 1:2).
What is the remedy for someone in this situation (or is there not one)? How (and with what stipulations) do they bring their missing offerings? If it depends on the number of pairs of birds, the number of people whose offerings were involved in the mix-up, or something else, please indicate as much in your answer.


texts: Can you go to a shul dinner if you are in aveilus?

texts: Can you go to a shul dinner or other formal function that is for social convention and not actually enjoyable if you are in aveilus?


texts: What are the opinions that explain why Gemara is authoritative?

texts: Rambam and R' Hai Gaon say that Gemara is authoritative because of minhag, but are there other opinions as to the reason? The one that I'm familiar with (or that I most identify with) is the reason that the Gemara is authoritative because it's simply the best index of the actual halacha (and what Chazal said). Is there anyone that takes this viewpoint? Rosh? Rama? Am I being a halachic idiot/outcast on this?


texts: What is the source for writing names of Haman's sons in a separate column? We see that most megillos are written this way, but where can I find halacha? Shulchan Aruch doesn't seem to be discussing it?


texts: How is it permissible for a Jewish slave to marry a Canaanite slavewoman?

texts:
In Shemot, chapter 21 verse 4, we learn that a master can give his Jewish slave a Canaanite slavewoman to bear the master slave children:

  If his master gives him a wife, and she bears him sons or daughters,
  the woman and her children shall belong to her master, and he shall go
  out alone.

Rashi says that this verse could only refer to a Canaanite slavewoman.

Then in Devarim, chapter 7 verse 3, we learn:

  You shall not intermarry with them; you shall not give your daughter
  to his son, and you shall not take his daughter for your son.

The two verses seem to contradict each other. Do we say that in the case of a Jewish slave, there is an exception where he is permitted to have relations with the Canaanite woman?


texts: Is a child born to a kidnapper also considered kidnapped?

texts: According to Torah law if a man kidnaps a woman and has a child with her is that child now considered kidnapped as well? The question being has the man now violated the prohibition of kidnapping twice.


texts: What is the hebrew Word for the rationalist approach

texts: What is the hebrew term for the rationalist approach of the Rambam, the Ran, the Rivash, Ralbag etc.?


texts: Why isn't Tanach regularly studied in many Yeshivot?

texts:
There is a Tosafot in Sanhedrin 24a
that says that by learning Gemara one does not fulfill what the Gemara  (Kidushin 30a, Avoda Zara 19a) says: one should split his learning into three ---   Mikra, Mishna, and Gemara. I know he answers this question saying that we fulfill this obligation by reading the Korbanot and prayers before Hodu. However, I have two questions for nowadays:

1) HaRav Chaim Kanievsky Shelit"a says that there is no Hiyuv to read the Korbanot except for the Parashat HaTamid (which one doesn't fulfill Mikra with). According to him, how are people that omit Akeda and other sections of Mikra Yotze for the third?

2) Even though people fulfill their obligation with the prayers before Hodu, why isn't Tanach so regularly studied at Yeshivot? I'm not asking your personal opinion, I want to know if any Roshei Yeshivot or Posekim discuss this.

Thank you and always, source responsibly


texts: Why does one receive reward for saying they will give tzedaka?

texts:
The Tosefta in Peah (4:17) states that if a person says they will give tzedaka and then gives it, they receive divine reward both for the "saying" and for the "giving." And in a case where the person says they will give, but is not ultimately able to give, they nevertheless receive divine reward for having said that they will (I'm assuming here that the original "saying" was honest, ie the person truly wanted to / planned to give).

Why might this be? What is it about the mitzvah of tzedaka where a person might get divine reward just for saying they will do something, even in a case where they don't ultimately do it?

(I am understanding the case to be where the person did not make an explicit vow or neder to give, which would complicate matters).


texts: Why do Jewish people pray to God to punish someone who has ideas that are different from what Judaism teaches (Heresy)

texts:
On this Wikipedia article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amidah

On the "Structure of the weekday Amidah"

One of the prayers: "Known as Birkat HaMinim ("the sectarians, heretics") this asks God to destroy those in heretical sects (Minuth), who slander Jews and who act as informers against Jews."

On this Wikipedia article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minuth

Under Mishneh Torah, Minim it states that:

  "Five peoples who can be classified as heretics(hebrew "Minim").:

  One who denies the existence of God or the ruler of the world
  One who says there are two or more rulers of the world
  One who accepts there is one Master of the world but maintains He has a body or a form
  One who denies that He is the sole First Being and Creator of all existence
  One who serves entities that serve as intermediary between him and the eternal Lord such as stars, constellations or any other entity"

I don't understand why Jewish people must ask God to destroy those who do not believe in God or for any of the other seemingly benign reasons stated above. Do Jews consider people who deny the existence of God dangerous?

The second part of the prayer which speaks about destroying those "who act as informers against Jews" also raises confusion. Why would Jews ask God to destroy "informers" in particular. If we assume that Jewish people do everything right then there should be nothing to inform anyone about, thus no need for the informers to be destroyed. Asking God to destroy informers seems like admitting guilt and trying to cover something up so no one will know about it.

The part of the prayer that speaks about slander is the only logical reason in this prayer as to why one might ask God to do something as rash as to "destroy" someone.

A heretic, as explained on this Wikipedia article: http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heretic

Is someone who has ideas that are different from the ideas that a certain religious group teaches.

Obviously everyone who is not Jewish will have ideas that are different then those of Jews. This is somewhat contradictory and hypocritical because I am sure that Jewish people have different ideas then that of other religions as well.

Please understand that I am not posting this out of hate. I simply do not understand why we must ask God to punish those who do not agree with Judaism, it seems unnecessary and hypocritical.


texts:
In the Shulchan Aruch, 531:2, the text reads אין מגלחין במועד and then continues to have a discussion about whether one can be מגלח, a word I learned to be "shave." It also later (in s"k 5) it reads "אע״פ שהתירו להסתפר" using the word "להסתפר" which I learned means "hair cut." So the halachot all around which focus on g-l-ch seem to surround the question of permissiblity of shaving. But s"k 6 reads קטן מותר לגלח במועד אפילו נולד קודם הרגל which would mean that a koton may shave on chol hamoed even if he had been born before the holiday began (because,  as the taz explains, he was alive before hand but wasn't bar mitzvah so he had no obligation to shave before hand the way an adult would be obligated to shave beforehand). The "אפילו" as an extension makes it seem that this would clearly apply to a child born ON chol hamoed, meaning a newborn.

The Magen Avraham quotes the nodah Byehudah as saying that this applies when the koton has שער רב ומצטער, a lot of hair and it bothers him.

Is the text introducing a new case of a pre bar mitzvah boy (or even a baby) who has so much hair on his face that he has to shave or is the text following s"k 5 which discusses hair cutting with s"k 6 and using g-l-ch in a loose sense to ALSO mean hair cutting and not shaving (because it would seem unlikely that the text would be discussing a case of a baby with so much שער and not זָקַן, beard). The various other logical clues indicate that this is talking about a minor with an unruly and long beard which would only point to a strange order of se'ifim, but the commonsense of it would seem to be against a claim of a ZZ Top-esque newborn.


texts: It is my understanding that restrictions and prohibitions on the Sabbath more accurately concern "creating" or "destroying" rather than the stereotypical concept   of "working". Why is it then acceptable to have relations since such is an act of "creating"? In fact, if I understand correctly, husband and wife relations on the Sabbath is considered a mitzvah. Thank you for your response (s).


texts: What to do with discarded shemittah produce of co-workers

texts:
I currently work in an environment where colleagues (irreligious and/or not Jewish) are consuming produce that has shemittah sanctity. They often throw their left over food directly in the bin with other garbage.

Produce that has the sanctity of shevi'it needs to be disposed of separately from normal waste. Are there any actions required on the part of the individual observing this? Can (or should) a person take responsibility for another persons' discarded shemittah produce which has shemittah sanctity?


texts:
Leviticus 7:26-27 teach us about the prohibition to eat blood, whether it be of fowl or of beast, in any of the dwellings.

So is one allowed to eat the blood of the fish?
Is one allowed to eat blood outside of our dwellings?
Is one allowed to drink the blood (seperated from the meat)?
And last but not least am I allowed to suck the blood up of the bleeding finger of my child?


texts:
When making matzah at home during the Pesach week, is it correct that one needs to ensure that not only is the matzah itself completed in 18 minutes, but also that all the utensils and bowls are completely cleaned so that no new chametz is created?

This seems particularly relevant for the making of "soft" (i.e., original) matzah, in that it doesn't keep.  For groups that eat soft matzah, (or, historically in any period in which soft matzah was eaten) do people make it throughout the Pesach holiday?  I am assuming that most families buy, rather than make, hard matzah.


texts: Learning Torah while sitting Shmirah for a Met

texts:
I am part of the Chevra Kadisha in a town with a small Jewish community and so the Metim don’t always have people to sit Shmirah the whole time until the funeral so I try to spend as much time as possible sitting Shmirah.
I feel though it would be more sustainable for me if I could do other things aside from saying Tehillim, which I know is what is usually the guidelines for Shmirah. Does anyone know of any views on this that discuss other activities while sitting Shmirah such as learning Torah?


texts: What siddur do the Mountain Jews use and how does it differ from mainstream Sephardi nusach?


texts:
Why are there yom tov additions to the first b'racha before sh'mone esre in the morning and to the third, but never to the second?

(In maariv, by contrast, every birchas k'rias sh'ma has yom tov additions.)


texts:
In the brief prayer we recite before the עקידה each morning, and in the זכרונות blessing on ראש השנה, we ask:

  ופקדנו בפקדת ישועה ורחמים משמי שמי קדם

Roughly:

  and pay attention to us with an attention of salvation and mercy from the fore's heaven's heaven

What is שמי שמי קדם? And if it's just heaven by another name, then why is it called that here?


texts: What is the source that one may not dress untidily

texts: To my understanding, it is forbidden to dress untidily. Where is the source for this?


texts: Learning words from the servants of Rebbi

texts: Where is the gemarah that discusses how the sages didn't know the meaning of certain words until their heard the servants of Rebbi Yehuda HaNasi using those words in everyday conversation?


texts: What may I reference to learn Tanach chapters by topic?

texts: What may I refer to to learn where to locate verses or sections in the Tanach by topic? Preferably one of our own sources rather than a Christian one because the interpretations of the Tanach need to be Jewish.


texts: Is there a source where Emuna and Bitachon are described as separate ideas?

texts:
In the sefer Emuna UBitachon, the Chazon Ish popularized the idea that Emuna and Bitachon are really two parts of one idea, one being the belief in the idea, and one being the idea believed in.

Is there anyone past or present who explicitly says the opposite, that Emuna and Bitachon are rather two completely separate ideas?


texts: Are separate condiments/containers needed for meat and dairy?

texts:
When eating a dairy meal and you use the salt/pepper shakers then meat dishes are brought out do you have to switch the condiment containers too?

Likewise when cooking with dairy and using your spice containers do you have to have a separate spice set for cooking with meat?

What is the halacha on this?


texts: Has anyone proposed to recreate the system of 24 ma'amadot, since the Dispersal?

texts:
The Mishna, in Ta'anit 4:1-4, describes an institution called ma'amadot: Just as the Kohens and Levites were divided into 24 clans, which each handled the Temple service for two non-holiday weeks of the year, the non-Levite Israelites were also divided into 24 groups, called ma'amadot. These groups also rotated being on-duty through the year, but instead of serving in the Temple, members of the week's ma'amad would assume "ownership" responsibility on behalf of all of Israel for the public offerings brought in the Temple that week, particularly the Korban Tamid. The mishnayot and the Gemara on them (Ta'anit 27a-28a) describe practices the members of the week's ma'amad would undertake, including special prayers and Torah readings and fasting.
We are not bringing offerings in the Temple now, but we do still take responsibility for the daily Tamid by reading the Torah's instructions for it before prayers. The Talmud here explicitly calls out this substitution. In a Midrashic passage, God tells Abraham about the Korban Tamid, and then:

אמר לפניו רבש"ע תינח בזמן שבית המקדש קיים בזמן שאין בית המקדש קיים מה תהא עליהם אמר לו כבר תקנתי להם סדר קרבנות בזמן שקוראין בהן לפני מעלה אני עליהם כאילו הקריבום לפני ואני מוחל להם על כל עונותיהם
Abraham said before God: Master of the Universe, this works out well when the Temple is standing, but when the Temple is not standing, what will become of them? God said to him: I have already enacted for them the order of offerings. When they read them before Me, I will ascribe them credit as though they had sacrificed them before Me and I will pardon them for all their transgressions.

So, it seems to me that it could be valid and valuable to organize modern-day "ma'amadot," focused around the recitation of Temple service passages instead of the Temple service itself, and presumably omitting drastic changes in the established standard liturgy. I don't expect that I'm the first person in the last 2000 years to consider this. Has there ever been a prominent proposal or movement to recreate such an organization?

There is an extensive collection of readings toward this sort of purpose  printed in some siddurim called Seder Ma'amadot. I'm asking about whether anyone has proposed a system of rotating focused responsibility.


texts: Why no tfillin on second day of Yom Tov?

texts:
The decree of keeping two days of Yom Tov outside of Israel is because Rosh Chodesh used to be determined by Beis Din and its messengers couldn't reach all of exiles in time, thereby requiring people living outside the range to keep two days out of doubt. Therefore, nowadays we keep two days like out forefathers did.

My question is, why do we not put on tfillin on the second day of yom-tov (Rosh Hashana, Simchas Torah, 8th day of Pesach) out of sofek?


texts: What are the 35 cardinal principles enumerated by Jedaiah Penini in the last chapter of his Behinat ha-Dat?

texts:
Others, like Crescas and David ben Samuel Estella, spoke of seven fundamental articles, laying stress on free-will. On the other hand, David ben Yom-Tob ibn Bilia, in his "Yesodot ha- Maskil" (Fundamentals of the Thinking Man), adds to the 13 of Maimonides 13 of his own — a number which a contemporary of Albo also chose for his fundamentals; while Jedaiah Penini, in the last chapter of his "Behinat ha-Dat", enumerated no fewer than 35 cardinal principles.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_principles_of_faith#After_Maimonides


texts:
Is recitation of Selichot a halachic obligation?

I'm not asking if it's "only d'rabbanan", as rabbinic laws also create halachic obligations.

At the same time, not every custom that is mentioned in rabbinic writings is obligatory.


texts: What does the acronym or abbreviation in Hatrat Nedarim stand for?

texts: What do the 4 letters (הויה) stand for or mean? This appears at the beginning of Hatrat Nedarim.


texts: May an accidental murderer choose to leave the city of refuge?

texts: I understand from the Sefer HaChinuch, mitzvah 410, that a person who kills accidentally has a mitzvah to go to a city of refuge. I would like to know if that person is allowed to leave the city of refuge should she choose to do so? Meaning, is there a mitzvah to remain in the city of refuge, or is staying there just a good idea because leaving would enable the blood avenger to kill her?


texts: The prohibition of eating before davening starts when?

texts:
One is not supposed to eat before davening Shacharit , though the halacha has various exceptions or special cases.
What is considered "before"? If I wake before dawn and start my day, does the prohibition of eating kick in at the first moment when I could daven, or is it about my being awake? I am comparing this to the halachot surrounding eating before a fast which begins at dawn, and whether one can eat before the fast begins if he makes a condition to do so.
By a fast, there seems to be an idea of someone's waking up as being the time after which he cannot eat without a t'nai so I'm trying to understand if someone who wakes up early on a regular day can eat before dawn, or whether he has to make a t'nai to do so or if he simply may not eat until he has davened.


texts: Can one say the fast-day selichos before the morning prayers?

texts:
There seem to be two sorts of selichos: (1) those in Elul and the 10 days of Repentance and (2) the selichos for fast days.

Type (1) are typically said before all the morning prayers and type (2) are added in after (or during) the morning amidah.

Is it possible to say the type (2)  selichos before  all the morning prayers and if so, does one have to say “Ashrei” and Half-Kaddish first?


texts: In Numbers 4:32 was each son of Merari responsible for a single part of the tabernacle?

texts:
In the census of Numbers 4, the workmen available were 3,200:

  JPS Numbers 4:

  42And those that were numbered of the families of the sons of Merari,
  by their families, by their fathers’ houses, 43from thirty years old
  and upward even unto fifty years old, every one that entered upon the
  service, for service in the tent of meeting, 44even those that were
  numbered of them by their families, were three thousand and two
  hundred. 45These are they that were numbered of the families of the
  sons of Merari, whom Moses and Aaron numbered according to the
  commandment of the LORD by the hand of Moses.

Their job was to transport the pieces of the tabernacle. And in verse 32 it is said that they were to be assigned by name:

  29As for the sons of Merari, thou shalt number them by their families,
  by their fathers’ houses; 30from thirty years old and upward even unto
  fifty years old shalt thou number them, every one that entereth upon
  the service, to do the work of the tent of meeting. 31And this is the
  charge of their burden, according to all their service in the tent of
  meeting: the boards of the tabernacle, and the bars thereof, and the
  pillars thereof, and the sockets thereof; 32and the pillars of the
  court round about, and their sockets, and their pins, and their cords,
  even all their appurtenance, and all that pertaineth to their service;
  and by name ye shall appoint the instruments of the charge of their burden. 33This is the service of the families of the sons of Merari,
  according to all their service, in the tent of meeting, under the hand
  of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest.’

Does this mean that a specific person was charged by name to safely transport a particular piece? It seems like there would be enough people available.


texts: Tzedakah and Maaser - one obligation or two?

texts:
I understand that the obligation to give Maaser from our income is a sub-category of the overall commandment to give Tzedakah but consider the following question:

If I made a promise (Neder) to give Tzedakah every day. Can I take Maaser money that I have set aside and use that to fulfill my vow ? or do I have to give the Maaser money in the name (LeShem) Maaser and money from my post Maaser earnings to (LeShem) Tzedakah?


texts: What is a good way to make one's website inaccessible on Shabbat?

texts: Suppose I wish to make my website automatically become unavailable every week during Shabbat, or at least for a time period that roughly corresponds to Shabbat for a large group of people.  Can you give me any specific technical advice on how to go about this?  Bonus points for any suggestion that allows this behavior to be dependent on the probable location of the user, based on their ip address for example.


texts:
In Bemidbar 19:16, the Torah mentions impurity conveyed by a person's bone. From this, the gemara learns out that those parts of a corpse that convey impurity are those parts that are like a bone in two respects: a person is born with them, and if removed they don't grow back (Niddah 55a).

One of the body parts thus excluded is teeth, on the grounds that a person is not born with them. But a person is born with them, they just haven't yet extended through the gums. My question, therefore, is in two parts:

1) Were the rabbis mistaken, thinking that because the teeth aren't yet visible they therefore don't exist?

2) By suggesting that the teeth don't exist yet did the sages mean that they're just not visible?

In the case of 1), does that mean that there is a valid reason to consider teeth as conveyers of impurity, now that we know that a baby is born with them? And in the case of 2), does that mean that other body parts that are not yet visually apparent (such as testes, in the case of boys) also therefore don't convey impurity in a corpse?


texts:
I've heard it said that both Ramban and Rambam believed that Hashem causes miracles to occur through natural means, but I've never seen this.  What exactly do they (and other significant Rabbonim) say about this?

I've always understood this to mean that the event itself was something that did not contravene the laws of science, but a) it may have been very unlikely to occur and b) the fact that it occurred exactly at the right time were what made it miraculous.  Is this what they meant or am I misunderstanding something?


texts: Why is Sarah rebuked for laughing whereas Avraham is not?

texts:
In parshat Lech Lecha Avraham laughs when he hears that he'll have a son. God even tells Avraham to call his son Yitzchak which means "he will laugh" straight after that. In parshat Vayera however, Sarah laughs when she hears that she'll have a son and she is rebuked by God and Avraham for this apparent lack of faith in God.

Why this seemingly double standard? Why doesn't Avraham get rebuked for his lack of faith?


texts:
Consider this form of plea-bargaining: "Plead guilty to a lesser crime.  In exchange, we won't prosecute you further and you give us information about your bosses and testify against them."

This is unfair, because a defendant who does not have this kind of information to offer gets a heavier sentence for the same crime.

Also, in Jewish law, you are not allowed to testify against yourself, possibly because:

(1) Rambam: The defendant may become depressed, even suicidal, and "confess" just to get it over with [Mishneh Torah, Sanhedrin 18:6].

(2) Yosef ibn Migash (12th-century Spanish rabbi): A confession would influence the judges, and they may not take evidence of innocence as seriously.

On the other hand, a plea-bargain is technically not "testifying" in court against yourself (except for the minor matter).

But what if the defendant is promised immunity in exchange for info and testimony.  Would that make the deal more Jewishly acceptable (even though unfair to others)?

Is this or any other form of plea-bargaining allowed in Judaism?


texts: Why are there different versions for the last stanza of Lecha Dodi?

texts: Lecha Dodi was written by Rav Shlomo Halevi Alkabetz (Wikipedia). Nusach Ashkenaz and Nusach Sefard have different versions of the last stanza. Why? Where there any doubts as to what Rav Alkabetz wrote, or did someone change something from the original? If so, why?


texts: What is the greatest Mitzvah a man can do?


texts: Source wanted: Talmudic story of either Tanah or amorah with many children dreading and not enjoying maritial intercource

texts:
I heard this story of a Tanah or Amorah who had many children (possibly 11) but it was said he didn't enjoy intercourse with his wife. This was his opinion on how one should approach the subject of intercourse in general. But if I remember correctly the Gemarah called this opinion extreme.

Finding this source is of great interest to me. Thanks


texts:
Does someone who owns a bed-and-breakfast (tzimmer) fulfill the mitzvah of hachnasat orchim when their guests pay them?

On the one hand, the hosts get clear monetary benefit from hosting. However, they are still opening up their home (or a room of it) and letting people stay.

This question was inspired by someone who owns a B&B mentioning that it almost felt weird to do hachnasat orchim without getting paid for it. Seemingly, this person at least feels like they fulfill the mitzvah to some extent when being payed.


texts: When did the custom of giving charity in multiples of 18 begin?

texts:
People often give charity in multiples of 18.

What is the earliest record of such donations?


texts: Is וּכְתַבְתָּ֛ם in Shema with Shva Na or Shva Nach

texts:
My daughter goes to a chabad school (nusach ari?) and has been taught in class that וּכְתַבְתָּ֛ם in the shema (end of first paragraph) is with a shvah na on the כְ. She also says it has the asterisk ontop of the chaf in her siddur.
However, I have only seen it in the siddurim (ashkenaz) with a shva nach (silent).
Is there a difference with this pronunciation between the different nusachot?


texts: If someone borrows money from a friend, and later reimburses him using a different country's money, how can he make sure there are no halahik complications, such as making interest? Based on what rate should he reimburse him? The rate on day of the loan? of the repayment?


texts:
In the kabbalah of the Arizal, which world does the g-dly soul inherant in a human come from?

Do they for example come from the world of Atzilut?


texts: I am a gentile and I wish to write a commentary on Bereshis 1 that digs somewhat deeply into the Torah. May I do this?


texts: If we have our heads covered by a kippa/yarmulka to remind that HaShem is above us, does wearing tefilin fulfill that requirement?


texts: Stiff-necked people from Yaakov's neck becoming stiff?

texts:
Is there any connection between the Jews being called stiff-necked (Exodus 32.9) and the encounter of Yaakov and Esav, when the Medresh says Yaakov's neck became stiff (Bereishis Rabbah 78.9)?
Are there any commentators that point out any associations?


texts:
Many times, for those who have two double knots with eight strings in each knot (i.e. not following the opinion of the Rambam), the knot starts to come loose often, sometimes even several times a day.  If it is not tightened, occasionally it will completely come out by the end of the day.

My question is, if someone notices on Shabbos that their tzitzis knot is coming loose, and is slipping down the strings, can they slide it up closer to the top, without tightening it, so that it won't come completely undone and begin to unravel further?


texts: Did Noah say Shirah on seeing the drowning of the wicked?

texts:
The Israelites said Shirah on seeing the wicked Egyptians drowning.
Did Noah act in a similar way, praising God for saving him and his immediate family and seeing millions of wicked humans drowning in (boiling?) flood?


texts: Should a child old enough to make brachos who is not weaned be encouraged to make a bracha on breastmilk? If so which one? Are there any direct sources for this?


texts: Does any one know of a source for the minhag for a chosson to put on his kittel after he is already under the chupah?


texts: Would a violated woman be allowed to remain married to her Cohen husband?

texts:
As a continuation from my last question, Would looking away help a Cohen stay Married to his wife?, would a raped woman be allowed to live with her Cohen husband?

Would there be room to allow them to live together but not to have relations (due to him being a Cohen)?
Can anyone quote a source on this?


texts: Symbolism of Childbirth impurity differences male and female children in Leviticus 12?

texts:
I am a gentile asking for Jewish insight regarding the differences in ritual impurity time that comes from child birth (the time is doubled for baby girls).    As a Christian, I got ideas from my tradition, but I'm hoping their is some wisdom from the sages, and rabbis that might shed some light on this conundrum.
Leviticus 12 New International Version (NIV)
Purification After Childbirth
12 The Lord said to Moses, 2 “Say to the Israelites: ‘A woman who becomes pregnant and gives birth to a son will be ceremonially unclean for seven days, just as she is unclean during her monthly period. 3 On the eighth day the boy is to be circumcised. 4 Then the woman must wait thirty-three days to be purified from her bleeding. She must not touch anything sacred or go to the sanctuary until the days of her purification are over. 5 If she gives birth to a daughter, for two weeks the woman will be unclean, as during her period. Then she must wait sixty-six days to be purified from her bleeding.


texts: This article at the end mentions a famous Halachic distinction made between the prohibition of 'Ever Min HaḤai as it pertains to Jews vs gentiles. For gentiles 'Ever Min HaḤai doesn't apply to milk, because it isn't connected to the animal. For Jews, however, there is an added stringency that includes even the milk, which is why the Jews needed special dispensation in the form of the verse that praises Eretz Yisrael as the "Land of Milk and Honey". For this reason, according to the article, Bnei Yisrael never ate dairy prior to Matan Torah, which we commemorate by eating dairy on Shavu'oth. But isn't this internally contradictory? Bnei Yisrael had the same level of 'Ever Min HaḤai prohibition as gentiles prior to Matan Torah!


texts: Is there any difference between Jewish G-d and Muslim G-d?

texts: Do Jews and Muslims worship the same G-d?  If so, do they understand G-d the same way?  As a related point, is there any linguistic or theological connection between "Allah" and "Eloha" (or "Elohim")?  Please explain.


texts: Reason for dispute if chilazon has a melacha of trapping

texts:
The gemarra Shabbos 75a seems to say that someone who traps a chilazon violated the melacha of trapping on Shabbos. Tosafos brings the Yerushalmi (7:2, 52a) that says that one doesn't violate the melacha of trapping on Shabbos if they trap a chilazon. In fact, the gemarra there brings a dispute about this. Tosafos leave the matter as tzarich iyun how someone could say there's no melacha of trapping with a Chilazon.
What is the reasoning behind this dispute? Does anyone offer suggestions? The only one I found is from Rabbi Mordechai Kornfeld from the Kollel Iyun HaDaf. He suggests that the Bavli and the Yerushalmi are arguing about the identity of the chilazon. He doesn't mention this, but that would seemingly also make it the dispute in the Yerushalmi itself between the Tannaim. I find this approach unreasonable because the Tannaim and Amoraim and even Geonim had access to techeiles, so they seemingly should know the identity of the chilazon and not argue about it. Also, saying it's a dispute calls into question the characteristics the Bavli suggests for identifying the chilazon, as the Yerushalmi could be right about its identity and not the Bavli.
In any event, what's the reason for the dispute?


texts: Is there a site where I can see several different jewish translations at the same time?

texts:
The christians have that

http://bible.cc/psalms/82-6.htm

Is there something like that for jews?

If there isn't, then perhaps lists of several good online jewish translation would be nice too. It helps me figure out how far the translations are different.


texts: Why is Sarah suddenly referred to in a vague way

texts:
Before going to Egypt, Avraham speaks to his wife, who is referred to by name

  Genesis 12:13
  וַיְהִ֕י כַּאֲשֶׁ֥ר הִקְרִ֖יב לָב֣וֹא מִצְרָ֑יְמָה וַיֹּ֙אמֶר֙ אֶל־שָׂרַ֣י אִשְׁתּ֔וֹ הִנֵּה־נָ֣א יָדַ֔עְתִּי כִּ֛י אִשָּׁ֥ה יְפַת־מַרְאֶ֖ה אָֽתְּ׃

  As he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, “I know what a beautiful woman you are.

Verse 14 then refers to her as "the woman"

  וַיְהִ֕י כְּב֥וֹא אַבְרָ֖ם מִצְרָ֑יְמָה וַיִּרְא֤וּ הַמִּצְרִים֙ אֶת־הָ֣אִשָּׁ֔ה כִּֽי־יָפָ֥ה הִ֖וא מְאֹֽד׃

  When Abram entered Egypt, the Egyptians saw how very  beautiful the woman was.

Again in verse 15

  וַיִּרְא֤וּ אֹתָהּ֙ שָׂרֵ֣י פַרְעֹ֔ה וַיְהַֽלְל֥וּ אֹתָ֖הּ אֶל־פַּרְעֹ֑ה וַתֻּקַּ֥ח הָאִשָּׁ֖ה בֵּ֥ית פַּרְעֹֽה׃

  Pharaoh’s courtiers saw her and praised her to Pharaoh, and the woman was taken into Pharaoh’s palace.

Then in verse 17 she is referred to by name again

  וַיְנַגַּ֨ע יְהוָ֧ה ׀ אֶת־פַּרְעֹ֛ה נְגָעִ֥ים גְּדֹלִ֖ים וְאֶת־בֵּית֑וֹ עַל־דְּבַ֥ר שָׂרַ֖י אֵ֥שֶׁת אַבְרָֽם

  But the LORD afflicted Pharaoh and his household with mighty plagues on account of Sarai, the wife of Abram.

Why the sudden switch to a vague reference and back to normal? I'm wondering if maybe האשה means married woman in this context, so we don't forget she's married and what the Egyptians are doing is wrong? But that's not a satisfying explanation.


texts: How does the same word אהבה, which means love, also mean give?


texts: Do you know what the name Edja means and is it commonly associated with a certain Hebrew name?

texts:
My family is trying to figure out some details for my grandmother's headstone.
Her Hebrew name is forgotten, she went by Edith for as long as I've known her but her Polish name was Edja. I can't find a translation of it and we're hoping that maybe if it is commonly paired with a Hebrew name it might trigger a memory of her Hebrew name.
Thanks for any help.


texts: How is a "Goses" (someone who is about to die) defined?

texts:
In Erchin 1:3, the Mishna opens with:

הגוסס והיוצא להרג לא נדר ולא נערך.
The "Goses" (one who is about to die) and someone who is about to be killed are not used as either a measurement of worth for what their monetary value is or for what their worth according to the values set in the Torah are.
(my own translation / elaboration)

Kehati says:

הגוסס — הנוטה למות
the "Goses" — one who is about to die
(translation mine)

Now, unusually for Kehati, this... doesn't explain much. It's possible that the term is explained more elsewhere, but here I don't see much about how the Goses is defined.
I Googled the term, and Hebrew Wiktionary defined the term as someone on their deathbed with a fatal illness. However, that doesn't answer how the Goses is defined halachically.
How is a Goses defined according to the halacha?


texts: Why are non-Jews referred to as עובדי כוכבים in the גמרא?

texts:
When the גמרא refers to עובדי כוכבים, it is usually (eg. Artscroll) translated as "non-Jews".  Is this supposed to exclude monotheistic non-idolatrous non-Jews or is it inaccurate translation?

If it is supposed to refer to all non-Jews then surely this is a derogatory term for those who aren't idolaters, but it seems odd that an unnecessarily negative term should be used?

If it only refers to idolaters then surely there is a significant gap in הלכה as we wouldn't know how to treat monotheistic non-Jews (I don't necessarily mean גרי תושב either - they might not keep the other of the שבע מצות בני נח)?  Atheists don't seem to be covered either?


texts: Four Minim at the time of the Great Revolt

texts:
This is a 5 Agorot coin bearing a copy of a coin from the 4th year of the Great Revolt (70AD) that pictures the 4 Minim:

I can spot two oddities relative to what's commonly accepted: there are two Etrogim and Hadasim are full of berries.

Why is it so?


texts:
On one side verses like Devarim 4:2 and 12:32 teach us not to add nor to subtract, on the other side there seem to be this freedom of interpretation regards doing the mitzvot. Ofcourse there are mitzvot that we as metzuveh can follow according to the literal words of what the Metzaveh, HaShem, commanded us. But there are also commandments  which seem to lack an explanation of how one needs to fulfill them. In such cases halacha comes in.

But how far can one stretch the freedom of interpretation? Where does this freedom ends, and what are it's boundries/limits?

When do these interpretations help us do His Will and when do these interpretations lead us away from doing His Will?


texts: Can you tell someone that his troubles are caused by his sins?

texts:
The Talmud tells us not to tell someone who is suffering that his troubles are caused by his sins:

  If torments are afflicting a person, if illnesses are afflicting him, or if he is burying his children, one may not speak to him in the manner that the friends of Job spoke to him: “...whoever perished, being innocent?” [Job 4:6–7]. [Bava Metzia 58b] [See also Shulchan Aruch, Choshen Mishpat 228:4]

But commentators are telling us that all the time.  Some even tell us that the ONLY reason bad things happen to us is because we sinned.  The destruction of the first Temple?  Because of idolatry, sexual immorality and murder.  The destruction of the second Temple?  Because of senseless hatred.  [Yoma 9b]  Maalot, Israel, 1974, when Palestinian terrorists machine-gunned 25 children to death?  Because 25 mezuzot on the school doors did not have kosher scrolls in them.

So how do we reconcile the two teachings?  Perhaps the first refers to the victims while they are suffering, and the second refers to long after the events.  But still, why should there be a difference?  If the purpose of telling a victim it's his fault is to get him to look to the future and improve his behavior, when is the best time to do that?


texts: Is it possible to be a Noahide and a Christian at the same time?

texts:
Rambam states that for gentiles who wish to have a place in the world to come, they don't need to convert to Judaism. All they need to do is keep the 7 laws of Noah because they were mandated by Hashem.
https://www.sefaria.org/Mishneh_Torah%2C_Kings_and_Wars.9-10?lang=bi
The first of the seven Noahide commandments however is not to worship idols, and Christianity is considered by Rambam and others to be avodah zarah. This has also been discussed on Mi Yodeya here.
Is Christianity Avodah Zara?
Given the discussions on the status of Christianity and the prohibition of avodah zarah for Noahides, can one be a Noahide and a Christian at the same time ?
How about being a Noahide and rejecting Christianity as a doctrine, but taking part in Christian religious activities such as sermons, baptisms, etc?


texts: Regarding 'walking between women', I have an especially hard time with this in shul when i come out of the room we daven in into the hallway. It is difficult to go by without waiting for them which is a big טרחה for me. Any suggestions or leniencies regarding this.


texts: How does one, as a teacher, make Torah learning inspiring for one's students? Advice on what material to teach is appreciated, but more importantly I want to know how to teach it in a way that inspires the students to love Torah and to grow in their observance of it.


texts: When arising in the morning we should rise up like a lion.. Why a lion? Why not a tiger/bull or a horse? What does a lion do that we should do in am?

texts: When arising in the morning we are told in Halacha that we should rise up like a lion. My question is why like a lion? Why not rise like a  bull or a horse? What is unique to a lion that we are supposed to emulate upon arising in the morning?


texts: Yibum & Chalitzah for a widow whose husband died by suicide

texts:
Do the halachos of Yibum and Chalitzah apply (Rachmana Li'tzlan, Hashem Yishmor) to the widow/ brother(s) of a person who died via suicide?

(ie is this type of death different than other types of deaths)


texts: I can't find this ruling in the Shulchan Aruch, but isn't there a common understanding that an individual shouldn't pray/sing at the very top of their voice in shul (which annoys other congregants and even overpowers the Chazzan)? Can anyone give me an actual Talmudic citation or ruling?


texts: Are there certain people that should not be called for the aliyah having the rebuke?

texts:
This coming Shabbat, in Bechukotai the 5th aliyah includes a section known as תוכחה (words of "rebuke" if we do not follow G-d's laws.)

Our shul ritual committee discussed who to give the aliyah to, and someone suggested the rabbi. The cantor said, "No, it's inappropriate to give it to the rabbi or the Torah reader."

I'm unaware that there is any halacha that prevents certain people from specifically getting this aliyah. (I'm not talking about people who might be barred from getting any aliyah, like an avel or giving this aliyah to a Cohen or Levi, as it' sthe 5th aliyah.) Are there any restrictions on who can receiv eit or any suggestions on who SHOULD receive it?

BTW my question would apply similarly to the תוכחה in כי תבוא .


texts: Are common half siblings related to each other?

texts: I have 2 half-siblings, one through my father and one through my mother.  Are these 2 related to each other in any way according to the Torah (even though they share no common parent)?  For example, can they testify together?  Can they marry each other?


texts: Can one tear a plastic ring off of a bottle on Shabbos?

texts: Is one allowed to tear off a plastic ring on bottles ex: those bottles of a gallon of water that you have to tear off the plastic ring around it to use it.


texts:
Avraham stands at the entrance of his tent after his Brit - Bereshit 18 - looking around he sees three men at a short distance (even getting closer).

At a certain point they ask Avraham: “Where is your wife Sarah?” Avraham replies: “See (here) in the tent.”

Then one of the men (he) says: “I will return to you and your wife Sarah will have a son.” Sarah was listening from the tent and as a reaction she starts to laugh.

Then in verse 13 it says that G-d replies to this by saying: “Why did Sarah laugh?”, “Is anything too difficult for G-d”? At the designated time, I will return, and Sarah will have a son”

So here is my question: is the he really one on the men? Or is it G-d who speaks from the beginning or through his messenger? Because these messengers seem to be close to the tent and hear Sarah laughing. And ‘he’ says: I will return, while later it’s clear G-d says He will return. And again in Genesis 21:1 this seems to be the case. We read nothing of one of those men (who were malachim) returning right? So how could one of them says: I will return?

How do I need to explain these things?


texts: At what point was it recommended to have a separate kosher certifier (mashgiach) for local Jewish businesses?

texts:
If I understand correctly, you can generally walk into an observant Jew's house (upon invitation) and if he says the food is kosher, you assume the food is kosher.  Now if the same fellow has a kosher bakery or restaurant where he works all day, really in theory "eid echad ne'eman b'issurin", he could be trusted as well; but as a matter of good kosher policy, it's become standard practice today to have someone else overseeing the kashrus (a mashgiach).

Does anyone know at what point (historically, geographically, textually) this became the practice?


texts: Did the Sefer Torah written by the Maharam of Rottenberg survive the Holocaust?

texts:
There is a famous story of the Maharam copying a Sefer Torah written by Moshe Rabbeinu. Before passing, he threw it in the river by the castle in which he was arrested.

This Sefer Torah reached Worms, and was held in their shul. The Previous Lubavitcher Rebbe said that he saw it in 1907 (See Hayom Yom for the 7th of Elul). Does anyone know if it survived the Holocaust?


texts: Streaming services on Shabbat and holy days

texts:
More and more non-traditional congregations stream their Shabbat and Yom Tov services, for the benefit of hospital patients and shut-ins.

If done automatically, or managed by Gentiles, or started before the holiday, would this be halachically allowed?

Note this relevant ruling:

  ...R’ Moshe Feinstein (in a letter to R’ Yisroel Rozen of the Tzomet Institute) wrote that as the data is not being permanently recorded, it is at worst a Derabanan [prohibition].


texts: So we know that Bikurim was collected by tying a reed to the first fruit of a particular field when it would be found budding.  We also know that Chazal say to give one 60th of one's produce as Bikurim.  The question is how to do this properly.  It would seem necesary to know how much fruit the field will yield in advance how to then know how many fruits to mark off.  Am I missing something?


texts:
May one use ginger root that is sold pre-cut?

For context, I am curious about how the rules of davar charif might apply here. It seems to me that ginger would be a davar charif, so if it is cut with a non-kosher knife it might become non-kosher itself. On the other hand, I've heard that there is a halacha that davar charif which is cut in bulk does not become non-kosher, because the non-kosher residue which might be on the seller's knife becomes less potent after the first few cuts, so the vast majority of the davar charif which is sold is uncontaminated. (Is this a real halacha? Any help in locating it?)


texts: I have heard that the mitzvah to honor ones parents includes a commandment to honor one's oldest brother. Is this really the case?


texts:
Are there traditional communities that have rituals celebrating (or otherwise marking the occurrence of) a girl's first menses?  If so, what do those rituals look like?

(For purposes here, let's define a "traditional ritual" as something invented before 1920.)


texts: For how long was there confusion about the date of a holiday?

texts:
The second day of Yom Tov outside of Israel was caused either by the length of time it took messengers to get to far away communities and tell them when the new month was declared or the confusion because variant sects co-opted the fire-message system to create a false impression about the dates (I don't have sources for these but they are what I have read).

Hillel II codified his calendar somewhere in the early 4th century (though I also read that parts of the calendar were not instituted for another 500 years).

When was the practice of the second day of Y"T for Chu"L instituted and for how long was there any confusion before it was established (and after, before Hillel's calendar was adopted to resolve any confusion)?


texts:
I begin with the assertion that nothing is arbitrary in the Torah and the history followed the big plan as envisioned by the Creator.

The narrative of Moses' origin is fascinating but its necessity is puzzling. I ask myself, how would the story be different had Moses survived in Amram's house, grown up in Egypt, traveling to Midyan, experiencing the bush, and coming back as the leader of the Hebrews.

The numerous Midrashim add colorful details to Moses' biography but nothing that seems to pertain to the narrative of Exodus.

Why is the narrative of Moses growing up in Pharaoh's house important?


texts: King Shlomo's request to listen to prayers - Why do Gentiles have it easier than Jews?

texts:
I'm reading Radak's explanation to Melachim (Kings) I 8:43. He explains that King Shlomo (Solomon) requests G-d to fulfill whatever a Gentile requests (Rad"ak explains whether he deserves it or not) whereas, for Jews Shlomo says that G-d should fulfill their requests according to what is in their heart (i.e. if they are worthy of receiving their request.)

Rada"k explains that the reason is so that the Gentiles should know that G-d's name is called upon the Temple and that will give them a reason to revere G-d in the same way that Jews do.

There are some things that puzzle me about this explanation:

Isn't the fact that the Gentile appeared to pray at the Temple already a recognition that G-d's presence is there?
What does Rada"k mean by stating that they will rever G-d like B'nai Yisra'el does? In what way is it similar? Isn't the main way that Jews demonstrate reverence by performing G-d's mitzvoth? Is Rada"k implying that they will be more motivated to observe their 7 mitzvoth?
Isn't common behavior that when someone knows that he can get a "freebie" from someone who is willing to give it, that person will expect a freebie the next time? I.e., if the Gentile senses that G-d is granting his wishes freely even if his behavior doesn't warrant it, wouldn't he be likely to just expect G-d to answer every request al the time without changing his behavior? Shouldn't there be some limit to G-d granting a Gentile's requests all the time?


texts: Connection between story of the spies and the mitzvah of tziztis

texts: The mitzvah of tzitzis appears at the end of parashat Shelach. Is there a connection between the story of the spies and this mitzvah? Any explanation why/if tzitzis is related to the main narrative of Shelach?


texts: I heard somewhere that Gemara (Bavli) only covers a part of the Mishna and there is a big portion of Mishna that does not have Gemara associated with it.  If this is true, why not all of the Mishna is covered?


texts:
The Jerusalem Post quotes Rabbi Eliahu Birnbaum, director of the Straus-Amiel Institute of Ohr Torah Stone, as saying that if someone is quarantined due to the coronavirus they should send someone a nice note or call someone.

  “The gist of mishloah manot is to think about someone,” he told The Jerusalem Post. “By sending a nice note or calling one another to say happy holiday it sends a good feeling, and that way you preserve the mitzvah’s value.”

While this does preserve the value of the Mitzva, its really hard to say that too many opinions would feel this would fulfill the obligation of Mishloach Manos. It seems to me that there must be a better way for someone who is contagious on Purim to fulfill the Mitzva of Mishloach Manos according to more opinions.

The most obvious way would be to have a friend give someone two food items on your behalf which should work according to everybody. But even if that wasn't an option, there must be other ways that one can fulfill the obligation according to some opinions. Are there any other options?


texts:
What parts are to be omitted in davening if the congregation does not have a minyan? I know Kaddish and Borchu need a minyan, but what about things like the Chazzan's repetition of the Amidah? (Although I believe that needs a minyan though.)

Since the term "davening" is a broad term, how about focusing mostly on Shabbos tefillos.


texts: Three days before Matan Torah and three days of fast before Purim

texts:
Bnei Yisrael had to prepare themselves for three days before the giving of the Torah.

As a parallel to this receiving of the Torah, the Jews "accepted" the Torah on Purim (kiy'mu v'kiblu). The turning point in the story occurs after Esther and her servants (and all the people) take 3 days to prepare themselves for her meeting with the king.

Are there commentaries which tie the specific events in the timeline of Purim to the timeline of Matan Torah at Har Sinai?


texts: Shouldn't the order of dayenu be reversed?

texts:
The order of the verses in Dayenu, one of the songs sung during the Pesach Seder has always troubled me. It seems to me that they should be in reverse order. For example, the first verse says

אִלּוּ הוֹצִיאָנוּ מִמִּצְרָיִם וְלֹא עָשָׂה בָּהֶם שְׁפָטִים דַּיֵּנוּ
If he had taken us out from Egypt, and had not carried out judgements against them, it would have been enough.

And then the second verse says

אִלּוּ עָשָׂה בָּהֶם שְׁפָטִים וְלֹא עָשָׂה בֵּאלֹהֵיהֶם דַּיֵּנוּ
If he had carried out judgements against them, and not against their idols, it would have been enough.

That order does not make any sense to me.  We already said that it would have been enough had he not even carried out judgements against the Egyptians, so by reason of kal vachomer, of course it is enough if he did carry out the judgements against the Egyptians. The statements get weaker and weaker as the song goes on.
So why is Dayenu written the way it is and not reversed?


texts: What are the fasts of the 4th, 5th, 7th, and 10th months?

texts:
The prophet Zecharia spoke about a fast in the 4th and 5th months which I could not find from my understanding of both the civil and the religious Jewish calendars.

  Thus saith the LORD of hosts; The fast of the fourth month, and the fast of the fifth, and the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth, shall be to the house of Judah joy and gladness, and cheerful feasts; therefore love the truth and peace. — Zechariah 8:19, KJV

I was wondering whether these fasts were perhaps instituted during the exile to Babylon.


texts: Breishit 36:21 list דישון as the son of Se'ir, but verse 25 lists him as the son of Ana, which would make him a grandson of Se'ir. Which is it? Why the contradiction?


texts:
My question is simple: is there an English-language book on cantillation, which includes Ta'amei Eme"t, rare trop, and their grammatical purposes ?

I've seen books on learning to lehn and recognise trop, but generally, these focus entirely on Torah, Neviyim, and Megillot. Since I'm familiar with how to read Torah and haftarot, such a book would be unnecessary in my personal library.

I'm familiar with R' Hirsch's treatment of Ta'amei Eme"t in the back of his commentary on Tehillim, but this doesn't answer all of my questions on the matter.


texts: Why do Israelis keep one day of Yom Tov?

texts:
From what I understand, we outside of Eretz Yisrael we keep two days of Yom Tov as a continuation of the minhag that evolved from the time of the Bais Hamikdash when we would not necessarily know when Sanhedrin in Yerushalyim declared it to be Rosh Chodesh. In order to be sure that we keep Yom Tov on the correct day, we keep two days.

What I don't understand however, is why is this not the minhag in Eretz Yisrael? After all, just because you live in Eretz Yisrael today, it doesn't mean you are not technically in Golus. Also, there is no Sanhedrin in Eretz Yisrael today just as much as there is no Sanhedrin in Chutz L'Aretz today - meaning there is no central body anywhere to establish when Rosh Chodesh is.

According to all these educated assumptions, I can't see why Israelis would hold one day while British Jews, for example, keep two.

I would appreciate very much if someone could clarify.


texts:
I have a few questions about meat and Hadran (Hadran for finishing a tractate of Talmud)

Can you make a Siyum without meat?
If yes then can you say Hadran without meat?


texts: What is the basis for the focus on the difference between Jews and everybody else?

texts:
I have noticed that in a large portion of the questions and answers here, the distinction between Jews and other people is repeatedly emphasized.  I know enough about the Tanakh to understand that Judaism is a very unique covenant between G-d and His chosen people, but the degree of emphasis is surprising to me.

Case in point: There is a word that, according to the glossary, is specifically used when comparing Judaism to other religions, Jews to other people, the Torah to other books, etc. - "L'vhadil!

  The answer is that this is one of the differences between a Jew and l'havdil a gentile.
  -  Rabbi Shlomo Price

And:

  “Honest politician” is an oxymoron, from the local level all the way up to Congress and the White House it’s the same story, Republican or Democrat, Jew or l’havdil Gentile...
  -  Source

The question isn't specific to l'havdil though, it is about the general phenomenon.

Another example:

Is there any obligation for a Jew to save a gentile's life?

And the answer to the question of  Are you allowed to save a non-Jew's life on Shabbos? is "Yes, but mostly because there would be backlash if you didn't".

Instead of taking the position that life is life, and identity is secondary, the emphasis here is on whether or not the life belongs to a Jew.

Why is there such an intense focus on the difference between Jews, Judaism, Hebrew Scriptures, and everyone and everything else?


texts: My friend is going to meet rabbi, to talk about house management, and she wants to bring some present to him. What you would present to the rabbi, and what you should not to? Please explain why.


texts: What is the modern Karaite community's relationship with Rabbinic Judaism?

texts: I'm familiar with Karaism, and as I understand it, Karaites are not considered "Jews" by Rabbinic Jews, at least not in the traditional sense. What is the perspective of the Rabbinic Jewish community from the Karaite perspective? Is there an attitude of "agree to disagree," or "you're wrong," or just a full-on feeling of "you're all gonna burn"?


texts: Is there any "chisaran" (is there something "lacking") in one's fulfillment of the Mitzvah of Talmud Torah if they listen to soft, slow paced, instrumental music (no vocals or lyrics) while learning in order to focus better or drown out background noise?


texts: Why does the weekday Torah reading for Va'etchanan end in the middle of the Shabbat's 2nd aliyah?

texts:
While reading Va'etchanan last Thursday, I notice that the weekday reading ends in the middle of an aliyah (spec. the Sheni aliyah.)

I am unaware of any minhag that ends the reading of Va'etchanan at Shlishi. That would make for a very long weekday reading, so perhaps, this was not done b/c of tircha d'tzibbur?

I viewed the parsha (meaning "paragraph" as it is written in a Torah scroll) breakup of the beginning of Va'etchanan, as we need to assure that there are at least 3 verses available to be read before a paragraph break.

There is a petucha ("open" paragraph break) after Devarim 3:28. The reading begins at 3:23. So:

Cohen could be 3:23 - 3:25 (3 verses, as it currently is)
Levi could be  3:26-3:28 (3 verses and end at the par. break)
Yisra'el could be 4:1 - 4 (4 verses and ending at Sheni itself)

Why didn't they stop at Sheni, seeing that it would fit the halachic requirements for both proper aliyah breakup as well as reading a minimum of 10 verses for weekday reading?

Note If there are any customs that do stop at Sheni as I have proposed, please state who does this and how the aliyot are broken. If possible, state why they do and others don't. (I daven Nusach Ashkenaz, FYI.)


texts: Cooking on Chol HaMoed for after the Moed

texts: A theoretical shailo. One who is making a bris the day after shmini etzeres on isro chag (in eretz yisrael) and will have limited time to cook may they prepare the food already on chol hamoed for after the moed? I have heard poskim that are matir this because it's being done for a mitzvah however I'd like to find some sources for this or those that discuss this.


texts: Why do plastic bags and not fuselages protect against impurity?

texts:
In a picture on this article, we see a kohen who has enclosed himself in a plastic bag so as to avoid becoming impure as a result of flying over a cemetery. Why is it that a pressurized fuselage does not protect against this impurity, but a plastic bag with a hole in it does? What factors specify what barriers appropriately protect against this impurity?

EDIT - In light of some answers I consider incomplete, I'd like to make something clear: a proper answer should explain the logic behind why metal is an ineffective barrier but plastic is not. Also, I thought of something else relevant: if plastic is an effective barrier, then would this plastic bag not be necessary in a 787, which is made of carbon-fiber reinforced plastic?


texts: Clarification on Mesivta's calculations of Shtut

texts:
The Mesivta on B"M 50 brings the following table summarizing  different ways of calculations of Shtut:

I couldn't understand, if 1 out of 6 makes 16.6%, how come 9 out of 60 make 8.3%.

Please help me to understand the logic.


texts:
Assuming that God runs the world and that nothing happens by chance, what is the purpose of anti-semitism?

This has followed the jewish people since their inception in Egypt and is very much alive and kicking today.


texts: Why are the five megilos read in synagogue on holidays, but not the books of Mishlei, Iyov, Daniel, Ezra/Nechemia, Divrei Hayamim, or Psalms?


texts: What is the status or rank or position or importance of  Gavriel as an Angel in Tanach or Oral Law and what causes it to be at that position or rank?


texts: Young Priests' Finger Noise on Yom Kippur

texts:
In Mishnah Yuma 1:7,

  ביקש להתנמנם, פרחי כהונה מכין לפניו באצבע צרידה

  If he [the Cohen Gadol] sought to doze, the sprouting youths of the
  priesthood would strike before him with a צרידה finger.

[left צרידה untranslated because not sure what it means]

It seems from Kehati's explanation that this is the familiar action of snapping one's fingers, done using the middle finger, thumb, and palm. But Bartenura seems to say it involves the first finger: how would that work--how would a sound be made?


texts: I know you can do havdala after shabbat till tuesday at sunset, with some restrictions, but can you do late havdalah after yom tov ended, also what if yom tov was on shabbat (for example yom kippur that was on shabbat)


texts: What does kaparat pesha' have to do with leap years and Adar II?

texts:
In Jewish leap years we add the words

ולכפרת פשע
and atonement for transgressions

to a list of things we ask Hashem for in the coming month during the tefilah of musaf on Rosh Chodesh. We do this through the leap month (Adar II) and then we do not include those words the rest of the year, nor do we say them in non-leap years.
Now atonement for our transgressions is a very nice thing to daven for, but what's the connection to leap years or to Adar II such that we only include it when we do?


texts: What does it mean for atheists to raise their children 'Jewish'?

texts: I was reading the book Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mom by Amy Chua. In this book she mention that her Jewish husband is not religious in the slightest but still when they got married insisted that the children where raised 'Jewish'. I'm curious what exactly to be raised Jewish means in a general sense (as opposed to what it means to Ms. Chua specifically), especially considering that it is important for non-religious Jews as well.


texts:
I've been learning Bereshit with Rashi in school, and while reading a part of Vayera, I noticed that there were two grammatically different statements in one Pesuk.

  Bereshit (18:7)
  וְאֶל הַבָּקָר רָץ אַבְרָהָם וַיִּקַּח בֶּן בָּקָר רַךְ וָטוֹב וַיִּתֵּן אֶל הַנַּעַר וַיְמַהֵר לַעֲשׂוֹת אֹתוֹ
  "And to the cattle did Abraham run, and he took a calf, tender and good, and he gave it to the youth, and he hastened to prepare it."

At first it says "וְאֶל הַבָּקָר רָץ אַבְרָהָם" (To the cattle ran Abraham).
And then it says "וַיִּתֵּן אֶל הַנַּעַר" (And he gave it to the youth).

Why is it sometimes "to this he did this" and sometimes "he did this to this"?

I know the question may sound dumb, but I believe there's a meaning behind every word in the Torah. And things were written in a way for a reason.


texts:
In viewing the 4 groups of 3 encampments mentioned at the beginning of sidra Bemidbar, I noticed that regarding the 2nd tribe in each group, the Torah uses the phrase והחונים עליו ("The ones camping next to him"). See Bemidbar 2:5, 2:12 and 2:27.

For some reason, 2:20 regarding the tribe of Ephraim, the word והחונים is missing. Why?

Conjecture: The group "leader" in the 3rd group is Menashe, Ephraim's brother. Perhaps, that fact gives Ephraim a "special status"?


texts: K'shaim Shenichnas L'Bris Kain Yikones L'Torah L'Chupa U'Lmaasim Tovim: why that order?

texts: When a baby boy has his Bris we wish him "K'shaim Shenichnas L'Bris Kain Yikones L'Torah L'Chupa U'Lmaasim Tovim" - just like you entered the covenant so to should you enter into Torah, marriage, and good deeds. Should not Maasim Tovim be prior to Torah and Chupa? (Derech Eretz Kodma L'Torah)


texts:
The posuk Devarim (21:18) says

כִּי־יִהְיֶה לְאִישׁ בֵּן סוֹרֵר וּמוֹרֶה אֵינֶנּוּ שֹׁמֵעַ
בְּקוֹל אָבִיו וּבְקוֹל אִמּוֹ וְיסְּרוּ אֹתוֹ וְלֹא יִשְׁמַע
אֲלֵיהֶם׃
If a man has a wayward and defiant son, who does not heed his
father or mother and does not obey them even after they discipline
him,

Why does the Torah only attribute this son to the "man" and not the "woman" (presumably the mother)?


texts: Is there a connection between פסח (Pesach) and פה (peh / mouth)?  They sound similar.  Plus, we are commanded to do lots of symbolic eating on the holiday.  Has it been written about or discussed?  Thank you.


texts: Did many / any women remarry in the desert or after first entering Israel?

texts:
Follow up to this answer that states that women were excluded from the decree of dying in the desert.

If their husbands died and they didn't have children, I assume that they wanted children. Thus, is it possible that many of these women may have married men that were significantly younger than them? Did they marry while still in the desert, or was it more likely that they remarried after 40 years only after entering Israel? How was the next generation created?


texts: Why aren't Job or Psalms 90 in the Pentateuch?

texts:
In the Tanakh, the Jewish Biblical Canon, there are three categories of works: the Torah of Moses, and what are know as the 'Prophets' and 'Writings'. This categorization is outlined and mentioned in the Talmud.

Maimonides says in Guide for the Perplexed and in Mishnah Torah that Moses' level of prophecy had a clarity that surpased all subsequent prophecies, which understandably sets his book works apart. This stance is endorsed by God in Numbers 12. According to an opinion in Bava Bathra, (cited above), Job was written by Moses. Psalms 90 is also attributed to Moses. Why then are these works absent from the Pentateuch?

Please source your answers!


texts: Why this order of words: יַגְדִּיל תּוֹרָה וְיַאְדִּיר

texts:
We end the Rabbi Chananyah ben Akashya quote with a quote from Yeshayahu 42:21, the last 3 words of which say יַגְדִּיל תּוֹרָה וְיַאְדִּיר, meaning "Torah great and glorious" (which quote also appears elsewhere in the daily davening).

Why is the noun in the middle of two adjectives?  Why not have both adjectives before the noun?