Relating to (one or two) of the two Temples that stood in Jerusalem.
6
votes
3answers
268 views
Is the passage describing an approximation of pi or is it one of the miracles of Bais Hamikdash?
In Sepher M'lakhim we read how different measurement was taken. I wonder if this passage (Ⅰ M'lakhim 7:23) is describing an approximation of PI (3.1415...), or was this one of the hidden miracles?
...
13
votes
3answers
282 views
Can you become “more tamei”? If not, why do we worry about it today?
Without the temple and access to the ritual of the red heifer, we're all tamei (ritually impure) today with no way to fix it. Yet we work to avoid situations that would make us tamei (e.g. kohanim ...
10
votes
4answers
206 views
What is the best way to visualize the Churban Bais HaMikdash?
It is now thousands of years since the Churban Bais HaMikdash. Many jews feel very comfortable in their surroundings. What is the best way for a person to visiualize the great loss of the Bais ...
6
votes
1answer
271 views
Where did the Levitical priesthood go?
Has the sacrificial system of the Torah been abandoned? Do those in the Tribe of Levi still act as priest?
I have just never seen or heard of anyone making sacrifices of animals or going to a ...
5
votes
1answer
96 views
Mishkan significance
Why does the Torah feel the Need to tell me the rules for making the Mishkan? First, it is no longer relevant, as, even if we build, we will build a Beis Hamikdash. Plus, the Medrashim say it will be ...
4
votes
1answer
54 views
Ban on Shabas fasts derived from lechem hapanim?
The Shabas table song "Ki eshm'ra Shabas" includes the following stanza:
רָשׁוּם/רָשַׁם בְּדַת הָאֵ׳ חוֹק אֶל סְגָנָיו בּוֹ לַעֲרוֹךְ לֶחֶם פָּנִים בְּפָנָיו עַל כֵּן לְהִתְעַנּוֹת בּוֹ עַל פִּי ...
3
votes
0answers
16 views
Why redeem hekdesh?
Kind of related to What is my relationship to an object once I have pledged it as hekdesh?
Why would somebody pledge something to hekdesh and then redeem it when he could just donate money directly? ...
3
votes
2answers
84 views
What is my relationship to an object once I have pledged it as hekdesh?
Once someone has pledged an object as hekdesh, what is his relationship with that object? He is able to redeem it, so does that mean that he still has some kind of connection to that object? If not, ...
3
votes
1answer
87 views
facing east in the bes hamikdash
Tamid perek 1, in discussing how t'rumas hadeshen was done, writes:
He descended; he got to the floor, turned north, and went...
Any idea which way he turned around (clockwise or ...
2
votes
0answers
77 views
Mikvah Math for the Sea of Shlomo
In calculating the number of Mikvas that the "Sea of Shlomo" could hold, the Gemara (Eruvin 14b) calculates that it would hold 150. The Gemara asks, that being that the Sea was round, and the ...
2
votes
1answer
45 views
Communal commandment sources?
What are some good (preferably authoritative) sources that explain the concept and legal ramifications of mitzvos tziboriyos - obligations that fall upon the public as opposed to the individual?
I am ...
