The geography tag has no wiki summary.
61
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3answers
2k views
Implications of Samoa skipping a Friday
This week, the island of Samoa is switching time zones, causing it to skip from Thursday directly to Saturday. Out of simple curiosity, what implications might this have on any Jews on the island? ...
14
votes
2answers
115 views
Hagalah in Denver?
In high-altitude cities, water boils at a lower temperature than the standard 212 degrees Farenheit. For example, in Denver the boiling point is about 203 degrees. Can one kasher utensils with hagalah ...
11
votes
4answers
192 views
Commencing Shabbos: Shkiya behind a mountain
It is common practice nowadays for Shuls to publish the zmanim (times) to begin Shabbos (the Sabbath) and other activities. These times, it would seem, are based upon standard calculations of sunrise ...
11
votes
2answers
212 views
May one walk under the Arch of Titus?
I have heard that it is prohibited (or at least that the custom is not) to walk under the Arch of Titus in Rome. Is this accurate? If so, what is the source? Would it make a difference if a large ...
11
votes
1answer
203 views
Is all-night Shavu'ot learning as prevelant in the Southern Hemisphere?
In the Northern Hemisphere, Shavu'ot falls in the late Spring or early Summer. As a result, sunrise is relatively early, so learning "all night" and then praying the morning service at the earliest ...
11
votes
2answers
195 views
Were the people of Chelm really unintelligent?
There are many stories that are told over about the people who lived in Chelm. They all have the theme of: the people in Chelm were fairly unintelligent. Where did this come from? Is it true? It ...
11
votes
1answer
95 views
Facing Yerushalaim during Kaddish
Must one face Yerushlaim (or the Hechal) when reciting Kaddish,the way one should for Amida? This seems to be generally practiced; does it have a source in the Shulchan Aruch or achronim or is it a ...
10
votes
2answers
122 views
ribis and foreign currency conversion
I am afraid that I have only recently started to study this kind of thing and I completely unlearned compared to most of the contributors here, so I apologize if my question is somewhat ...
10
votes
2answers
98 views
Did Shuls in Europe display their countries' flags prior to the holocaust?
Prior to the holocaust, did Shuls in Europe display their countries' respective flags? Do Shuls currently display their countries' flags? When did it start and why?
10
votes
1answer
233 views
When does a day start/end in the far North/South?
As I understand it, a day in the Jewish calendar is from sunset to sunset. How is this handled if you are living so far north or south that you have long periods of daylight or darkness?
9
votes
4answers
371 views
Why wasn't the Torah given in Israel?
One might naturally expect that the Jewish people would enter the land and then receive the Torah there. It seems logical to me that the Torah should come from a holy place characterized by the ...
9
votes
1answer
99 views
9
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1answer
90 views
Bes El or Bes Kel?
There is at least one city mentioned in Tanach named Bes El, written as two words; that name currently belongs to a city in Israel and a number of synagogues and Reform temples. Does that "El" have ...
8
votes
4answers
560 views
How precisely oriented towards Jerusalem should we face for praying?
I know we're supposed to face towards Jerusalem when praying/davening. For most of us in the Europe or the Western Hemisphere, we're used to facing "Mizrach", east.
How precise should we be? If ...
8
votes
3answers
205 views
Pre-1948, what flags were found in American synagogues?
Certainly throughout the 1970s and 1980s, it was not at all uncommon to see an American synagogue where the Aron Kodesh was flanked by American and Israeli flags.
Pre-1948, was there just an American ...
8
votes
1answer
200 views
Are there any Synagogues or Rabbis available in Pakistan?
There was once a very thriving Jewish community available in Pakistan. There was a Synagogue in the port city of Karachi as well till 1985.
What is the current situation now? What if someone would ...
8
votes
2answers
173 views
Is there a difference between “p” and “f” when transliterating from English to Hebrew?
When transliterating an English name to Hebrew (e.g. for a Ketubah or Get), is there a way to distinguish between a "p" and "f" sound? E.g. Fine, NY vs Pine, CO. Would both just be spelled (assuming ...
8
votes
1answer
285 views
Four Holy Cities
I have often seen reference to the Four Holy Cities: Jerusalem, Hebron, Safed and Tiberias. What is the earliest source to reference this? Why these four cities? Has there ever been a different count? ...
8
votes
0answers
129 views
The size/shape of biblical Israel
Based on this Tosafot in Bava Metzia 28a (D"H Chamisha Asar Yom), Eretz Israel is a square (400 sq. Parsah), and the distance between Jerusalem and the Jordan river is 1/39th the distance between ...
7
votes
2answers
89 views
How did the Sages know that Jerusalem had a wall in the times of Joshua?
The criterion for whether a city celebrates Purim on 14 Adar or Shushan Purim on 15 Adar is whether it was walled in the times of Joshua (about 3300 years ago). (Well Shushan itself is an exception, ...
7
votes
2answers
511 views
Why blessings on Mt. Gerizim and curses on Mt. Ebal?
Devarim 11:29 says:
וְהָיָה, כִּי יְבִיאֲךָ יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ, אֶל-הָאָרֶץ, אֲשֶׁר-אַתָּה בָא-שָׁמָּה לְרִשְׁתָּהּ--וְנָתַתָּה אֶת-הַבְּרָכָה עַל-הַר גְּרִזִים, וְאֶת-הַקְּלָלָה עַל-הַר עֵיבָל.
...
7
votes
2answers
64 views
Why is it that there appear to be so many different nuschaos of Selichos?
Why is it that there appear to be more different nuschaos of Selichos than other tefillos? I have heard of Askenaz, Sfard, Lita, Polin and Ungvar.
7
votes
1answer
86 views
From where do the maps of Kriyas Yam Suf come?
I have seen many maps showing where the Jews crossed "Yam Suf" (Usually translated as the Red Sea).
Then they show where the Jews traveled, where is Mt. Sinai, where did the Jews encamp, etc.
Where ...
7
votes
3answers
117 views
Why was the torah given on a mountain?
I have seen many divrei torah about the fact that Har Sinai was not the tallest mountain (based on Sota 5a) and the importance of humility in acquiring torah. But, why was the torah given on a ...
6
votes
1answer
87 views
Walled from the times of Joshua: Why Joshua?
The Halacha is that those who live in a city that was walled in the times of Yehoshuah reads on a different day. The question is why from Yehoshuah (Joshua) when the commentaries explain it they speak ...
6
votes
4answers
157 views
What defines a “Jewish State” according to Rav Kook?
This question is only According to the opinion of R' Kook, who says that modern day Israel "would be considered the
quasi-Kingdom of Israel".
What component of the modern-day state would give it ...
6
votes
1answer
95 views
When is “vesain tal umotor” said in Australia?
When is "vesain tal umotor" said in the Southern Hemisphere eg Australia?
6
votes
1answer
97 views
Location of the Beit HaDeshen
In "aizeho mekomon" (the 5th chapter of Maseches Z'vachim)we learn that the the porim hanisrofim were burned in the Beit HaDeshen. What please was the location of the Beit HaDeshen? I seem to remember ...
6
votes
2answers
102 views
Walled cities for Purim other than Jerusalem
The holiday of Purim is unique in that some locations celebrate it on different days. The rule is: if the city was walled at the time of Joshua's conquest of the Land of Israel then they celebrate on ...
6
votes
0answers
50 views
Shkiya/Netz behind a mountain [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Commencing Shabbos
If one is located behind a mountain, what time is Shkiya or Tzeis?
Is it when the sun sets below the "calculated" horizon (when the sun should set ...
5
votes
2answers
144 views
Were the Cities of Refuge ever built?
Are there any sources saying that the ערי מקלט were really built? I heard once that it was too hard to built the all the roads to them so they were never actually constructed. I know in Yehoshua ...
5
votes
2answers
65 views
Are there any eruvs that include both sides of a US Interstate Highway?
Are there any eruvs that include both sides of a US Interstate Highway?
I assumed this was halachically and/or logistically impossible. Is that correct? Can anyone prove this wrong by (groan) ...
5
votes
1answer
59 views
5
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1answer
182 views
What are some understandings as to how animals populated different continents after the flood?
What are some understandings as to how animals populated different continents after the flood? Did some species of animals survive the flood? Or are we to understand that the flood only affected the ...
5
votes
3answers
194 views
'Goshen' was where?
Tonight I thought occurred to me regarding Yosef going to meet Yaakov for the first time in Egypt. It depended on where Goshen was, which I thought was south of the main then center of Egypt. I could ...
5
votes
1answer
93 views
Is the term Cushite used to refer to people of African descent?
While reading the book of Numbers (I am a Christian, I don't know if it is referred to something else in Judaism), I came across the passage (Numbers 12:1-15) where Miriam and Aaron were speaking ...
5
votes
2answers
185 views
What's the history of Hekhalot/Heichalot/Heikhalot literature?
There is a field of study, which focuses on the Hekhalot literature. However, the internet gives conflicting information about them.
For example, some state that they were written by the early ...
5
votes
1answer
190 views
Shabbat in the arctic
If I were to travel to Barrow, Alaska in the summer, when there is no sunset, when should I light the Shabbat candles?
(This is not a hypothetical question; I work remotely for an Alaskan corporation ...
5
votes
2answers
65 views
Yiddish city name from the 19th c
There is a locale referenced in a few places in stories or other materials relating to R' Y'chi'el Tz'vi Margaliyos called טאקאלא, on which extremely little information seems to be available online. ...
5
votes
1answer
66 views
Halachic sources on business ethics in a globalized industry?
The usual rule in halachah, as far as business dealings, is הכל כמנהג המדינה - everything follows the local custom. This applies to things like expected product quality (Shulchan Aruch Choshen Mishpat ...
5
votes
1answer
71 views
Why don't islands read the m'gila two days?
Bavli, M'gila 5 amud 2, cites a doubt as to when the m'gila is read in T'verya: on the fourteenth of Adar, as in most places, or on the fifteenth, as in a city walled since the time of Y'hoshua. The ...
5
votes
0answers
61 views
42 camps and 42 non-refuge Levite cities (Masei)
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 ...
5
votes
0answers
87 views
Late sunset times and Jewish observance
This question is distinct from other questions which ask how and when to begin Shabbat, etc. when there is no sunset. I am asking about places in which sunset occurs very late during certain times of ...
4
votes
6answers
119 views
Al Hamichyah - Wide land?
In the Brocho after eating grains which are not bread we say:
על ארץ חמדה טובה ורחבה
Translated very loosely as: On the Land (ISRAEL) that is desirable good and WIDE.
Now, anyone with a ...
4
votes
2answers
286 views
What's the “ORegon 7-1222” on R' Moshe Feinstein's letterhead? [closed]
The English part of of R' Moshe Feinstein's letterhead reads as follows:
RABBI MOSES FEINSTEIN
455 F.D.R. DRIVE
New York, N.Y. 10002
__
ORegon 7-1222
See for instance this letter, this ...
4
votes
3answers
172 views
Techelet from the Kineret
Is the Murex trunculus (used by Ptil Tekhelet) found exclusively at the Kineret? Or is at found at the Kineret as well as other locations?
The reason I am asking this question is because the Arizal ...
4
votes
3answers
286 views
Where is the Sambatyon?
Where is the Sambatyon? Is there really a river somewhere that throws stones all week and rests on Shabbos?
4
votes
1answer
25 views
Southern Birkas Ha'ilanos
I've seen Saying Mashiv HaRuach in the Southern Hemisphere. Similarly, is Birkas Ha'ilanos (ברכת האילנות) said in Tishrei in the southern hemisphere? That's when the trees bloom.
4
votes
1answer
63 views
Why be happy Shushan Purim?
Rama (695:2) quotes from the Maharil (though I don't see it there):
וחייב במשתה ושמחה קצת בב׳ ימים י״ד וט״ו
and one must have a drinking party and joy, a little, on two days: the fourteenth and ...
4
votes
1answer
82 views
Spain and curse
Was there a Curse placed on Jews returning to Spain after the Spanish Inquisition if so who stated it and general background information would be appreciated?
