Questions related to how something was in the past, and how it's developed since then.
1
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1answer
82 views
Was Shlomo Molcho a great kabbalist or a false messiah?
History records that a Portuguese Marano, Diego Peres (born 1500), after being spurned by Jewish adventurist David Reuveni, circumcised himself, changed his name to Shlomo Molcho, and went on a ...
8
votes
3answers
306 views
How did the Star of David become iconic?
We all recognize the iconic symbol of the Star of David, do we know where it came from and where it got its name?
I always learned that the symbol appeared on King David's shield. True? How do we ...
3
votes
2answers
421 views
How many Maccabees were there and what were their names?
How many Maccabees were there and what were their names?
13
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1answer
216 views
When did Matza become dry?
It's pretty commonly accepted that Matza used to be soft (sort of like a tortilla) and was used by Hillel to make a wrap (not a sandwich).
When did this change in various geographic locations which ...
12
votes
2answers
172 views
Who is the composer of Haneiros Halolu?
When we light the Menora we say Haneiros Halolu. Who composed these words?
10
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2answers
273 views
Who didn't recite Kabbalas Shabbos?
In this article, R. Michael Broyde writes that:
Indeed, there have been prominent halachic authorities of the last generation who did not recite Kabbalat Shabbat.
Can anyone provide examples of ...
9
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4answers
278 views
Can a convert be a prophet?
I don't think there were any gerim amongst the nevi'im, but would it have been possible?
9
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4answers
296 views
What happened to Chasidus?
When one reads stories of the old Chasidim, from the Baal Shem Tov through the first few generations, the impression one is left with is of a movement very different from the Chasidim of today. ...
9
votes
2answers
203 views
What were the Nephilim?
Inspired by this question on Biblical Hermeneutics.
What were the Nephilim mentioned in Bereishis and in Bamidbar?
Bereishis 6:1-4
The Nephilim were in the earth in those days, and also after ...
9
votes
3answers
230 views
When/how was the controversy regarding stainless-steel blades for shechitah resolved?
My understanding is that the use of stainless-steel blades for shechita (kosher slaughter) knives was introduced by the early Hassidic movement and initially opposed by the non-Hassidic leaders.
...
9
votes
3answers
215 views
Would halacha permit bombing Auschwitz?
I know there's a lot of talk about whether Allied forces during World War II could have / should have taken military action directly against the Holocaust. I'm not opening that can of worms here.
...
8
votes
2answers
262 views
Why was Chassidus controversial?
When Chassidus came about, it was very controversial. The Vilna Gaon even put Chassidim in cherem. What were the reasons for the controversy? And why is there peace and mutual respect today between ...
8
votes
1answer
186 views
Eldad HaDani's Lasting Influence - Is there any?
Eldad HaDani is (apparently) considered today to have been a fraud. According to this Wikipedia article, he was a traveler who told stories of his place of origin, which he claimed was a sovereign ...
7
votes
1answer
256 views
Fighting Wars on Shabbat
As I mentioned in another question, I was reading the Book of Maccabees over Shabbat (I and II).
In the book of Maccabees, it mentions that early on in the struggle, there were a group of Jews hiding ...
6
votes
0answers
50 views
Has anyone declared a time of oppression regarding the four Temple fasts?
The Sha'ar haTziyun (OC 550 sk 9) speculates if in his day (~1900 CE) there was enough oppression of the Jews to warrant declaring the fasts of 10 Tevet, 17 Tammuz and 3 Tishrei into full fledged ...
5
votes
2answers
183 views
How are pre-creation >4000 BCE human civilization and pre-flood >2300 BCE civilizations that continued reconciled with Judaism?
How does human history fit in with the Torah's timeline?
Not even worrying about why the universe and Earth look so old, there is extensive evidence of a human population and human civilizations from ...
4
votes
1answer
121 views
Source for story of Rashi, the King, and the Four Horsemen
There is a story (you can read the details here) about Rashi telling a King that he will conquer Yerushalaim for 3 days and return with 3 horses and 3 riders. The King returned with 4, but as they ...
17
votes
2answers
267 views
What kind of kippah is this?
This photo of my great great grandfather was taken around 1900. He's a Lubavitch Jew from Belarus. His name is Zalman Malkin. He is from Liozna. The story of his life is here:
...
14
votes
2answers
382 views
What was wrong with the word Talmud?
The Wikipedia article on The Talmud says:
and Pope Pius IV commanded, in 1565, that the Talmud be deprived of its very name. The convention of referring to the work as "Shas" (shishah sidre ...
14
votes
1answer
461 views
What was daily life like for Jewish women living in al-Andalus in the 10th/11th centuries?
The emir of Al-Andalus (approximately the Iberian peninsula) declared himself a new caliph, breaking off from the caliphate in the east, circa 950 CE. I have read that the next couple hundred years ...
13
votes
5answers
337 views
What is the source of the Magen Dovid (Star of David)?
What is the source of the Magen Dovid (Star of David) in Rabbinic Judaism?
When was it first used, and for what?
13
votes
2answers
262 views
What does “the Talmud” mean in the Talmud?
The G'mara Bavli says in Shabas 63:
אמר רב כהנא, "כד הוינא בר תמני סרי שנין, והוה גמירנא ליה לכוליה תלמודא, ולא הוה ידענא דאין מקרא יוצא מידי פשוטו..."
Rav Kahana said, "When I was 18 years ...
12
votes
1answer
114 views
Sukkah in the Soviet Union
The opinion of the Shulchan Aruch Harav is that one isn't allowed to build a Sukkah on public property (because it is considered stolen).
In the Soviet Union all property was nationalized and they ...
11
votes
2answers
522 views
What is the red string all about?
Where did the concept of wearing a red string come from? I have heard different opinions ranging from "you should definitely wear it" to "its forbidden like idol worship" - who is right?
11
votes
1answer
211 views
Did people ever place actual physical stumbling blocks before the blind?
I know that the prohibition against placing stumbling blocks before the blind has been understood to be a prohibition against misleading or causing people to sin, but the simple meaning of the text is ...
11
votes
1answer
118 views
First-Temple-Era names of the Hebrew months?
The Chumash refers to the months simply as "the first", "the second", and so on. Today we know them by their Babylonian names (Nisan, Iyar ...) Occasionally the Prophets from the First-Temple Era use ...
11
votes
2answers
128 views
Division of Verses in Tanach
In light of comments here, what is the history of the current division of tanach into pesukim? Specifically, to what extent do we view our breaks as coming from Sinai? Are there Christian influences ...
11
votes
4answers
621 views
“If God had not delivered us from Egypt we would still be slaves”? Really?
One part of the Pesach seder that has always bothered me is saying that if God had not taken us out of Mitzrayim at that time we would still be slaves today. This seems lacking in faith in God; ...
10
votes
1answer
127 views
What happened to the Eirev Rav?
What happened to the Eirev Rav after the Jews entered Israel? They were open trouble makers in the desert, yet nothing was mentioned of them later?
Did they clean up their act? Did they die out?
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?
9
votes
3answers
320 views
How Kabbalistically accurate is the golem-making procedure described in “Niflaos Maharal”?
There's been plenty of discussion about the historic authenticity of "Niflaos Maharal", a book that appeared in the early 1900s describing how the Maharal made a Golem to defend the Jews against blood ...
8
votes
1answer
139 views
Origin of Haggadah Section Titles (Kadesh Urchatz, etc.)
What is the historical origin of the section titles of the Haggadah?
(Inspired by discussion in comments on this answer to the question: Translation of haggadah section titles)
8
votes
0answers
87 views
Explanations for forbidding writing Oral Torah [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Why was Torah sheBal Peh not allowed to be Written?
The Wikipedia article for Oral Torah mentions the possibility that it was forbidden to write and publish Oral Torah.
...
8
votes
2answers
229 views
When did people stop wearing Tefilin all day?
At what point in history did most religous people stop wearing Tefilin all day?
8
votes
3answers
211 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
269 views
What happened to the Jewish practice of using burial caves?
A three-part question about funerary practices.
In ancient times, Jews used to bury people for a year or two, then, after the body decomposed, collect their bones and put them in a family cave. In ...
8
votes
1answer
122 views
“m'nora” on Chanuka
My kid came home from school one day insisting that the thing we light on Chanuka is not a m'nora but a chanukiya. I replied that that's the word most Israelis use now but that m'nora is a perfectly ...
7
votes
2answers
141 views
What are the 3 things Rabeinu Gershom banned?
I've heard that Rabeinu Gershom (a 10th-11th century scholar) banned 3 things, and I know one of them is polygamy. Does anyone know what the other two are?
7
votes
3answers
183 views
Masada - heroic martyrdom or immoral murder/suicide?
Was the mass coordinated mutual killing at Masada (for lack of a better term) an act of heroic martyrdom or immoral murder and suicide?
While it is unknown for certain what exactly transpired, ...
7
votes
3answers
187 views
Which masechtot don't really have Rashi?
I often hear that the printed "Rashi" commentary in certain masechtot of the Talmud Bavli (first that come to mind are Moed Katan and Nedarim) is not actually written by Rashi. Does anyone have a full ...
7
votes
1answer
201 views
Was Rabbi Moshe Feinstein ever formally ordained? (Given semicha?)
Did Rabbi Moshe Feinstein ever formally receive semicha? From whom? I recall reading that he studied a great deal with his father, and that his first responsum was written "at his father's orders."
7
votes
1answer
150 views
Chamisha Asar B'Av - when did the Minhag stop?
The Gemara Taanis 31. says אמר רבן שמעון בן גמליאל לא היו ימים טובים לישראל כחמשה עשר באב וכיוה"כ שבהן בנות ירושלים יוצאות ... וחולות בכרמים ומה היו אומרות בחור שא נא עיניך וראה מה אתה בורר לך אל תתן ...
7
votes
3answers
213 views
Why the split between Sefardim and Ashkenzim?
Why is there a much bigger split between Sefardim and Ashkenzim and not, say, between Sefardim and people who lived in Bavel? The distance between Spain, and say, Israel should have been big enough to ...
7
votes
2answers
165 views
The Split Between Sefardim and Ashkenazim
How did this split happen historically and halachically before Shulchan Aruch, and why is not like having two Torahs? Where is the source for the split?
6
votes
2answers
88 views
Why did none of the later kings of Israel destroy Amalek?
There is a commandment to obliterate Amalek.
Shaul Hamelech was commanded to obliterate Amalek and failed.
Dovid continued in the process, but obviously didn't destroy them completely.
None of the ...
6
votes
2answers
96 views
What financial arrangement did Rambam have with his jeweler brother?
I was taught in yeshiva that as a young man, Rambam just studied Torah and was supported by his brother, who was a jewel merchant. Then his brother died at sea, so Rambam became a physician.
Recently ...
6
votes
3answers
97 views
What happened to Avraham's students?
We read how Avraham was going around convincing people to believe in one G-d and of his many students. Yet we don't hear of those students (or their descendants) ever again.
What happened to them ...
6
votes
2answers
223 views
Is there sufficient evidence to support the theory that ancient Israel practiced monolatry?
I just came across this Wikipedia article on monolatrism that says some people believe ancient Israel practiced monolatry.
The highest claim to be made for Moses is that he was, rather than a ...
6
votes
1answer
282 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 ...
6
votes
1answer
146 views
Did the Sefer Torah written by the Maharam of Rottenberg survive the Holocaust?
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 ...
