Questions related to how something was in the past, and how it's developed since then.
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.
...
6
votes
2answers
220 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 ...
11
votes
1answer
98 views
Were Avraham's tactics in rescuing Lot typical of the time?
Parshat Lech L'cha describes how Lot was captured in the battle of four kings against five kings. When Avraham heard, he mounted a night-time attack to rescue him. This got me wondering: was a ...
8
votes
4answers
119 views
Why did the scholars of Bavel live in Bavel and not Eretz Yisrael?
If there is a positive mitzva of living in Eretz Yisrael, why did the scholars of Pumbedisa, Sura, Nahardai, Mechoza, etc. remain in Bavel. If it was to learn Torah from the giants, then we can focus ...
5
votes
1answer
183 views
Question about Polygamy and Marriage Ceremonies
This is a follow up to my previous question on Polygamy
In Jewish marriages, was it ever common for a man to marry more than one wife in the same ceremony?
The context: I've been looking into ...
18
votes
2answers
925 views
Questions about Polygamy in Jewish Law and Culture
I've recently been looking into polygamy (having more than 1 wife), and had a few cultural questions.
Was polygamy accepted at the time of David and Solomon? Were there any laws about it?
Was ...
2
votes
1answer
74 views
Why has the zemiroh על אהבתך אשתה גביעי fallen out of favour?
We used to sing a zemiroh, I believe by Rabbi Yehudah HaLevi, which started, על אהבתך אשתה גביעי. This zemiroh does not appear in current zemiros books. (1) Do you have an online text of it? (2) Why ...
4
votes
1answer
76 views
Rashi's biography sources
I know that Rashi had daughters — either two or three — and no sons. I also know he was a vintner — meaning he made wine. I know he was a student of or student of a student of Rabenu Gershom. I guess ...
5
votes
1answer
148 views
A cryptic Seder HaDoros regarding to the year of Jesus' birth
Regarding the year of Jesus' birth, it says in Seder HaDoros (Year 3724) that the year 3724 and the year (3)532 are really the same. What in the world does he mean?
Its in the first column first ...
4
votes
1answer
648 views
Where did the Plishtim (Philistines) come from?
Concerning the Plishtim (Philistines), Easton's Bible Dictionary (quoted here) says:
They occupied the five cities of Gaza, Ashkelon, Ashdod, Ekron, and Gath, in the south-western corner of ...
4
votes
1answer
144 views
Is there any corobating evidence besides the Bible of the stories of Shadrach, Meschach, and Abednego?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadrach,_Meshach,_and_Abednego
(AKA Chananya, Mishael, and Azarya)
The story is that these 3 people did not bow to a golden image. Then they got thrown into a fire. A ...
7
votes
3answers
200 views
Did all animals come into the Teiva?
Were there any type of animals that were destroyed completely by the Mabul? (For example - Is there any source that there were dinosaurs or any other type of wildlife and they were destroyed by the ...
15
votes
2answers
244 views
Halachot of Shul Mechitzas
What are some good books, articles, websites, or seforim for learning about the Halachot of constructing and maintaining a Shul Mechitza (the barrier between the men and women sections)?
Issues ...
10
votes
1answer
160 views
What are these three types of Amos?
I'm not one to usually go to Google itself to learn about Judaism, but I feel that the circumstances around how I discovered this is really intriguing...
Google Maps has a nice little feature that ...
4
votes
1answer
73 views
Who wrote the piyutim of Rosh Hashana/Yom Kippur?
I don't know if they are technically called "piyutim", but there is a nusach we say on Rosh Hashana/Yom Kippur between "Ata Kadosh" to "Hamelech Hakadosh". Was that decreed by the Anshei Knesses ...
8
votes
1answer
136 views
Does Torah inerrancy extend to the prophets and the writings?
Most Orthodox Jewish scholars hold that the Torah is 100% factually accurate (see previous question). I believe this is generally understood to refer specifically to the five books of Moses. What do ...
9
votes
1answer
111 views
layout of the Gemara
When was the current pagination of the Gemara finalized? It seems that it was before the Vilna print, though it seems from different Acharonim (the Rama, etc.) quoting the Mordechai that the Mordechai ...
16
votes
3answers
490 views
Why do we bow down in the direction of the ark?
This is a question I've had for many years, to which I've never received a satisfactory answer:
In Hebrew school, we were taught that idolaters bowed to a idol of their god. They would claim that ...
8
votes
2answers
295 views
Was “correcting” left-handed children something traditionally done by Jews?
In many societies, efforts are made to "convert" children who are naturally left-handed to using their right hands. As I understand it, modern neurology strongly frowns upon this practice.
I recall ...
4
votes
2answers
1k views
how old is Judaism?
How old is Judaism - not legendary, but indicated by science?
What are the oldest scriptures found of the story of Moses, for example? Or are the scriptures imported from very different cultures so ...
1
vote
1answer
96 views
Did 1 million Ethiopians really attack Israel?
2 Chronicles
14:8 And there came out against them Zerah the Ethiopian with an host of a thousand thousand, and three hundred chariots; and came unto Mareshah.
How could the Ethiopians have an army ...
9
votes
5answers
787 views
Have Jews believed that Ezra was the son of God?
In reading the Qur'an, I noticed this passage:
Qur'an 9:30 The Jews say, "Ezra is the son of Allah "; and the Christians say, "The Messiah is the son of Allah ." That is their statement from their ...
-7
votes
1answer
922 views
Why do the Philistines have many Giants?
Were the Philistine giants bigger than the Israelites? Were giants common among the Israelites' neighbors? Did they have better nutrition? (Just curious.) Were the Israelites typically smaller in ...
2
votes
2answers
287 views
Why use Babylonian calendar instead of our own?
Why did the Hebrews not create their own calendar system instead of copying the pagan Babylonians'?
I find it interesting that they use a pagan calendar which often honours pagan gods. Why is this ...
5
votes
1answer
110 views
Looking for biographical information about R. Avraham Halevi Fattal
I'm writing something for which I need a capsule biography of him. So far, about all I know is:
He is the father-in-law of (יבלח"ט) R. Ovadiah Yosef.
He was an important figure in the Syrian Jewish ...
5
votes
1answer
73 views
How and when did the word “Kollel” come to mean “an institution for paying scholars to study Torah”?
How and when did the word "Kollel" come to mean "an institution for paying scholars to study Torah"?
If I'm not mistaken, the Hebrew word "kollel" means "includes."
But today we've all heard of the ...
6
votes
1answer
272 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 ...
12
votes
1answer
189 views
Kubutz and shuruk in Polish/Hungarian pronunciation
What is the origin or basis of the Polish and Hungarian prevalence for pronouncing "oo" vowels as "ee"? The variants of other vowels are easier to understand in the context of phonological shifting, ...
13
votes
1answer
290 views
Jews under Charlemagne
Jews under Charlemagne in the 8th century and the Carolingian emperors were accredited food providers in addition to providing wine for Christian mass. I am looking for halachic responses to these ...
9
votes
3answers
163 views
What's the origin of having more than one name?
I suppose this is more of a history question: as in when did Jewish people start naming their children with more than one name? But I would also be interested in knowing the circumstances behind it?
...
11
votes
4answers
616 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; ...
7
votes
5answers
220 views
Learning History on Shabbos
Is there a Halachic problem to read and or learn the topic of History on Shabbos for enjoyment purposes? and why?
3
votes
1answer
166 views
Who were the Magharians?
Title says it all. Who were the Magharians? It seems like they were some group of Pre-Christianity Jews or something like that that lived in caves?
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 ...
8
votes
1answer
255 views
What was the topic debated in the series of Satmar/Lubavitch talks?
I'd heard there was a point in the late twentieth century when the Lubavitcher Rebbe (R' Menachem Mendel Schneurson) would give an address, which would be relayed to the Satmar Rebbe (R' Yoel ...
13
votes
5answers
326 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?
10
votes
1answer
68 views
Who instituted the Nusach of the Mi SheBerachs that we say?
Who instituted the Nusach of the Mi SheBerachs that we say for a newborn, for a sick person, after an Aliyah, etc.?
10
votes
3answers
138 views
Who instituted the Musaf prayer?
According to the Gemara in Brachot, there are two views about Shacharit, Mincha, and Maariv: one is that the Avot instituted them, and one is that they correspond to the daily tmidin and the burning ...
11
votes
3answers
371 views
What has the Holocaust taught us as a people?
The Holocaust was one of the most horrific and important events in our history. What have rabbis said are lessons we should take from it?
I am looking for lessons that should apply to all Jews, ...
6
votes
1answer
414 views
How did the Ten Martyrs actually die?
On Yom Kippur and Tisha B'av we read about the Ten Martyrs who were gathered and killed by Emperor Hadrian to atone for the Sale of Yosef HaTzadik.
In addition to the idea that the Ten Martyrs didn't ...
4
votes
1answer
89 views
Community/Synagogue Honorifics
I visited the Rare Books section of the JTS in New York in Dec. 2009, to view an old manuscript from Kezmarok, Slovakia. I selected certain pages that I was interested in translating, on behalf of ...
3
votes
1answer
222 views
Source of appellation “Shimshon HaGibor”
I've heard it claimed that the expression "Shimshon HaGibor" (Samson the Mighty) [as a descriptive of Shimshon in Tanach] was invented by the Zionists, to promote their "strong Jew" narrative. Is this ...
8
votes
2answers
220 views
When did people stop wearing Tefilin all day?
At what point in history did most religous people stop wearing Tefilin all day?
7
votes
1answer
147 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 ...
5
votes
1answer
47 views
Choosing Rabbonim in shtetlach
How were Rabbonim chosen in Shetlach?
Was there an Election (like in Crown Heights), and if so, who were eligible to vote?
Was it all men were allowed, or just learned members of the community?
4
votes
1answer
78 views
seeking text of a notice published by the Malbim
Someone told the following story today (or something like the following story. I may be remembering it incorrectly to some extent). He said he had gotten it from a book called Em Habanim S'mecha, ...
5
votes
0answers
79 views
Why are the kinos about Jeremiah's appeal to the avos out of order?
The kina (elegy, said on the ninth of Av) about Jeremiah's going to ask the avos to pray (kina 21 in at least some versions) is said before the one about Tziyon's telling him to do so (22). Why this ...
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?
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 ...
2
votes
1answer
131 views
Which rabbis forbade cars 100 years ago?
"Venishmartem Meod Lenafshoseichem"
I heard that there were Rabbonim about 100 years ago who forbade cars, saying that they were dangerous. Does anyone know who they were?
