Questions related to how something was in the past, and how it's developed since then.
4
votes
1answer
56 views
Why is the Shulchan Aruch definitive?
Why do we (almost all Jews) consider the Shulchan Arukh, not written until the 16th century, to be the final word on halakha?
Our halakha is derived from Torah Shebikhtav and She'be'al Peh. SA ...
-3
votes
1answer
40 views
First mention about Jews in the literature? [closed]
Do anybody know in which document in the literature (except Bible and Torah) was the first mention about Jews?
0
votes
0answers
27 views
Do we know of any niggunim that date back to the Beit Hamikdash? [duplicate]
I have heard that some niggunim date back to the times of the Beit Hamikdash and I cant remember which ones! What I do remember is that they used (what we would call) a 4/4 time signature and ...
1
vote
1answer
202 views
Was the Hebrew Alphabet also given with the Tablets and Law?
My research for my answer to Which alphabet were the original Torah scrolls in? gave me an idea--Since the Early Alphabetic alphabet is also called Sinaitic, and the timing seems about right, maybe ...
15
votes
2answers
307 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 ...
3
votes
0answers
58 views
The heel of Moshiach?
I have seen quotes from various rabbis, the oldest dating back to the Ari Z"L that state that we are in the ikve d'Moshiach (the heels of the Messiah). Ostensibly that was meant to convey that ...
3
votes
3answers
224 views
Was Rambam affected by Islam?
Was Rambam's philosophy affected in any way by Islamic culture or religion? If so, could that influence have influenced his interpretation of halacha?
This question is inspired by an ongoing ...
2
votes
1answer
101 views
Celebrating the Hashmonaim as part of Hanukkah
The Hashmonaim are an integral part of the Hanukkah story.
BUT after the story of Hanukkah the Hashmonite family did some very terrible things (wars between Jews etc) during their reign.
Why do we ...
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 ...
4
votes
2answers
230 views
When did the use of Rashei Tevot, Heh Kuf, הק׳ in writings, books, letters, etc., begin?
Perhaps I'm among the last to have found this out, but it took me quite a while to understand why, in a signature, the name was preceeded by a הק׳. THe Ozar Rashei Tevot book has 31 different ...
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 ...
5
votes
0answers
122 views
List of oppressors of the Jewish people
We say in the V'hi She'amda passage of the Pesach Hagaddah that in each and every generation there have been those who rose up against us to destroy us, but Hashem saves us from their designs. Is this ...
-4
votes
0answers
37 views
Who are the samaritans? [closed]
There are 3 theories
Descendants of northern kingdom israelites
Descendants of northern kingdom israelites that intermarried with non jews (much like modern jews nowadays, which is far from pure ...
7
votes
0answers
65 views
Does a Rabbi have to sink with his ship?
There is a famous story (mentioned in his wikipedia article) that R' Elchonon Wasserman visited the United States before the war. He had the option to stay, but he refused since (as I heard) "A leader ...
3
votes
2answers
48 views
Why were there no Jewish philosophy tracts until the Rasag?
Jews had their first bump into philosophy when Alexander the Great conquered Israel (in the early Tanaic period). Since then, we lived under the Greeks and Romans for a few hundred years. Both of ...
2
votes
2answers
125 views
When did upsherins become part of standard American Orthodox practice?
According to Rav Wikipedia, the upsherin is a custom that was brought from Muslims to Palestinian Jews to Tzfat Sephardim to Chasidim.
Recently, I've noticed mainstream (non-charedi) Orthodox Jews ...
3
votes
2answers
61 views
Who were the Rambam's students?
Someone recently asked me whether the Rambam had any students. In addition to the Rambam's son and the student for whom he wrote the Moreh Nevuchim, I could think of only one other student. (רבינו ...
3
votes
1answer
54 views
How do I know if a midrash is accepted?
I have found many different types of midrashic works. Some are, as far as I can tell, accepted as being authoritative. Meaning they were written (compiled?) by the sages in roughly the talmudic era. ...
4
votes
0answers
39 views
What scribal variations (decorations etc) have changed from the earliest sifrei torah until now?
This article reports on the identification of what is possibly the oldest complete sefer torah we have, dated c.1155-1225, at the University of Bologna. (The scroll was previously thought to date to ...
-6
votes
0answers
78 views
Was the Torah rewritten by Ezra as an attempt to to restore Judaism to what it had been before [closed]
I was reading this article which explains that Ezra rewrote and added new things(as a fence?) in the Torah in an attempt to restore the teachings of the original torah:
Here is a relevant excerpt ...
-3
votes
3answers
171 views
Demolishing Idolatry sneakily?
As an extension to this question which makes it obligatory to demolish idols, is it equally virtuous to demolish places of idolatry sneakily as we see examples from the story of Abraham?
As people ...
1
vote
1answer
55 views
What date was Kibrot Hattaavah?
Are there any sources that give the date for the incident in Kibroth Hattaavah recorded in B'Midbar Chapter 11? I am trying to figure out if it happened on a particular mo'ed or any significant date.
14
votes
1answer
606 views
Killing somebody with the keys to the synagogue
In Yoreh Deah 339:1, the mechaber brings a variety of things that one is not permitted to do to a goses (a person on the brink of death), since each of these things causes the goses to die sooner. ...
5
votes
1answer
214 views
First year counted from creation
What is the first year for which there exists a record of it being dated according to the currently used system that starts counting from creation?
8
votes
7answers
875 views
How are Spartans the son of Abraham?
I was reading the Book of Maccabbees (I and II) over shabbat and in it there is a letter written to Sparta to ask for peace, goodwill and friendship.
In the reply letter back from Sparta, they affirm ...
6
votes
1answer
114 views
Why is the Aruch Hashulchan on Even Haezer incomplete?
The Aruch Hashulchan is written on the whole Shulchan Aruch, and even has sections on Halacha that is not currently applicable (Aruch Hashulchan Ha'asid). Yet he never finished Even Haezer.
Why?
-1
votes
1answer
117 views
why was technology withheld for so long from man
Why did God withhold the discovery of modern technology from man until recently?
what is the reason for this and why does this reason not apply in our era?
(according to the shaar bitachon ch.3 God ...
3
votes
1answer
176 views
Intermarriage among Middle eastern Jews right before 1948
I was wondering does anyone know where I can find out the Intermarriage rate among Middle eastern Jews right before 1948 particularly amongst the Iraqis and the Syrians?
5
votes
2answers
243 views
What is the Real Alter Rebbe Ksav?
There is a tradition that the Alter Rebbe (R' Shneur Zalman of Liadi) innovated a new Ksav (not the one in the Shulchan Aruch Harav) and taught it to sofrim who passed it on from teacher to student.
...
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 ...
9
votes
5answers
822 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 ...
4
votes
1answer
156 views
Aleinu L'Shabeach - Nusach HaTefila
The words "Sheheim Mishtachavim Li-Hevel Voryk Umispallelim El Eil Lo-Yoshiya" - Was this originally part of Aleinu and then removed, or was it added later to Aleinu? Why was this done?
11
votes
2answers
136 views
“Avram” for when he was young?
The Gemara in Brachot 13a teaches us that we should only refer to Avraham as Avraham and not as Avram.
תני בר קפרא כל הקורא לאברהם אברם עובר בעשה שנאמר (בראשית יז) והיה שמך
אברהם רבי אליעזר אומר ...
6
votes
1answer
123 views
Sefer Milhamot Hashem - from Bamidbar 21:14
Does anyone know of any discussion of the the "sefer Milkhamot Hashem" mentioned in Bamidbar 21:14? Someone had asked me about the content of the book and I had no idea of what to answer him.
7
votes
5answers
343 views
Have there ever been inter-faith debates between Jews and Muslims?
There are records of many inter-faith debates (disputations) between Jews and Christians even up to modern times. However I have never heard of similar such debates between Jews and Muslims. Are there ...
4
votes
2answers
107 views
Yerushalayim City of Gold
What is the origin of the concept of Yerushalayim being a "City of Gold"?
It is the name and theme of a famous Israeli song from the 1960s, and I always assumed it was either from that song, or that ...
12
votes
1answer
210 views
Are there any halachic authorities which relate to the non-mechitza, pre-1967 prayers which were held at the Kotel?
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 ...
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 ...
5
votes
1answer
106 views
How old was Pharoah when he died?
According to some opinions, Pharoah was the same from when Yosef went to Mitzrayim until Krias Yam Suf, and he was the king in Ninveh when Yonah went to warm them of their immoral behavior (Yalkut ...
7
votes
2answers
617 views
Who is the last prophet in Judaism?
Who is the last person regarded as a true prophet in Judaism? What was his time frame?
2
votes
1answer
114 views
What is the meaning of this painting?
I am in possession of this mysterious painting with Hebrew characters, but I do not know what words mean. I suspect that they may provide a clue to what is being represented in each of the painted ...
7
votes
0answers
98 views
How were coins that were destined for the Dead Sea managed?
A mishna on Meila 11a talks about money that a nazarite set aside for his offerings; if he died before completing the term and had set money aside specifically for the sin-offering, those coins are ...
5
votes
1answer
54 views
How much of the sefer torah did the king read each day?
According to D'varim 17:18-20, a king was required to write for himself a sefer torah and read from it each day ( וְקָרָא בוֹ כָּל-יְמֵי חַיָּיו). This doesn't say he had to read the whole sefer each ...
5
votes
0answers
42 views
The Torah scrolls written by Jewish kings
The Torah commanded Jewish kings to write their own Torah scroll from a master in the possession of the Levites, and to read it every day of their life so that they should not become haughty and so ...
-4
votes
2answers
210 views
When did the switch to matrilineal descent occur?
Does anyone know when the switch the matrilineal descent took place? I've seen other information about the potential impetus, but when did it become so? Was there even a switch?
2
votes
1answer
96 views
Who edited the “Nusach Sefarad” nusach?
There are two (Ok, three if you count Teimani) traditional families of nusach in use - Ashkenaz (the Nusach which people from northern/eastern Europe traditionally prayed in) and Eidot Hamizrach (the ...
9
votes
4answers
1k views
Is a rabbi required to be married?
I have heard (I honestly cannot remember where...) that to be a rabbi a man must be married. Is there any truth to this?
I am more interested in knowing if this "WAS" true in time of Jesus, than if ...
11
votes
7answers
201 views
Zmanim accuracy before digital clocks?
How was time measured for the purpose of Zmanim before we had accurate clocks like we do today? Was it possible to accurately determine Chatzos (at night) or the different watches of the night? I know ...
9
votes
4answers
336 views
Why did nobody succeed the Lubavitcher Rebbe?
The late Lubavitcher Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson zt"l had no successor as the rebbe of Chabad-Lubavitch. Why is this? Was it simply because he had no children? If so, why was nobody else ...
2
votes
1answer
258 views
How do rabbis explain the reason for the Spanish Expulsion. Why did the Jewish people deserve it
I notice you already have this question for the Holocaust but haven't found it for the Spanish expulsion. I understand that many great people gave reasons for it, like the seder hadoros, tsror hamor ...
