interpretation of parts of Tanach by close reading, not derivation (Pronounced "par-sha-noot")
17
votes
5answers
510 views
Halachic Restrictions not in the Torah, and “shall not add”
How can halachic restrictions that are not in the Torah be reconciled with the Deuteronomy 4:2 passage, which says, "Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish from ...
16
votes
2answers
262 views
Why are none of the Pharaohs in the Torah identified by name?
Throughout the Torah, the various Egyptian Pharaohs are always referred to as simply "Pharaoh" or "the king of Egypt" (or both), but never with any other parts of their official titulary.
By ...
15
votes
3answers
1k views
Why are women unclean longer after giving birth to a girl?
I read that women are unclean for two weeks after giving birth to a girl and seven days after giving birth to a boy. What does it tell us?
14
votes
8answers
418 views
Why did Avraham take gifts from Pharaoh, but not the King of Sodom?
In Bereshit 12:11-16, we see that Avraham was willing to receive gifts from Pharoah:
11 And it came to pass, when he was come near to enter into Egypt, that he said unto Sarai his wife: 'Behold ...
14
votes
7answers
361 views
why half-believe the Torah?
(I'm not sure this is on-topic, and feel free to close it if it's not, of course.)
I understand some who study the Bible claim natural reasons for things we recognize as miracles, from the plagues of ...
14
votes
3answers
144 views
Why did Avraham name his son before the Bris (circumcision)?
Why does the Torah seem to imply that Avraham named his son before the bris?
First:
וַיִּקְרָא אַבְרָהָם אֶת שֶׁם בְּנוֹ הַנּוֹלַד לוֹ אֲשֶׁר יָלְדָה לּוֹ שָׂרָה יִצְחָק
And Abraham called ...
13
votes
7answers
291 views
“I never saw a tzaddik be abandoned…” - how do we understand this?
At the end of bentching we say that "I was young, and I also became old, and I never saw a righteous person be abandoned, and his children asking for bread".
How do we reconcile that with the ...
13
votes
2answers
149 views
What happened to the Yeshivas Shem v'Aiver?
What happened to the Yeshiva of Shem v'Aiver and all who learnt there?
12
votes
2answers
975 views
All people in world are Jews?
According to the Book of Genesis, Noah saved his family and representatives of every animal from a flood by constructing a boat. So since all of humanity should be descended from Noah, does that mean ...
12
votes
8answers
334 views
Yaakov Marrying Two Sisters
According to those that say the Avos kept the Torah beforehand (here), how was Yaakov allowed to marry two sisters?
(Yes, I'm aware that there are many answers)
12
votes
3answers
336 views
What is the “book of the law” mentioned in Joshua 1?
Specifically, Joshua 1:8:
Joshua 1:8 (JPS)
8 This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do ...
12
votes
2answers
99 views
Why did Moshe Rabbeinu object to the mirrors, but not the kumaz?
Why did Moshe Rabbeinu balk when the women wanted to donate their mirrors to the construction of the Mishkan (Rashi, Shemot 38:8), but not when the women donated their kumaz (Shemot 35:22), which were ...
12
votes
4answers
125 views
Would Esther really have kept silent?
In Esther 7:4 we read
וְאִלּוּ לַעֲבָדִים וְלִשְׁפָחוֹת נִמְכַּרְנוּ, הֶחֱרַשְׁתִּי--כִּי אֵין הַצָּר שֹׁוֶה, בְּנֵזֶק הַמֶּלֶךְ ...
... But if we had been sold for bondmen and bondwomen, I ...
12
votes
2answers
310 views
Why is a “leper” allowed to sit with other “lepers”?
In Parshat Tazria (Vayikra 13:46) we are told:
All the days the lesion is upon him, he shall remain unclean. He is unclean; he shall dwell isolated; his dwelling shall be outside the camp
As ...
11
votes
6answers
449 views
Avot keeping Mitzvot
How are we to understand the tradition that the patriarchs kept all of the mitzvot in the Torah (see for example the last mishna in Kidushin, Rashi Bereshit 32:5, etc.) in light of the many obvious ...
11
votes
4answers
311 views
Is belief in a G-d a commandment?
I am studying to convert to Judaism and one of the questions I was asked was about the Ten Commandments. I remember reading at that time that there was debate about the division of the statements ...
11
votes
2answers
258 views
Let there be light! But from where?
According to Genesis 1:3, "And G-d said, Let there be light; and there was light." What light is the Torah referring to if the sun which produces light by day was created only on the 4th day of ...
11
votes
3answers
260 views
Understanding of Ps. 137 before the exile
Psalm 137 starts (in my own translation)
On Babylon's rivers, there, we sat, also cried, in our remembering Zion.
and continues to describe the scene. Ibn Ezra cites some who hold that David ...
11
votes
3answers
135 views
So should be done unto the man
The verse in Esther 6:11 describing Haman's pulling Mordochai on the streets says:
כָּכָה יֵעָשֶׂה לָאִישׁ אֲשֶׁר הַמֶּלֶךְ חָפֵץ בִּיקָרוֹ
So shall it be done unto the man whom the king ...
11
votes
1answer
211 views
How does Orthodox Judaism view the Book of Jubillees
How is the Book of Jubilees regarded by Orthodox Jewry (I'm not asking if we believe it existed, but if we hold any of the information in it to be accurate).
Is it ever quoted by any of the ...
11
votes
3answers
148 views
Unusual number of males among the 70 who went to Egypt
B'reshis chapter 46 lists the seventy descendants of Yaakov who went to Egypt. It actually lists sixty-nine: let's assume Yocheved was the seventieth, as Rashi explains. It also lists (in pasuk 12) ...
11
votes
2answers
125 views
David called “hamelech”, “hamelech David”, and “David”
My son noticed in Ⅱ Sh'muel chapters 5–6 that, although David is generally called "David", there are times he's called "hamelech" (="the king") or "hamelech David" (="the king David"). (I'm ...
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 ...
11
votes
2answers
186 views
The 500 men killed in Shushan, and the 500 Jews who killed Amaleki
Is there a source to connect (mystically, or otherwise) those enemies of the Jews (presumably Amaleki) killed in Megillas Esther 9:12 with the 500 men from the tribe of Shimon who killed out the ...
10
votes
6answers
218 views
Why Didn't Yosef tell Yaakov He was Still Alive?
What do the meforshim say on why Yosef didn't tell Yaakov he was still alive? Do any critique him?
10
votes
4answers
193 views
Why didn't Mordechai keep Mitzvos — serious edition
It says in the Megilla "ויאמרו עבדי המלך אשר בשער המלך למרדכי מדוע אתה עובר את מצות המלך" - "The servants of the King (who were in the King's gates) asked Mordechai 'Why do you go against the command ...
10
votes
2answers
222 views
Did Moshe see Paro's face again after all?
After the ninth plague Paro once again offers to let the people go and then recants. At the end of this conversation Sh'mot 10:28-29 says:
28 And Pharaoh said unto him: 'Get thee from me, take ...
10
votes
3answers
154 views
In the Bible, why did robbers bother tunneling into houses to rob them?
Exodus 22:1 speaks about the robber who was found "tunnelling in" to someone's house (vis-a-vis self-defense). Is that just a figure of speech, or did they actually go to that much trouble? (What ...
10
votes
2answers
397 views
If shepherds are taboo to Egyptians, what do we make of them having sheep themselves?
Yosef tells his family to say they're shepherds because that's taboo to Egypt:
you must say, 'We and our fathers have dealt in livestock all our lives'. You will then be able to settle in the ...
10
votes
2answers
131 views
Esav was coming with 400 men: why then
Why was Esav going toward Yaakov (Gen. 33:1, 32:7) if he had (27:41) planned to wait to kill him until Yitzchak was dead?
(Please cite your source, if any.)
10
votes
2answers
148 views
Why didn't Yehoshua give a good report immediately?
When the spies returned from scouting the land and gave their report of mighty opponents, 13:30 tells us that Caleb silenced the crowd and argued for going into the land, and then 13:31 says "the men ...
10
votes
3answers
214 views
Why did Achashveirosh take Esther if she was already married?
According to the opinion that Queen Esther was married to Mordechai.
Achashveirosh was looking for unmarried girls (Esther 2:2–4). Why did he take a married woman? Especially considering that Queen ...
10
votes
2answers
76 views
Why does Yosef bring his sons to Yaakov
Yaakov famously blesses Ephraim and Menashe but who tells Yosef to bring them to their grandfather? It doesn't seem that this would be a natural thing to do as they are not Yaakov's sons. Does ...
10
votes
5answers
194 views
Why do the angels need a ladder?
We know the angels in Yaakov's dream go down and up a ladder but why do they need the ladder? Angels appear on earth and with Hashem throughout the Bible without a ladder.
10
votes
1answer
152 views
Why should the patriarchs have lived to 180?
Rashi to B'reshis 25:30 says that Avraham should have lived to the age of 180 had his life not been cut short.
Yitzchak lived to 180.
The Daas Z'kenim to B'reshis 47:8 quotes a midrash as saying ...
10
votes
5answers
117 views
Why do we find two adjacent pesukim stating what seems to be the same?
In Breshit 26:3 Hashem tells Yizhak: "...and to your zera (sons?) I will give all these lands...".
In the next passuk, Hasehm says: "...and I will give to your zera all these lands...".
Isn't this ...
10
votes
1answer
106 views
How did the fish live through the flood?
If the waters were boiling as the flood continued, how did the fish survive throughout the Mabul?
10
votes
1answer
94 views
Why not “Where is Achashverosh in the Torah”?
In Chullin 139b, the Gemara asks about hints in the Torah for several of the figures in the Megillah, and provides answers:
"Where is {Haman, Esther, Mordechai} hinted at in the Torah?" ...
10
votes
1answer
137 views
Are there two things from which kares can cut one off?
In B'midbar 19:13 the Torah says that the punishment for entering the mikdash while impure is spiritual excision, using the words
וְנִכְרְתָה הַנֶּפֶשׁ הַהִוא מִיִּשְׂרָאֵל. . .
. . .that ...
9
votes
6answers
210 views
20 years for Sin, 7 years for beauty
In the first pasuk of Parshat Chayai Sarah (Genesis 23:1), the Torah says:
א. וַיִּהְיוּ חַיֵּי שָׂרָה מֵאָה
שָׁנָה וְעֶשְׂרִים שָׁנָה וְשֶׁבַע
שָׁנִים שְׁנֵי חַיֵּי שָׂרָה:
And the life ...
9
votes
3answers
108 views
Why did Yosef tell over the dreams?
In this weeks Parsha (Vayeishev), we learn about how Yosef had his two [prophetic] dreams. We find that in each case, Yosef told his brothers about his dreams:
And he said to them, "Listen now to ...
9
votes
1answer
244 views
Where did the Egyptians get the wealth they brought to the sea?
In Shemot 15:22, Rashi says:
Moses led Israel away: lit., made Israel journey. He led them away against their will, for the Egyptians had adorned their steeds with ornaments of gold, silver, and ...
9
votes
3answers
218 views
How do scientists such as Natan Aviezer and Gerald Schroeder understand the fourth day of creation?
If I understand correctly, scientists such as Natan Aviezer and Gerald Schroeder have readings of Genesis Chapter 1 that fit with the current scientific understanding of how the universe/planet/life ...
9
votes
1answer
184 views
2.4 million killed according to Rashi in B'shalach. Why does no one talk about it?
In the begining of Parshat B'shalach, Rashi says that one p'shat for "Vachamushim" means one fifth, because during Makas Choshech, 4 out of 5 were killed out, and it happened during the time it was ...
9
votes
2answers
138 views
Why are the Meraglim in that order?
The meraglim (scouts) and their shevet (tribe) are listed in a strange order in Bemidbar 13:
Reuven
Shimon
Yehuda
Yissachar
Ephraim
Binyamin
Zevulun
(Of Yosef): Menashe
Dan
Asher
Naftali
Gad
As ...
9
votes
1answer
123 views
Selah ~ Does it mean 'forever' 'certainly' 'basket' 'pause', 'yahoo', a kabbalistic meditative device, or none of the above?
Does anyone know a Jewish interpretation of "selah" in the psalms? Literally it seems to mean something about basket or hanging, but I don't know how this works into psalms.
Jewish sites say it may ...
9
votes
1answer
94 views
Didn’t the Ishmaelites know they were buying their second cousin?
In studying bereishis I have come up with questions about Joseph and his brothers that have long bothered me. One question is in parsha vayeshev, where we read how Joseph was sold by his brothers to ...
9
votes
2answers
280 views
What happened to the bechorim?
In the begining of sefer bamidbar, the males between 20 and 60 are counted and it says that there are over 600,000 of them. Theoretically each, or most, of these people should have had a first-born ...
9
votes
2answers
120 views
verb + its infinitive
Many, many times in Tanach, including Chumash, a verb has its infinitive nearby. Examples include B'reshis 2:16 מִכֹּל עֵץ הַגָּן אָכֹל תֹּאכֵל (I think that's the first example in Chumash) and ...
9
votes
4answers
115 views
Why does the Torah switch around the order of annulling vows in the summary?
In the beginning of Parshas Matos, the Torah first describes the process of a father annulling the oaths of his daughter (30:4-6), and then afterwards the the law of a husband doing so for his wife's ...
