Questions tagged [sources-mekorot]

Questions seeking sources for a given practice in general or in specific Jewish communities, alternatively seeking the location of a specific source of a teaching/idea/philosophy based on Torah writings.

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B'nei Yisroel: if sunken to the 50th level of tumah, beyond redemption

The Kedushas Levi explains (Shemos, Parshas Bo 14) that if the Jewish people sunk one more rung in impurity, they would have been beyond redemption: ‎When the Jewish people left Egypt in great haste, ...
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Parshas Achrei and Pesach

This year, on Erev Pesach (Monday, April 22, 2024) the Torah reading is parshas Achrei Mot. The Chabad-website notifies that the daily reading of Erev Pesach is the 2nd Portion (Vayikra (Leviticus) 16:...
Shmuel's user avatar
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What is known about Avichayil?

Esther's father is mentioned twice in the Megilla (2:15 and 9:29). He is spoken of as "Avichayil." This Avichayil would have to be brothers with Ya'ir, Mordechai's father, if we see ...
rosends's user avatar
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Achashverosh earned Olam Haba?

In Let My Nation Live by Yosef Deutsch, p358, he claims that Achashverosh earned Olam Haba. There is no footnote on that paragraph, but the preceding paragraph's footnote lists Rokeach; Yedei Moshe; R'...
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What does Rashi mean with "our Rabbis expounded what they expounded"?

B"H In Ester 1:7 when it mentions how the feast had different"vessels", Rashi gives his explanation, then finishes off "our Rabbis expounded what they expounded", a very ...
Awtsmoos--עצמות's user avatar
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The physical and spiritual halves of man in the Yerushalmi

In the entry "Soul: Jewish Concept" on Encyclopedia.com it states the following apparently based on the Yerushalmi: "The close connection between soul and body characteristic of the ...
Harel13's user avatar
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Is it true the Ari said that if there is hate of one scholar to another it's because they're from the same shoresh?

Is it true that the Ari said that if there is hate from two talmidei chachamim this is because they're from the same shoresh neshama?
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Looking for Rabbi Bentzion Sternfeld's Shaarei Tzion

The Gemara in Megillah 12a relates that the students of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai asked him: For what reason were the enemies of Jewish people, in that generation deserving of annihilation? Rabbi ...
Shmuel's user avatar
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The Maharsha's Funeral Procession

I heard a tale about a wonder that happened during the Maharsha's funeral procession which involved a church falling down and the Maharsha sitting up in his bier. What is the original source of this ...
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Story of a child who fell in honey and died?

I remember learning in Yoreh Deah about a halachic case about a child who fell into honey and died, and the Tosfos Yom Tov declared the honey not kosher. Where is that story found?
sam's user avatar
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Origins of the term "עולם השקר"

What are the earliest sources referring to our world as "עולם השקר"? Thank you
Michaël's user avatar
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"Purimfest 1946" and the ten sons of Haman

In the Megillah (Esther 9:7), the Torah lists the ten sons of Haman that were hanged. If we look at the words, we notice that some letters are written small.For example, the "tav" in the ...
Shmuel's user avatar
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Source for forgiving sins for embarrassment

What’s the source for the idea that you get כפרת עונות when you are embarrassed? I’m not referring to one being ashamed and embarrassed of sinning, but rather one who randomly gets embarrassed during ...
Curious Yid's user avatar
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What days of the week were the original 14th/15th of Adar?

Looking for a source that pins down the days of the week that the first Purim fell on.
Nahum's user avatar
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Vizhnitzer Rebbe's Prayer for Israeli Soldiers

On the first Shabboth following the Simhhat Torah Massacre, the Vizhnitzer Rebbe, R. Yisrael Hager recited a special prayer for the soldiers in the IDF. It was not the commonly recited Mi Sheberakh ...
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Interpreting and accepting contemporary reports of fantastic events

Are there any contemporary sources that discuss how to approach reports or stories in circulation among the Jewish public that stretch credulity? Is it incumbent upon us to find meaning in them? I am ...
Deuteronomy's user avatar
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Ein beis hamidrash bli chiddush

Rav Daniel Glatstein shlita often quotes the idea of: ein beis hamidrash bli chiddush Meaning, whenever you say a chiddush, over and over, there always is something new to say and to discover. Where ...
Shmuel's user avatar
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Is there an English Translation available of the Maamer Nefesh HaShfeilah by the Alter Rebbe?

BH Is there an English Translation available of the Maamer Nefesh HaShfeilah by the Alter Rebbe available online?
David 's user avatar
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Tucking Tzitzis knots in

It seems that the minhag of a lot of people is to have their Tzitzis strings hanging out while their knots are tucked in. Is there a known source for this minhag?
Chaim L.'s user avatar
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Looking for the source of a teaching that HKBH always sides with the pursued, regardless of merit

Shalom. I heard a teaching a little while ago that HKBH always sides with the pursued, regardless of merit. I am quite sure this came from a reputable source. Does anyone know the source for this ...
Tom W's user avatar
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Can Earth exist without Heaven?

Science and materialism claim that everything about this world can be explained in terms of materialism. Stuff, and the maths that governs the rules of that stuff, basically, is all there is. Does ...
Rabbi Kaii's user avatar
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What is the sefer עץ אבות

In Rav Emden's pirush of perek shirah, זמרת הארץ, he references a sefer or pirush called עץ אבות. Where can I find the sefer as well as the specific point of reference within this sefer? It's ...
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Rabbi Yochanan Ben Dehavai's "Ministering Angels"

The quoted Tanna says that he heard something from ministering angels (Nedarim 20a). Over the page, it says: אמר אמימר: מאן מלאכי השרת — רבנן, דאי תימא מלאכי השרת ממש, אמאי אמר רבי יוחנן אין הלכה ...
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Torah Scholars, Shirt Stains and the Death Penalty

Shabbat 114a: ואמר רבי חייא בר אבא אמר רבי יוחנן: כל תלמיד חכם שנמצא רבב על בגדו — חייב מיתה And Rabbi Chiyya bar Abba said that Rabbi Yochanan said: A Torah Scholar with a fat stain found on his ...
Rabbi Kaii's user avatar
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4 votes
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Opinions on when to leave a country

Would like to see some opinions and advice given by our leaders throughout galus (or before), on when it is time to leave a country, and how to decide where to go. What sort of situation or signs ...
Rabbi Kaii's user avatar
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3 votes
0 answers
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The legend of Rashi's 4 lines

There is a known legend among Talmudists that each Amud has four lines of Rashi before the beginning of the text of the Talmud to hint to a student to review the Amud four times before continuing. I'm ...
TORAHistheikur's user avatar
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The beauty of referencing Torah-sources

Rashi, in several places, says "לא ידעתי" - I don't know. It is said that Rabbi Akiva Eiger made a list of the times Rashi said "לא ידעתי" - I don't know, people were bothered by ...
Shmuel's user avatar
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Urim and Thumim

I am currently researching the topic of Urim and Thumim and have two questions, maybe someone can help me or suggest sources: There are 72 letters on the Ephod (50 for the 12 tribes plus Avraham ...
Vyacheslav Yosef Dobrovych's user avatar
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1 answer
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Asking children Psukim in Tanach

I remember that chazal used to ask chidren what Pasuk the child is currently learning to know answers to certain questions. Does anybody have a source ?
Vyacheslav Yosef Dobrovych's user avatar
5 votes
0 answers
107 views

R' Akiva visiting Syracuse

I have read a claim on various sites, including Wikipedia, that R' Akiva visited the city of Syracuse in current Sicily. However, I have failed to find its source in the Talmud. I have seen the ...
Kazi bácsi's user avatar
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If a woman has an abortion is she considered a mazik and need she compensate the father?

Should someone terminate a woman's pregnancy the monetary value of the fetus need be paid to the father (Shemos 21:22). Ralbag explains (ad loc) that it is awarded to him as he "owns" the ...
Nahum's user avatar
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5 votes
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Have all the Torah we saw, even if we didn't learn it

Someone told me in Yeshiva that in the next life, whatever Torah we saw will be available to us, even if we didn't actually learn it. He was advising to flick through the whole of shas just in case. ...
Rabbi Kaii's user avatar
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1 vote
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Where does R' Kook refer to secular Zionism as Moshiach ben Yosef?

In this article Dr. Polonsky talks about R' Kook's identification of secular Zionism as Moshiach ben Yosef, but he doesn't quote the source. Can someone point me to where R' Kook discusses this?
Yehuda's user avatar
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3 votes
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The Chida in Amsterdam

Of his many travels as a shaliach derabanan, the Chida (Rabbi Chaim Yosef David Azulai) wrote a small book called "Maagel Tov" (Chida's travelogue). One of the many places he visited, was ...
Shmuel's user avatar
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Are there any sources that disagree with Yitro's advice?

Are there any sources that disagree with Yitro's advice? Any sources that say it was detrimental to separate the community from their rebbe? In a way the Rebbe was handing out dollars very day until ...
Yoseph Feivel's user avatar
4 votes
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Rav Pinchas Koritzer's explanation on the spiritual acquisition of Eretz Yisroel

Concerning the capture of Kiryas Sefer, the Torah relates that Yehoshua set 5.000 men and made an ambush. The Torah says that, that night, Yehoshua "went that night into the midst of the valley&...
Shmuel's user avatar
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4 votes
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What's the source for a rabbinic statement that 'when one country expels the Jews, another lets them in'?

I'm very confident that I once saw a statement from a rabbi (probably in the Medieval era, but maybe later) to the effect that "God has ensured that when one country expels its Jewish population, ...
הנער הזה's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
246 views

What is the true origin of this quote so often attributed to the Baal Shem Tov?

What is the true origin of this quote so often attributed to the Baal Shem Tov?: From every human being there rises a light that reaches straight to heaven, and when two souls that are destined to be ...
user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
122 views

Why doesn't Rambam codify the obligation/recommendation to honor one's father-in-law?

Mechilta dR Yishmael and more explicitly Mechilta dRashbi both make the point that from Moshe's honoring his father in law Yisro (Shemos 18:7) one sees that one ought to honor ones father in law as ...
Nahum's user avatar
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3 votes
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Improving the world through mitzvot and Torah study

When I was in yeshiva, before I had any real accomplishments in learning of my own, I was taught that as Jews, we don't fix the world by going out and literally improving it with our hands and labour. ...
Rabbi Kaii's user avatar
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Do the laws of pidyon shvuyim apply as usual during a war or are they secondary to warfare considerations?

Rambam states that there is no Mitzva as great as Pidyon Shvuyim. (משנה תורה, הלכות מתנות עניים ח׳) He sets forth there that its greatness is based on the fact that the prisoner is in constant lack of ...
Yahu's user avatar
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1 vote
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Why Remove Kedusha via Pidyon Haben?

Rav Noach Isaac Oelbaum quotes the Shevet Sofer who explains the reason why the father says the beracha Shehechiyanu for removing his firstborn son's kedusha via Pidyon Haben, which would not seem to ...
NJM's user avatar
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2 votes
1 answer
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Avraham, the four Kings, and the future redemption

In parshas Lech Lecha (Bereishis 14:1-3), the Torah recounts the war of the four kings: וַיְהִ֗י בִּימֵי֙ אַמְרָפֶ֣ל מֶֽלֶךְ־שִׁנְעָ֔ר אַרְי֖וֹךְ מֶ֣לֶךְ אֶלָּסָ֑ר כְּדׇרְלָעֹ֙מֶר֙ מֶ֣לֶךְ עֵילָ֔ם ...
Shmuel's user avatar
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2 votes
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Source of Story with smell from Gan Eden

I am trying to remember a talmudic Story where the Rabbi is selling parfume from Gan Eden or from a flower from Gan Eden? I think he did it to help his sons in law? What Story is this ?
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What is "Hebrew letter form"?

Rabbi Michael L. Munk composed "The Wisdom of the Hebrew in the Hebrew Alphabet". Pg. 44 on Aleph he addresses the 'graphic form' of Aleph. He explains the aleph is a construct of two yuds ...
Re'eh's user avatar
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What is the source for this Ibn Ezra on miracles

A rabbi wrote on Facebook that according to the Ibn Ezra the belief in miracles derogates from the perfection of God. The rabbi explains: Accordingly, we do not rely on supernatural miracles to ...
Jonathan's user avatar
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What is the source for the saying ‘a righteous man is rebuked by his yetzer tov; a wicked man by his yetzer hara’?

Shalom. I heard this saying a while ago, but did not remember the source. I’ve done Google searches and cannot find reference to it. Could someone enlighten me as to where this is from? With blessings....
Tom W's user avatar
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2 votes
2 answers
84 views

The Plague of Darkness and the Light that rectified it

The Maharal of Prague (Gevuros Hashem, 57) famously explains that the ten plagues in Mitzrayim, correspond to the ten utterances of G-d with which the world and the heavens were created. The Shem ...
Shmuel's user avatar
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How did Adam and Chava meet?

וַיְבִאֶהָ אֶל־הָאָדָם׃ and [Hashem] brought her [Chava] to the man [Adam] (Bereshit 2:22) Hashem brought Chava to Adam. I saw in the commentaries that there seems to be a reason to think that "...
Rabbi Kaii's user avatar
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Moshiach, Arabia and the Eirev Rav

In a comment in this question, Rabbi Yitzchok Soloveitchik is said to have said that ערביא (Arabia) is referring to the Eirev Rav and their role in the End of Days. So, according to this opinion, ...
Shmuel's user avatar
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