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Origin of the nine days
I just learned a gemara (taanit 30a) that seems to pretty clearly state that the mourning for tisha b'av starts the beginning of the week that tisha b'av falls out on, and ends with tisha b'av itself.
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5
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1answer
141 views
Exact model of the Beis Hamikdash?
There is a "classic" model of the Beis Hamikdash (I think it's from the HolyLand model).
Are there any sources for the decisions taken in the model (for example, what components were done based on
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5
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1answer
88 views
Source for this Remez expansion of יד שחט דם
There is an acronym for the liquids that make things able to be made ritually impure. The Halacha is in order for fruit and the like to be made ritually impure it has to be made wet with these ...
3
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1answer
118 views
How much must be eaten from the lechem mishneh
Inspired by following 2 questions:
Not eating from the Lechem Mishnah
Challah Loaves on Shabbat have a minimum size?
When eating a Shabbos Seudah how much must the ones that are being yotzee from ...
2
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1answer
63 views
The Rif and the Rosh on Nazir and Sotah
Where can I find the commentaries of the Rif and of the Rosh on Tractates Nazir and Sotah? They're not in my gemara (Oz v'Hadar), and I was wondering if they were appended to a different tractate?
1
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1answer
48 views
Origin of the Escalator analogy
What is the origin of the escalator analogy of always striving for growth? I'm referring to the analogy that, in life, like a person climbing a downward escalator, if one is not constantly striving ...
1
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1answer
76 views
Ana B'Koach authorship and the 42 letter name of Hashem
In my Artscroll siddur it tells me that the hymn Ana B'Koach was written by the tanna, Rebbi Nechunia ben HaKana and that the first letter of each word can be used to form the 42 letter name of ...
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Decorative food plating on Shabbath
This question asks about using an ice cream scoop on Shabbath, and an internet forum linked in the question has a discussion about the permissibility of decorative plating of food generally. According ...
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78 views
Source for Categorization of Matter
What is the source for the idea that all matter is either domem (lifeless), tzomeach (plant), chai (animal), or medaber (speaker)?
I sometimes find this quoted places (in articles and divrei Torah), ...
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49 views
What is the source of the expression המבין יבין?
The Forward writer Philologos in his most recent column claimed that the earliest uses of the expression והמבין יבין are found in the Ra'avad and in the Radak. Based on the fact that both these ...
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56 views
Minhag of bothering the chazzan on Simchas Torah
I have seen the custom of bothering the chazzan during the musaf service on Simchas Torah. I have seen people tie the chazzan's gartel to a chair, or try to move the chazzan to a diffrent place. I ...
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84 views
Which rabbi said “if a horse had the mind of Kant …”?
I recall hearing in yeshiva that one great rabbi -- I think one of the baalei mussar? once said:
If a horse had the mind of Kant, it would author volume after volume of great philosphical works -- ...
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49 views
Is there a stated freedom to contract?
In the United States (and other countries), there is the notion of the freedom to contract. This is the idea that two people of sound mind have the right to enter into any contract with one another ...
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0answers
32 views
Not eating chametz in Eretz Yisrael on “Achron shel Pesach”
I heard that there is a letter from the Rebbe Rashab (Chabad) that one shouldn't eat chametz on Achron Shel Pesach when they are in Eretz Yisrael (even if they are keeping only one-day Yom Tov.) I ...
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62 views
Is the idea that there is always at least one illness with an unknown cure - a Jewish idea?
I have heard many times that there will always be at least one illness that is uncurable. Is this a Jewish idea? What is its source?
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60 views
Sources for Hamsa
I know from Ben Ish Hai Shana Bet Parashat Pinehas siman 13 where he writes to make a Hamsa from wood. However, I am wondering if there any earlier sources to solidify the fact that this would ...
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141 views
Minhag not to learn Torah on the night of Nitel (Who and where)
This related question explains what this minhag is and a couple of reasons for it.
I was wondering to what extent is this minhag practiced today apart from Chabad (see Hayom Yom - 17 Tevet)...do all ...
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0answers
84 views
Source for not referring to Chanuka lights as a “menora”
Following up on this question about the use of the words "menora" or "chanukiya" to refer to Chanuka lights:
I find it interesting that the use of "chanukiya" apparently originated in 1897 through a ...
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0answers
112 views
Maimonides on Circumcision
These are not questions about circumcision. They are about what Maimonides said about the practice.
I would to know if the following things do, or do not, in fact represent things Maimonides said ...
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103 views
Why is wine poured by a non-Jew forbidden?
The S"A 125:1 (YD) states that a non-Jew pouring non-Mevushal wine makes (at least) that wine unfit, but other than citing earlier authorities (maybe, I can't figure that part out) he doesn't give a ...
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58 views
The history behind the composition and inclusion of V'lo N'tato
I'm curious about the composition and inclusion in the shabbat shacharit of the paragraph beginning ולא נתתו (v'lo n'tato). I understand the talmudic basis for the underlying idea, and how it fits in ...
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98 views
Young boys returning Chumashim after Torah reading
I often see young boys going around shul after the Shabbos/Yom Tov morning Torah reading to collect Chumashim and return them to their shelves. Is this an actual 'minhag' with a history behind it? If ...
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53 views
Origin of using priestly blessing on Friday night
I know why we use Ephraim and Menashe when blessing the children on Friday nights, (see: Why Does Hashem Bless Us Like Efraim And Menashe?) but why do we use Birkat Kohanim? Is there any specific ...
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27 views
Whence “בלי עין הרע”?
What is the source, or earliest reference, I guess, of using the phrase, "בלי עין הרע"?
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0answers
29 views
Charging interest to “your brother”
A deleted post from a long time ago made the claim that
[W]e are [allowed to charge interest to other Jews] but not from
immediate family. Even from another Jew, if he or she is not a member
...
2
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0answers
73 views
Water from the Kohanim washing their hands by nei'lah
I heard about a minhag the other day (for the first time) and was wondering if there is any makor for it. I was told that people ran out to "catch" the water that was used to wash the Kohanim's hands ...
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0answers
62 views
Are there mystical underpinnings to Maccabi?
One of the explanations I have heard for the title מכבי is that it is an acronym for the pasuk 'מִי-כָמֹכָה בָּאֵלִם ה (Shemos 15:11). Is there any reason, mystical or otherwise that that pasuk (or ...
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0answers
59 views
Rambam (Maimonides), talks about different kinds of people
I have heard in school from our teacher that Rambam talks about different kinds of people, one that sees things he does not understand and disregards them as nonsense, another who when faced with ...
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0answers
93 views
Two-letter shorashim and phonetic shorashim?
I have heard many times in the name of Rabbi Shimshon Rafael Hirsch that every Hebrew shoresh (usually defined with three letters) has a more basic root of two letters. I also heard in his name that ...
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101 views
Text for birchat habayit
I'd like to write a couple birchos habayis and get them illuminated as gifts. Does anyone know of a good existing text? I'm looking for something five or six lines long, preferably not the usual one ...
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Meditation before Mitzvah activities
Who invented the meditation that is often printed before such things as counting the 'Omer, inviting the Ushpizin, and other Mitzvoth or Mitzvah-related activities, and what is the basis for it?
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Why is Moshe (mostly) absent from the haggadah?
Somebody asked at my seder this year why Moshe is largely absent from the magid. I have heard that the reason is because we're supposed to focus on God, and also that Moshe was very humble and there ...
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Four cups of wine by the Pesach Seder — From the Torah?
I've heard there is an opinion that the daled cosos by the Pesach Seder are m'doraisa. What is the source for this (if there is one? I vaguely remember a source being in the Yerushalmi?)
What Seforim ...
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104 views
How did the modern day Beis Hora'ah phenomenon develop?
Here in Eretz Yisrael, we find Batei Hora'ah in many cities - places where a moreh hora'ah sits either during special times or perhaps the whole day or different rabbonim throughout the day answering ...
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Genevas Daas (deception) with a gift
The Shach in YD Siman 117 Sif-Katan 13 writes,
דאין במתנה משום גניבת דעת
With regard to a gift there is no problem of "genevas daas" (deception).
The Shach writes this in regard to selling ...
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37 views
Examining the Zav
Does anyone know of any rabbinic sources (Talmudic/midrashic) that indicate that a Zav would go to a halakhic authority to be examined regarding his Zivah?
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29 views
Shiur of “Miut Hamatzui”
A "miut hamatzui" is a phrased used to express a case where because of a small concern that something exists, or might happened, or does happen that the halacha is affected by this. An example is if ...
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50 views
Learning Hilchos Chalev and Seder Kodshim as segulah for Refuah
A friend of mine was recently in Eretz Yisrael. When he was here he visited many Gedolim to get brachas for his son who was born with a number of birth defects. He was by R' Chaim Kanevsky to a get a ...
