All Questions
1
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0answers
32 views
Why did God create outer space? [duplicate]
Everything God does has a reason. He created the world for us to serve him. How does most of outer space help us serve God.
Or just plainly why was space created?
0
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0answers
35 views
Does the mitzvah of Tzedek require poverty and inequality in society?
If we accept that giving to the poor and an emphasis on Tzedek are Mitzvot that is repeatedly noted within Tanakh - for example some Midrashic commentary suggests that the sin of Sodom was actually a ...
0
votes
1answer
37 views
Interpreting events during prayer as signs
Suppose a person is praying for parnasah as they drop a coin into a tzedakah box. At that very moment, there is a loud rumble of thunder, even though the weather conditions wouldn't seem to warrant ...
2
votes
2answers
98 views
Can semicha be removed?
Can semicha (rabbinic ordination) be removed today? If so, what is the criteria for removal?
slightly related
6
votes
2answers
97 views
Counting the omer with doubt before the fixed calendar
Currently, according to a previous question on this site, we count the omer without doubt: "Today is the Xth day of the omer" because we have a fixed calendar, and because counting with doubt is ...
0
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0answers
52 views
Halacha concerning use of secular court [closed]
If a fellow Jew wrongs someone, under what circumstances may he gain a heter arkaot(permission to go to secular court). Does he have to try to adjudicate his case before a Rabbi or a Beit Din?
What ...
2
votes
3answers
145 views
Talmud comes from Har Sinai?
I recently heard from an unreliable source that a certain Chasidic rabbi in my hometown claims that the entire oral Torah in its current written form (including the Bavli, the Yerushalmi, and all of ...
0
votes
1answer
49 views
Question on Mordechai — Chiyuv m'drabbanan being motzei chiyuv m'doraisa
The Mordechai in Megillah Siman 798 has a case if a blind person can make kiddush for his family since (according to Rebbe Yehuda) a blind person is patur from mitzvas, then his obligation in making ...
5
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2answers
255 views
Why is it customary for Jews to grow beards?
What is the reason for growing one's beard? Many rabbis have beards. Why?
2
votes
1answer
77 views
Playing with a pet on Shabbos
Is there any opinion that holds one may play or touch a pet on Shabbos (even though animals are normally muktzeh on Shabbos.) Specifically one that is meant for this purpose (to play with.) I heard ...
1
vote
2answers
185 views
Does Judaism permit sexual relationships outside of marriage?
I am eager to know more about different religions from Islam to Judaism. Furthermore, how different religions look at women and comparing their kinds of approaches to the matter of gender and ...
1
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0answers
54 views
Noda B'Yehuda and the Tzavah of Rebbe Yehuda HaChossid
The Noda B'Yehuda (Tinyanah Evan HaEzer Siman 79) famously writes in regards to making a match between a bachelor that has the same name as the father of the potential bride that one need not be ...
2
votes
1answer
74 views
What is the reason that you are not allowed to learn Torah shebictav at night?
I saw in some books (Rav Belsky, Arizal) that you are not allowed to learn torah Shebictav at night without mefarshim. Why is that?
4
votes
2answers
85 views
What was so good about Naamah the Ammonite?
In Bava Kamma 38b we are told that one reason God spared Lot was because of the two good birds who would issue from his daughters. Rus from Moav and Naamah from Ammon. Rus is well known, the only ...
4
votes
1answer
35 views
What did the communal korbanot on Yom Kippur atone for?
The torah tells us to bring korbanot to atone for certain sins (when bringing korbanot is possible). In addition, on Yom Kippur the kohein gadol offers korbanot to atone for the whole people. What ...
2
votes
1answer
105 views
Why do people call cancer the machalah?
It seems that people use the word machalah to refer to cancer not only as a translation of the word (although there might be a more specific and correct translation) but because they do not want to ...
11
votes
2answers
184 views
Is it forbidden to wear a snap-brim Borsolino fedora on Shabbos?
The Talmud, at Shabbos 138b, presents the opinion that one may not wear a siyana -- which Rashi defines as a wide-brimmed hat -- on Shabbos if it has a brim that is one tefach (hand-bredth) wide ...
1
vote
1answer
52 views
What is the spiritual value of counting the omer?
I understand that it is a mitzvah to count the 49 days of the omer from the second night of Pesach through erev Shavuos. But what is the spiritual value of counting s'fira? I.e. what does G-d want ...
2
votes
0answers
26 views
Difference between leaving place of eating and place of smelling besamim
We learn in Shulchan Aruch Orach Chaim 178 the laws if one leaves the place where they were eating if a new bracha has to be made or not when they come back (or if they change to a different place.) ...
0
votes
0answers
59 views
How could David lie with Bat Sheva if she had a Safek Get?
Tosafos version of Rashi in the Gemara 9b implies that there was a get on condition that Uria (Bat shevas husband) wont come back. So if David didn't know if Uria would come back or not how could he ...
1
vote
1answer
29 views
Why “אֲשֶׁר תַּשִּׂיג יָדוֹ” in Lev. 14:22?
M'tzora 14:21–22 discusses the korbanos (sacrifical offerings) brought by someone after he's done being a m'tzora:
וְאִם דַּל הוּא וְאֵין יָדוֹ מַשֶּׂגֶת וְלָקַח כֶּבֶשׂ אֶחָד אָשָׁם ...
1
vote
0answers
52 views
What is the Halachic difference if people are kosher or not?
The Ramban derives that people are kosher from the gemara in Kerisos (21a i think) That since the rabbis said that human milk is kosher using concept that anything that comes from kosher animal is ...
3
votes
1answer
46 views
Is the bracha of Retzei (avodah) a Bakasha?
In a standard shmoneh esrei, we have a middle section of bakashot. Because we do not make bakashot on Shabbat (as evidenced in this question), the middle 13 brachot are omitted. However, the final ...
2
votes
1answer
86 views
Learning Torah without understanding
The Magen Avraham in Shulchan Aruch Orach Chaim Siman 50 Sif-Katan 2 writes that learning (Torah) is only called "learning" if one understands what they learn (see there for the context in which he ...
0
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0answers
34 views
Looking for Passages in the Shakh
Notwithstanding the fact that the Shakh includes a passage in the introduction to his Nequdat Kesef, claiming that his objections to other scholars are meant only respectfully, I have heard it said ...
2
votes
1answer
35 views
When is a grafted tree Kosher?
I understand that fruit isn't kosher if it is picked in the first 3 years of growth. However, what about grafting trees? If two branches come from trees that each more that 3 years old, but the ...
2
votes
1answer
68 views
Do Jews have to keep the 7 Noahide laws?
Well, I heard that a Jew only has to keep a Noahide law if it's repeated in the Torah, since Jews aren't obligated in Noahide laws. The practical application of this would be an exemption from the law ...
2
votes
1answer
54 views
Would I be allowed to sell my Chametz alcohol during the Prohibition?
During the Prohibition, owning alcohol was permitted, though selling it was prohibited.
If I had a barrel of Vodka which I bought before the prohibition was made law, would I be allowed to sell it ...
7
votes
0answers
121 views
Are we allowed to ask someone if he's a convert?
I remember learning that we are forbidden to "remind a convert of his past". The implication, as I remember it, is reminding someone that he used to be an idolater. (Though not all converts were.) ...
3
votes
1answer
36 views
Do non-toxic, biodegradable kitchen/dish cleaners pose a Kashruth problem?
In certain instances, I've heard rabbis allow soaps and harsh cleaners to be used to make food and food-residue "Pagum" (ruined), which then removes any prohibition that might otherwise result when ...
5
votes
0answers
36 views
The torah sometimes uses “olah tamid” and sometimes “olat tamid” but they seem to mean the same thing; what's the difference?
I know that in Biblical Hebrew (and presumably other varieties), we see the construct "noun adjective", with the noun unodified, such as "parah adamah" (red heifer). We also see the noun-chain ...
-4
votes
1answer
36 views
Why do we not reply to “Mazel Tov” with “Tov Mazel”?
The reply to Sholom Aleichem is Aleichem Sholom.
One reply to Yeyasher Kochacho is Kochacho Yeyasher.
Why then have I not heard the reply to Mazel Tov to be Tov Mazel?
0
votes
0answers
31 views
Does a Rov have to answer a question?
In the past I asked what responsibility does a person have to look up and investigate an answer to a question that he wasn't able to answer.
I'd now like to ask a similar question with a few points.
...
2
votes
1answer
46 views
Purpose of Suffering
The Talmud in Berachos 5a says: "Rava said: If a man sees suffering coming on him, let him examine his ways..."
does this mean the suffering is to atone for his sin or does it mean the suffering is ...
4
votes
1answer
89 views
What about the Kohen?
It is a given that the Kohen blesses the people, but who blesses the Kohen? Is the Kohen excluded from the Brakha or is he included in the one he makes on the kehillah's behalf?
4
votes
1answer
254 views
Kohen flying over a cemetery?
Is there a problem with a kohen flying in an airplane that may fly over a Jewish cemetery? If so, how can a kohen be sure that a flight does not go over a Jewish cemetery?
3
votes
1answer
87 views
100% Polyester or Silk suits requiring checking
According to the Shaatnez testers of America
Suits and Sport jackets, (Men's/Boy's): Require testing even 100% polyester and 100% silk suits.
Why so? Isn't there a simple Sefek Sefeka? Safek if ...
2
votes
1answer
90 views
Do people who are Jewish by ancestry but are descendents of apostates need to convert?
Suppose a Jewish woman converts to Christianity. Her children find out about their Jewish ancestry and decide that Judaism is right for them. Do they have to go through a conversion process? Does it ...
0
votes
0answers
33 views
Why didn't King Chizkiyahu sing?
The Gemara in Sanhedrin 94a states:
The Holy One, blessed be He, wished to appoint Chizkiyahu as the
Messiah, and Sancheriv as Gog and Magog; whereupon the Attribute of
Justice said before the ...
0
votes
0answers
26 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 ...
2
votes
2answers
112 views
Are Christians and/or “Messianic Jews” considered Jewish by Jews?
I know Judaism is not "Christian", but I am under the impression that there are some differences amongst Jewish traditions.
At the extreme, I have even heard of "Messianic Jews" who believe Jesus was ...
4
votes
3answers
345 views
Do Rabbis have to be Jewish by ethnicity?
I am under the impression that a person can be received into Judaism from a gentile nation. My question is whether or not that person could conceivably then become a Rabbi?
Please indicate whether ...
0
votes
1answer
41 views
Challah dough that loses its amount
A theoretical question:
Someone was making a dough and in the process a large piece fell out from the mixture onto the floor. They had made exactly the right amount in order to take challah with a ...
5
votes
1answer
389 views
Is metzitzah b'peh required when an adult is circumcised or in the case of hatafas dam bris?
As we've discussed in a general question regarding the requirements for metzitzah b'peh (MBP), the direct-oral-contact technique to draw blood from the penis of an 8-day old infant at his bris milah ...
0
votes
0answers
60 views
Hamapil immediately before sleep, but what about undressing?
Generally, we are supposed to say hamapil beracha immediately before going to bed, with no interruption. How do we reconcile this with the idea that we should be dressed appropriately to make a ...
5
votes
1answer
87 views
Is each part of birkat Kohanim a full blessing?
I'm confused as to whether or not birkat kohanim is a true "blessing" in the halachic sense. Part of my confusion arises from how we respond when it is said. In many ashkenazic minyanim outside of ...
1
vote
1answer
67 views
Zechuto Yagen/Tagen Alenu?
Why is it that many people say זכותו יגן עלינו - according to grammar, shouldn't it be תגן עלינו since זכות is feminine?
I guess I am just looking for a justification of the general practice.
4
votes
1answer
63 views
How old was Avraham when he sired children with Keturah, and was that unusual?
After reporting Sarah's death and burial, B'reishit 25:1 tells us that Avraham had several children by Keturah. Avraham was 137 when Sarah died. Earlier (17:17), Avraham had laughed at the idea of ...
6
votes
3answers
118 views
Sources discussing paying for Torah education
I am looking for sources that discuss the idea of paying tuition money ("schar limud") towards obtaining a Torah education. Topics of interest include: The importance of paying tuition for Torah; ...
0
votes
1answer
75 views
Why is the Kitzur so much more popular than the Chayey Adam?
The Chayey Adam was considered to be the "popular kitzur Shulchan Aruch" for almost a century before the "Kitzur Shulchan Aruch" was printed. Why did people stop learning the Chayey Adam and switch to ...
