Hot answers tagged architecture-design
14
You're technically allowed to urinate anywhere if you need to (even in your mother-in-law's ear if you have nowhere else to go, lol [bechoros 44b]). As such, any style toilet in a private room exceeds urination requirements. (It permitted to urinate in public - bechoros 44b)
Single-occupancy bathrooms are preferable to multiple.
Berachos 62b relates a ...
10
They aren't all built near the ground - for example the mens mikvah where I live is on the second floor.
However they frequently build them on the ground simply because water is extremely heavy, and building it higher up requires special building reinforcement - the building would basically have to be built specifically to be a mikvah, and could not be ...
8
I think that the inner colonnaded wall in the Garrard model is actually meant to demarcate the original area of the Temple Mount, which per the Mishnah, Middos 2:1 (English translation here) was a square, 500 cubits (about 800-1000 feet) to a side. [The outer wall, with its colonnade, would be the enlarged area after Herod's renovation of the Temple, ...
8
It is discussed by R' Yitzchak Weiss here, and see a brief summary in English here.
R' Weiss identifies one Acharon that would logically require a mezuza on an elevator door (the inner door to the elevator itself) even if the elevator is less that 4x4 amos. He rules, therefore, that one should affix a mezuza to an elevator without a b'racha. He ...
7
The Posuk does not say that there was more sun than shade. On the contrary the Posuk says "Vayeshev Tacteho Bzel" which translates into "He sat under it in the shade.
The following Posuk says that a Kikoyon was shade upon him, and the Radak explains that this happened 40 days later when the Sukka dried out and therefore it was not providing shade anymore.
7
Some experience-based recommendations:
I'm just curious, which method is most durable?
Steel cable like this is excellent for durability. But it is much harder to manipulate into the non-looped over-then-through formation. In general this formation is difficult to anchor and particularly unreliable if the pole has a round cross section - due to ...
6
When I did construction on my home I asked about this and was told that there is no need to leave an unfinished spot in America. The difference between American and Israeli construction methods should explain this. In Israel, everything is poured concrete, and plaster is put over it - thus it would make sense to continue to practice of leaving one square ...
6
Another possibility might just be to use a local pond or lake. (Rivers or streams are a possibility too, but there are more halachic issues with those, involving issues of how much groundwater vs. rainwater they contain.) Those generally aren't usable for human mikvaos because of the lack of privacy, but that wouldn't apply to dishes.
6
Indeed, as SethJ and ShmuelBrin noted in their comments, the Gemara (Eruvin 11b) discusses such a case. Shulchan Aruch (Orach Chaim 362:12) summarizes it thus:
כיפה, אם יש ברגליה דהיינו קודם שהתחיל להתעגל י' טפחים, מותרת משום צורת פתח
"An archway, if its legs - before it begins to curve - are at least ten tefachim tall, then it is permissible as a ...
5
There are two main opinions, one by Rashi saying that are straight lines going up at an angle, seen also in the Rambam on the Mishna and R' Abraham his son. See sources:
רש"י על התורה שמות כה, לב. והציור בפירוש המשנה לרמב"ם מנחות ג, ז. ודעת ר' אברהם בן הרמב"ם בדעת אביו. וכן כתב העזרת כהנים מידות ד, ז.
The other opinion is the Raavah, and it is the one ...
5
The Minchas Chinuch in Mitzva 254 writes (my own translation):
It seems clear that although the Gemora only specified the design of the building, the design of the utensils the Shulchan and the Menorah, it is not limited to these but rather it is also prohibited to make a likeliness of the Mizbeach Penimi. However, it seems clear that this is ...
5
CYLOR regarding following R' Dovid Miller's instructions. If I remember correcty, he allows the use of tap water through a rubber connection. Nowadays, most do not rely on this, but may be lenient for rabbinic or keli use.
5
Since no one has bitten yet, I will try to answer quickly and confirm/find sources latter.
According to those opinions, such as Rav Moshe Feinstein zt'l, who do no require a mechitza to obscure the view of the women's section one might think that no additional barrier is required on a balcony beyond what the ma'akeh needed for safety. Nevertheless Rav Moshe ...
5
The document shows a nail in a post, but what I've often seen used in eruvin (I assume for convenience) are eye bolts like these:
(picture from Wikipedia)
5
Anything that grows from the ground
and is not 'mekabel tumah' is a
candidate for scach[sic].
These are two of the three basic requirements. The last is that the material not be currently attached to the ground. This disqualifies, for example, building a suka next to a vineyard and stretching some vines (which fill the other two criteria) over as ...
4
The Chayei Adom(137:1) says a person who has a home should leave a part of the wall
without plaster or paint. The person who does it is guaranteed that his house will stand forever ,and nothing will happen to it (Kaf Ha’chaim 560:11). There is a weak Heter today as people homes are made of less permanant material,sand mixed into the plaster (Rivevos Ephraim ...
4
Trees branches and bamboo poles are popular. I most prefer evergreen tree branches because they look the prettiest and may even have a nice aroma. Anything that grows from the ground and is not 'mekabel tumah' is a candidate for scach. Fruit is an example of an item that is 'mekabel tumah.'
mekabel tumah = something that can become ritually impure
4
Here's my understanding of what you have to do, based on setting one of these up, with Rabbinic guidance, for a few years in college. I've never studied the relevant laws in depth, but I believe based on what I learned in practice from my Rabbi that under normal conditions, the following procedure will do the trick. Ask your Rabbi to be sure. This will be a ...
4
In Shulchan Aruch YD Siman 286:4 it says that a bathroom and bathhouse etc. are exempt from Mezuzah because they are not made for Diras Kavod. In Shu"t Minchas Yitzchok part 4 Siman 89 & 90 he adds that if they (bathroom etc.) are not used for anything that would obligate them to have a Mezuzah (i.e. some people use a bathroom to store things therein) ...
4
It doesn't seem like the Teva had a Deck according to some of the story's details.
According to Midrash, Og was hanging onto the outside of the Teva, in the water, and the Re'emim were tied to the sides (with their faces in a hole on the side of the Teva to breathe). If there was a deck, Og and the Re'emim could have just stood on it.
If Noach could go ...
3
This question apears in a handwritten manuscript of the unabridged version of Pirush Hatur on the Torah (printed in Feldheim edition of Tur Ha'aruch on Torah pg. 59) who provides a fascinating answer: If they would have searched for the highest place to build the tower, they would have built it at the site of the Beis Hamikdosh - the highest point in the ...
3
The Ketzos HaShulchan Siman 29:2 and the Badei HaShulchan Siman 29:2 explains that we keep a Ner Tamid lit for Kovod Shomayim and that it is a Zecher L'Mikdash where there always remained one candle burning on the Western side (Ner Ma'aravi).
Regarding having more than one light today - in the Shuls I frequent that is not the case. I have seen some Shuls ...
3
If you use a back door to a sukkah in the backyard, you may not need one if your yard is basically fenced in. Even if the front of the yard has an opening (like a driveway) you won't need to do anything if:
a) the individual opening is less than 10 amos and
b) the enclosed length of that side (e.g. the back of the house, the fence) is greater than the ...
2
I would first recommend using as much in place powerlines fences etc as you can. THe less conspicuous the better. My experience has been that 50-75 lbs test fishing wire works great. The fishing lin is non conductive so you dont have to worry about lightning strikes, interference with power lines etc. It is also somewhat stretch which is good for ...
2
If one has two walls parallel to each other (1 and 2 in the diagram), he can place a four tefachim wall (3) within three tefachim of (Gap A) and perpendicular to one of them to make the whole sukkah kosher. Some say he needs to put a gateway (tzurat hapetach) across that gap (A). If he wants he can put a larger solid wall (3) and a smaller gap (A) (even zero ...
2
According to (unattributed?) notes in the Soncino edition, "closed" doesn't necessarily mean entirely sealed. Here's what they've got:
First the text:
Abaye said to Rabbah, Something which supports you was taught: A closed house has four cubits; if one had broken open its door-frame, it does not receive four cubits.7 A closed house [room] does not ...
2
As I understand the real goal wasn't reach a heaven - no one thought that man can really fight hand-to-hand with G-d. I think, that that generation was like Philistines in the time of King David (they wanted to fight with G-d too). They just want to show that they don't need G-d, that they can made all what they need by thyself. So itwas supposed to be just ...
1
There was no intention to literally, physically reach the heavens. According to this shiur from Rabbi Ari Kahn this was a symbolic act of defiance (see the ibn ezra). Particularly striking was that the dead of the flood had collected in the land of Shinar and for them to deliberately choose that valley to build this tower meant that they were taking the ...
1
Have a look at Chayei Adam 145:3
While four walls are ideal, if you have two walls that form a corner, and the third wall has at least a tefach (~4 inches) of width and forms a tzuras hapesach, that works.
(He continues on a discussion whether this is an adequate "private space" with regards to carrying on shabbos; basically if we call it good enough to ...
1
This is a guess.
If an arched doorway has a correspondingly arched-topped door in it, then, as the door opens, each part of the door will move, in a head-on view, to the side, toward the hinges, so that the middle and hingeward half of the door will move to be under the shorter ceiling closer to the hinges and thus hit the ceiling. (Of course, if the ...
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