20 votes

Native American Traditions and Mass Revelations

The Aztecs were following white eagles, and do not seem to claim any sort of supernatural entity speaking to them. As the question notes, it is also very unclear from the source provided if they ...
DanielEvalUlay's user avatar
7 votes

If Moshe received ALL future Torah at Har Sinai, why didn't he understand R' Akiva's shiur (Menachos 29b)?

I once heard Rav Herschel Schachter discuss this question. He gave an analogy, that if one were to bring out Euclid, and show him a modern suspension bridge, and tell him it was built using Euclidean ...
Y     e     z's user avatar
7 votes
Accepted

Why did only Nadav and Avihu and not their brothers go up with the 70 elders?

Based on Tanchuma, Rashi claims that by gazing at the throne of Hashem, they sinned, but due to the solemn atmosphere of the covenant, their death sentence was suspended until they brought the alien ...
Kazi bácsi's user avatar
  • 7,609
6 votes

Death of all Jews at Har Sinai

Rabbi Yosef Hayyim of Baghdad in his book Ben Yehoyada (Meg. 7b s.v. Rabba) asserts that there was no need to redo kiddushin (their marriages were not terminated) and goes on to answer the (related) ...
Oliver's user avatar
  • 12k
6 votes
Accepted

How did Moshe carry the Luchot down Mount Sinai?

Moshe descended walking backwards down Har Sinai, facing the cloud of Hashem. The Luchot, which weighed 40 seah, were suspended in the air slightly above each of Moshe's hands. And the two (6x6x3) ...
zaq's user avatar
  • 8,864
5 votes

Why was Shmitta specifically chosen to teach that the intricacies of all mitzvot were given at Har Sinai?

Based on Be'er Yosef to Leviticus 25:1-3 There’s a Midrash which analyzes 1 a verse in Psalms 2. The verse describes גיבורי כוח, the mighty ones of strength, who follow Hashem’s word. Who ...
robev's user avatar
  • 19.9k
5 votes

603,550 Jews at Sinai and 603,550 Jews Entering Promised Land?

As Alex shared this was the same generation: the first census was before the Tabernacle was built since the half-shekels used for the count were used for the sockets of the structure, the second was ...
mbloch's user avatar
  • 51.6k
5 votes

Three things being handed over Tablets, Torah and the Mitzvah?

In the Gemara Brochos 5a Rav Levi explains every word in the Passuk's to mean the entire written and oral Law were given at mount Sinai: וא"ר לוי בר חמא אמר ר' שמעון בן לקיש מאי דכתיב (שמות כד, יב)...
user15464's user avatar
  • 11.4k
4 votes

Why is the location of Mount Sinai not traditionally known?

Mount Sinai location was known for hundreds of years after Matan-Tora: מלכים א יט ח וַיָּ֖קָם וַיֹּ֣אכַל וַיִּשְׁתֶּ֑ה וַיֵּ֜לֶךְ בְּכֹ֣חַ ׀ הָאֲכִילָ֣ה הַהִ֗יא אַרְבָּעִ֥ים יוֹם֙ וְאַרְבָּעִ֣ים ...
Alaychem goes to Codidact's user avatar
4 votes
Accepted

The Torah offered to other nations

There are many that pose a similar question: If the Torah was to remain in the hands of the angels, as was their demand (תנה הודך על השמים) before being bested in debate by Moshe Rabeinu, what sort of ...
Menachem's user avatar
  • 1,019
4 votes

Why is it believed that Angels spoke with Moses at Sinai, when he spoke with God 'face to face'?

It sounds like you're asking on Pesikta Rabbasi 21, which you quote as saying that the angels gave the Torah to the Jews, and the question is Hashem spoke to Moshe directly. If we look at the Pesikta ...
robev's user avatar
  • 19.9k
3 votes

Should we consider messianic Jews to be Erev Rav?

NO. (This business of connecting your favorite villain with biblical characters doesn't really help much, by the way. There are no halachos on the books of how to relate to an erev rav-ite. A much ...
Shalom's user avatar
  • 133k
3 votes

If Moshe received ALL future Torah at Har Sinai, why didn't he understand R' Akiva's shiur (Menachos 29b)?

Please see Michtav Meliyahu Chelek 5 page 216. There he brings the Maharal as well as his own understanding. Rabbi Akiva develops his knowledge from the specifics to whole. So from even the taggim he ...
msj121's user avatar
  • 979
3 votes
Accepted

Proof from Arvos Moav to Har Sinai regarding who was there

Like is explained by the Ba’al HaTurim to Devarim 29:9, Chazal see the same language usage as in Shemot 19:17 and through that make the equation. אתם נצבים היום גו׳ ויוצא משה את-העם לקראת האלהים מן-...
Yaacov Deane's user avatar
  • 14.8k
3 votes

Whats up with Ascending Har Sinai: prohibition

R' Samson Raphael Hirsch, in his commentary on Exodus 19:10-13, interprets the prohibition of ascending Har Sinai as a tangible symbol of the fact that the Torah is God's law and not the product of ...
Isaac Moses's user avatar
  • 48k
3 votes

Matan Torah: Coercion or out of love?

I remember that the Rebbe (R' Menachem Mendel Schneersohn, 7th Chabad Rebbe) taught us that of course the Jews accepted with "na'aseh v'nishma" first. Once we did so, Hashem out of love for ...
David Kenner's user avatar
  • 10.8k
3 votes

We will do, then hear

I understand this Gemara as rhetorical. It is not actually saying someone revealed the secret to them, but is praising them for arriving at the conclusion on their own. A similar expression we may use ...
chessprogrammer's user avatar
2 votes

Around what was the boundary set at Har Sinai?

Haktav V'hakaballah (Exod. 19:12) explains that the mountain was surrounded not the people. When it says והגבלת את העם this refers to making a boundary around the mountain, thus delineating the area ...
mevaqesh's user avatar
  • 35.6k
2 votes

Sinai and hatred

Hatred is more related to a cause in this subject while destruction is a consequence of the hatred. This idea is all based upon the principle from Shemot Rabbah 12:3, explaining Tehillim 115:16, ...
Yaacov Deane's user avatar
  • 14.8k
2 votes

Why was Har Sinai considered humble?

The question is supercharged (and paradoxically, answered) when we realize that the Midrash is likely an anthropomorphism. No actual mountain fighting took place, the Midrash is merely describing the ...
Shoshana Landa's user avatar
2 votes

The Torah offered to other nations

As I understand, the source of this is Midrash Sifri, Devarim 343. It says there that aside from Esau, Moab, Ammon, and Ishmael, all other nations were approached. Now the points you raise within your ...
user1879026's user avatar
2 votes

Who blew the shofar during Matan Torah?

Well, my hunch is correct, at least from one Acharon!! See Or Hachayim on Shemot 19:19 - "Moshe spoke and God answered him in a voice". According to Or Hachayim, "the voice" refers to the voice of ...
DanF's user avatar
  • 70.4k
2 votes

603,550 Jews at Sinai and 603,550 Jews Entering Promised Land?

Since you asked the figure of people that entered the land, If you look at Numbers 26,51 there it states that in the plains of Moav when they were on the verge of entering the land of Israel, there ...
yosefkorn's user avatar
  • 1,410
2 votes

603,550 Jews at Sinai and 603,550 Jews Entering Promised Land?

It was the same generation. As the verses in Numbers 1:1-2 say when introducing the count: And the LORD spoke unto Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the tent of meeting, on the first day of the ...
Alex's user avatar
  • 49.2k
2 votes

If Moshe received ALL future Torah at Har Sinai, why didn't he understand R' Akiva's shiur (Menachos 29b)?

Was discussing this with my rabbi recently and he gave me an answer. This can be answered based on logic. Moshe's learning of the Torah in many respects was not linear and was visual as well as with ...
Dude's user avatar
  • 4,362
2 votes

Why was Shmitta specifically chosen to teach that the intricacies of all mitzvot were given at Har Sinai?

Ramban here answers that Shemittah was used as an example since it was stated briefly/generally at the time of Matan Torah (in Mishpatim), and the details were said later. This example shows us that ...
רבות מחשבות's user avatar
2 votes

Why was Shmitta specifically chosen to teach that the intricacies of all mitzvot were given at Har Sinai?

Aleinu LeShabeiach, based on the teachings of Rav Zilberstein, quotes two answers to this question (p. 394-395): The Chasam Sofer explains that the reason shemittah and Mount Sinai are juxtaposed ...
DonielF's user avatar
  • 34.3k
2 votes

Where did the Bnei Israel go to the Mikveh in the desert?

[Chabad.org says in The Mikvah The world’s natural bodies of water—its oceans, rivers, wells and spring-fed lakes—are mikvahs in their most primal form. They contain waters of Divine source, ...
sabbahillel's user avatar
  • 43.1k
2 votes

We already had the Torah?

I think there are three points that each bring us a long way in answering this question. Just because the Avos, and other great people knew and kept the Torah does not mean that the ordinary people ...
conceptualinertia's user avatar
2 votes

Matan Torah: Coercion or out of love?

The Maharal asks your question in Gur Aryeh and answers that even though they were willing to accept the Torah, Hashem wanted to show them that Torah is not optional- it is necessary for existence- ...
N.T.'s user avatar
  • 8,653

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