Hot answers tagged purim
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Aruch HaShulchan 694:2 says that it is clear to him that it does not have to be given directly to the poor man, and can be given through a messenger (Shaliach) on Purim day.
Nitei Gavriel Purim 68:6 mentions in the name of the Yad Aharon 694, Chug Eretz 15, and others that if money is given to a messenger (Shaliach) before Purim to give to the poor man on ...
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Hazon Ovadia Purim pg. 199
מה שנוהגים להתחפש וללבוש מסיכות בפורים, אין כל איסור בדבר.
It is Mutar to dress up Purim.
What is Asur on Purim?
Cross dressing
Inviting magicians
Making fun of the Rabbis on Purim
(All from Yalkut Yosef 695)
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Megilla 13b says that Ester would "rise from the bosom of Achashverosh and immerse herself and sit in the bosom of Mordechai". Tosfos Harosh asks how this was permitted due to the law of "havchana" (the requirement for a women to abstain from relations for three months between husbands to identify the father), and explains that she utilized ...
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Rav Yosef Messas a"h (he served as Rav in Tilimsan Algeria, Meknes Morocco, and as Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Haifa) held that wearing costumes/disguises on Purim is absolutely forbidden as hukas hagoyim and that its origins stem from an imitation of the pre-Lent festivity of Carnavale which itself has origins in the orgiastic paganism of Bacchanalia. He ...
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Rabbi Shlomo Halevi Alkabetz (author of Lecha Dodi) wrote a commentary of the Megilla called "Manos Halevi". (It is said that he sent the book to his fiance in lieu of "Shalach Manos", since he was poor and could not afford to send her food). He addresses this question, and suggests that perhaps Moshe's death was considered a bad indication for the Jews ...
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Most solutions to this question involve either a compromise on drunkenness, or on prayer. Either you can follow one of the opinions which allow you to fulfil the obligation of drinking without actually getting drunk (Rema, M"B) or an opinion that allows you to pray while drunk (see @Gershon Gold's citation from Nitei Gavriel. I didn't know there was a ...
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In a town where it is not the practice to donate to non-Jews, it is forbidden to give to a non-Jew, and whoever does so is stealing from Jewish beggars, and he certainly doesn't fulfill his obligation with this. However, in a town where it is the practice, he still gives money to non-Jews (because of darkei shalom, cf. Gittin 61a), although he can't fulfill ...
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Likutei Menashe which is a Likut of Sefardi Minhagim says on page 224 - 18 that the Minhag is to dress up on Purim.
Zecher David which is written by Rabbi David Zechus (a Sephardi) published in Livorno mentions a few reasons why we dress up on Purim, which indicates that he had no problem with this Minhag.
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This question is hard to answer the same for everyone. People function differently when they drink. Nitei Gavriel Hilchos Purim 73:3 discusses one who will be unable to preform the required Mitzvos should either not drink, or drink only a bit at the Seuda. Nitei Gavriel Hilchos Purim 73:5 also mentions one should be careful not to drink so much, that he will ...
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The Aruch haShulchan writes (OC 695:8):
ומצוה להרבות בנרות לפנות ערב, כדכתיב: "ליהודים היתה אורה"
It is a Mitzva to add candles in the evening, as it says: The Jews had light
He doesn't source himself and I haven't seen this anywhere else. It would seem he is using the word 'Mitzva' here quite loosely.
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You didn't explain quite what the challenges are, so I'll make some assumptions. Correct me if I am wrong. To some extent, the major challenge to Purim is time-management.
The first thing to help with this is planning. Sit down with your spouse and children if the latter are of an age to be involved in the decision making process. Plan out who is ...
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Rav Shmuel Kamentsky holds one can use anything (kovetz Halachos perek 18:11).
He discusses many sources including the Tur, Shulchan Aruch, Chayei Adam, and more poskim. He also cites the Aruch Hashulchan 695:5 with a savorah of one could use יי"ש but shouldn't for other reasons. He also discusses Minchas Elazar 695 בשבילי דוד and the קהילות יעקב.
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The Rama says "the coin that is established in that place, in that time" המטבע הקבוע באותו מקום ובאותו זמן . The current half dollar which is not silver would suffice.
Kaf HaChaim 694:20 indicates that it is preferable to use real silver.
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1) Indeed, if you have one midrash, you don't need the other. This is likely a disagreement, rather than an assertion that both happened.
Rabbi Yossi ben Hanina, the one who stated that it was tzaraat, is an Amora of Eretz Yisrael. As Tosafot notes on the daf, in the parallel Yerushalmi, we find out that this is a derasha on the word nigzar in Esther 2:1:
...
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When I was telling the story to my son when he was younger (he's still pretty young, so even younger), I used the following euphemisms:
King Ahashverosh wanted to show everyone how pretty Vashti was, but she didn't want everyone looking at her so she said no, and he got angry and sent her away.
Bigthan and Teresh wanted to hurt the king, and when Mordechai ...
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The whole lottery scene is really lifted straight from Midrash. Midrash Esther Rabbasi, to be exact. But the tape adds the whole dialog between Haman and the heavenly voice. In the Midrash, the dialog is between G-d and the angels representing the days of the week and the months of the year.
The Midrash says that the reason it didn't land on Tammuz or Av ...
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The widespread reason given why we fast on ערב פורים is to commemorate the fasts mentioned in the מגילה which אסתר requested the Jews to observe before she went to the king. However, the Abudraham (סדר תפלות תעניות ופי׳, ועיין לקו״ש ח״ו עמ׳ 371) states several difficulties with this explanation. Firstly, אסתר went to אחשורוש on the first night of פסח, ...
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R' David Silverberg discusses some non-literal interpretations:
The Maharsha explains that Rava urged Rabbi Zeira to drink during the Purim festivities, to the point where Rabbi Zeira took seriously ill. Rava then prayed on his colleague's behalf and Rabbi Zeira recovered from his intoxication. According to this reading, the Gemara relates this story ...
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Yes, many poskim. The Kitzur Shulchan Aruch 142:5, Aruch HaShulchan 695:8, Eliyah Rabah 695:5, etc.
For more sources, see the discussion in the Nitai Gavriel on Purim, #70
http://www.hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=46446&st=&pgnum=383&hilite=
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Nitei Gavriel Purim 58:1 brings in the name of the Rosh Yosef and others that by meat it is 2 portions so long they are from different parts of the animal, since they have different tastes. He brings from the Shaalos U'Teshuvos Sheeris Yehuda 93 that it can even be from the same part of the animal so long it is 2 portions
It seems to me from the language of ...
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Shulchan Aruch, OC 235:4, reads:
One who reads the evening "Sh'ma" after the rise of amud hashachar [roughly: "dawn"] before sunrise has not fulfilled his obligation, unless he was compelled [to read it so late]: for example, if he was drunk, sick, or the like.
Mishna B'rura 31 comments:
Even if he got drunk after the time of reciting "Sh'ma" has ...
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First the doubt is not whether Tiberias was walled, or not, it is a matter of whether Tiberias was settled from before the days of Yeshoshua Bin Nun this seen clearly on page 6a of the same Gemarra(English for those who need it).
The Beit Yosef brings this in 688:4. There he brings the Rambam who says the sofek is whether it was walled from the days of ...
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The Gra (Beiur HaGra OC 693:2) explains that the only significance the 15th of Adar has to a resident of an unwalled city or the 14th of Adar has to a resident of a walled city, is that of a prohibition on fasting and eulogizing deriving from Megillat Ta'anit. The day is not a special holiday deserving of special liturgical mention.
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As mentioned in the comments, the Mishnah is just talking about one who reads the megillah. Someone who is falling asleep while listening will not be able to hear every word. The Shulchan Aruch is clear on this:
קראה מתנמנם, הואיל ולא נרדם בשינה, יצא. אבל אם שמעה מתנמנם, לא יצא.
This still doesn't answer the question of how much focus you need to ...
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Per the comment from Rabbi Slifkin on the parshblog, the term "tail" can at times be referring euphemistically to the phallus, as it states by Amalek וַיְזַנֵּב בְּךָ כָּל-הַנֶּחֱשָׁלִים (devarim 25:18) which Rashi (based on the midrash) explains as
and cut off: [The word וַיְזַנֵּב is derived from the word זָנָב, meaning “tail.” Thus, the verse means: ...
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Perhaps the גמרא is providing two separate answers to one question. The question is what prevented Vashti from following Achashveirosh’s request to attend the party.
The first answer to this question appears straight forward. Vashti had some skin problem that made her feel unable to go before Achashveirosh. Perhaps her she felt unattractive, like some ...
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I'm assuming this question is based on the assumption that you don't want to have to explain murder to your child by exposing him to such violent imagery, rather than a question about how to do exactly that. (One does not have to venture too far into the Torah to find murder, so the time to explain these things comes quite soon. Most schools I'm familiar ...
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Note, of course, that the rabbinic interpretation of that "light of the Jews" is in fact Torah study. Hence, no candle-type practice derived from that verse.
If I recall correctly one of the later commentaries on Shulchan Aruch -- the Pischei Teshuva
maybe? -- mentions a custom of lighting candles for the Purim seudah, as it sets a more festive mood. I ...
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Seemingly the coincidence might be just that. There is no Halakhic basis for dressing up for Purim nor is it a mesora of all Bnei Yisra'el.
So then the question is if dressing up on Purim does not come from Moshe's mask where and why did this Minhag start?
Unfortunately this aspect of the celebration might have a more dubious origin.
Dressing up on Purim is ...
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The Chida writes in his Maagal Tov that when he was in Amsterdam he was by their Seudas Purim. He quotes the Purim Torah. It is obvious which on e he liked and which one he found cheap. He referred to the first one who stood up as a Letz that said a Shiur Meluchlach. The second one who got up, was a Talmud Chacham, and said a Pilpul, albeit a cute one.
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