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5h
comment Grammatical function of Emet te'amim?
טעמי המקרא בכ״א ספרים ובספרי אמ״ת by R' Mordechai Breuer is a book that covers this topic thoroughly.
6h
comment Does an unnecessary brocho pesucha on Hallel necessitate a brocho siyuma?
@eykanal Whether there are opinions that say to recite a b'racha might be a relevant factor. You don't have to get into a debate about a particular case, but you should stipulate an assumption one way or the other regarding whether there are opinions both ways regarding reciting a b'racha ab initio.
6h
comment Does an unnecessary brocho pesucha on Hallel necessitate a brocho siyuma?
@SethJ ..Like the b'rachos of p'sukei d'zimra, leining, or m'gilla, for instance (though each might have idiosyncratic issues).
6h
comment Was Rambam affected by Islam?
What do you mean by affected? Are you asking if the Rambam's environment provided a context and backdrop for the development of his worldview, or are you asking if he adopted (directly or in modified form) any ideas from Islam? If the former, I echo @DoubleAA 's above rhetorical question: Did he live in a bubble? Even a great person views the world through his own prism (to some degree, even if slight), an אספקלריא שאינה מאירה.
9h
comment Does an unnecessary brocho pesucha on Hallel necessitate a brocho siyuma?
Are you specifically interested in cases where there are different opinions regarding whether the blessings should be recited to begin with?
21h
comment Does torah study refine one's character?
@R.S. It's hard to know that for certain, but anyway that's not my main point. My main point is that if someone learns Torah without planning to apply it, how can you expect him to absorb Torah values into his behavior? The Yerushalmi quoted in my answer is relevant to this type of Torah learning.
22h
comment Does torah study refine one's character?
@R.S. There are different categories of lo lishmah - some are acceptable and even appropriate stepping stones that can ultimately lead to lishmah (P'sachim 50b). Studying in hopes of receiving a reward (which is acceptable, if not per-se ideal) is not the same as studying with no intention of fulfilling the Torah (which is improper) or studying with the intent to misuse Torah knowledge (which is considered poisonous to the soul).
1d
comment why was technology withheld for so long from man
@Menachem Great! Now you have a primary source to include in your last paragraph.
1d
comment Talking in shul
You seem to be confusing talking in a synagogue in general with talking during parts of the prayers where it is forbidden to interrupt with talking. Under certain circumstances, there are different opinions about the former. The latter seems to be the topic of interest to you though, right?
1d
comment Talking in shul
Related answer: judaism.stackexchange.com/a/16285
1d
comment why was technology withheld for so long from man
Your answer would be improved if you were to include a source from before 1840 that interpreted the Zohar this way.
1d
comment Why is elevation not factored into zmanim in places like New York?
Related: judaism.stackexchange.com/q/1284
1d
comment Why would somebody become a nazir?
See also Sefer HaChinuch (§ 374), who portrays the nazirite vow as a tool that the Torah provides for people to occasionally undertake when they feel the need to withdraw from immersion in society and the pleasures of the world and thereby blunt their physical desires and focus on his service of the Almighty. The gemara (Nazir 4b) provides an example of a man whose evil inclination threatened to overpower him when he saw how handsome he was. The man took the extraordinary measure of immediately taking the nazirite vow that would require him to shave of his beautiful hair.
1d
comment Do we embarrass someone in cheirem?
Note that the Taz (YD 334:1) writes that we should withhold measures that would push a person away from Judaism.
1d
comment Sofek in Bircas HaTorah — why not say all of the brachas?
"Asher bachar banu" is the b'racha that fulfills the obligation from כי שם השם אקרא, whereas the other b'racha is merely a birkas hamitzva, which is an unrelated rabbinic obligation. In Birkas HaMazon however, all the blessings are extensions of the same biblical obligation of ואכלת ושבעת וברכת (even though the fourth one is generally accepted to be rabbinic), so the obligation is not fulfilled in it's proper form unless all of the blessings are recited. Therefore they must all be recited to avoid זילזול.
1d
comment How do we know that homosexual relations is a sin?
+1 Nice answer.
1d
comment How do we know that homosexual relations is a sin?
@DoubleAA Thanks for the reference; I edited my answer accordingly.
1d
comment How to say mizonos first on an ice cream cone
That was my first instinct (practical advice essentially), but then I considered that it may be impractical in some cases (e.g. no other food available and unstable ice cream balanced on the cone), which likely motivated the question.
1d
comment How do we know that homosexual relations is a sin?
@DoubleAA Do you mean 1:5?
1d
comment How do we know that homosexual relations is a sin?
@DoubleAA True, I'll change it to "may apply." Ideally, I should include a source that discusses the particular case of an androgenus in this context, but I doubt that I'll have time to research where such a source is (if it exists).