Alex

64,067 reputation

170201

bio	website	none
	location	Keser Elyon
	age	40
visits	member for	3 years, 4 months
	seen	2 hours ago
stats	profile views	1,153

Graduate of Beis Medrash Oholei Torah and "Seven Seventy"; now a בעל הבית with ריחיים בצוארו but still trying to be עוסק בתורה

	64,067 reputation	bio	website	none	visits	member for	3 years, 4 months
170201 badges		location	Keser Elyon		seen	2 hours ago

summary answers questions tags badges favorites bounties reputation activity

1,769 Comments

suggestions reviews revisions comments badges posts accepts all

Jun 6	comment	Question about a 'Jewish proverb' @AdamMosheh: I've heard it over the years, and it's printed in Daf Al Hadaf to Kiddushin 40b (citing Yalkut Divrei Assaf). But no, I don't know its ultimate source.
Jun 6	comment	When did Rus bring a korban? I don't think this is correct. Wherever in the period of the Shoftim the story is placed (besides for the most well-known opinion - from Bava Basra 91a - that identifies Boaz with the shofet Ivtzan, there are a couple of others), during that entire era the Mishkan was in Shiloh - and bamos were prohibited during that time (Zevachim 14:6/112b). So -1.
Jun 4	comment	How was Rabbi Yochanan allowed to walk with his son's bone? @DoubleAA, it looks like there's a dispute about this point. R. Chanoch (Heinrich) Ehrentreu of Munich (grandfather of Dayan Chanoch Ehrentreu, יבלח"ט) argued that indeed Rashi is implying that a fragment of bone this small doesn't require burial; R. Meir Lerner of Altona took sharp issue with this, and argued that indeed even larger pieces (short of a complete skull and most of the rest of the body) may not require it.
Jun 4	comment	How was Rabbi Yochanan allowed to walk with his son's bone? The "R. Yochanan" there is actually the Amora of that name (full name: R. Yochanan ben Napcha, though he's rarely called that), not R. Yochanan ben Zakkai, who lived a couple of centuries earlier.
Jun 4	comment	Are there any ill-effects for mis-directed prayers? @msh210: on the other hand, "we can confer benefit on someone in his absence, but not a liability" (זכין לאדם שלא בפניו ואין חבין לאדם שלא בפניו).
Jun 4	comment	Does one have to return the specific bills that one stole? So in the Gemara's case, they're called "coins" either way, and the difference is just in the attached adjective; whether this caused a change in value, I don't know. Today, too, while indeed a $100 bill is a $100 bill, and is worth the same no matter its condition - we do still speak of "crisp" bills vs. "worn" ones. (And arguably, there is a slight difference: some people prefer the former; and vending machines, ATMs, etc., will accept them more easily.)
Jun 4	comment	Does one have to return the specific bills that one stole? Rema 360:6 (citing Tur) says that the kind of "change" that allows the thief to acquire the stolen object is only where the object thereby gains a new name (such as where he stole wood and turned it into a piece of furniture) - but not necessarily does that mean that there was a change in value. (continued)
Jun 4	comment	Does one have to return the specific bills that one stole? @هه: true, and I'm not disputing that point; we know throughout Shas that when coins became underweight (from use) their value decreased. But the Gemara here is talking about new coins vs. שחימי (Rashi: black; Aruch: red), where there's no change in weight, just color; I'm dubious that this would have changed their monetary value even under a gold or silver standard.
Jun 4	comment	Does one have to return the specific bills that one stole? @msh210: same thing. Indeed, then, this would mean that this particular halachah is even more relevant: coins or bills must always be returned if they are still in the thief's possession. That said, I'm not sure that jake's and your distinction between olden days and today is valid; the real question is whether indeed old coins (that were still full weight, just used) had less value back then. I'll have to research further.
Jun 4	comment	Does one have to return the specific bills that one stole? @jake: if anything, then, according to your logic, that would mean that one always must return the bills, because there has been no significant shinui.
Jun 3	comment	What was the purpose of Nachshon's sin-offering? +1, and thanks. The reference to Zevachim 120 there may be a typo for 101 (b) (which is in the sugya where that episode in Vayikra is discussed) ד"ה הוי אומר, where Rashi says that the offering for Rosh Chodesh atones for impurity of the Mikdash and its kodashim.
Jun 1	comment	What are some practical things we can do to bring Moshiach? @Curiouser: but that's just the point! It wasn't just Rebbi himself davening for Moshiach, but appointing as shluchei tzibur the three people whom he knew to have the power to actually bring him.
Jun 1	comment	On days when Kohanim Duchan, why do the Kohanim only do it once and not in each Shemoneh Esrei? @DoubleAA: why would it be forbidden at Minchah? The kohanim won't have drunk before it (unlike a regular Yom Tov).
Jun 1	comment	What are some practical things we can do to bring Moshiach? What would you do with the story in Bava Metzia 85a, where Rebbi, having found out that R. Chiya and his sons have the power to bring Moshiach, indeed called on them to lead the prayers in an attempt to do so? It is true that the Gemara there continues that Hashem sent Eliyahu to halt the attempt, but the point is that Rebbi wasn't concerned about inappropriately "hastening the end." So I think @Menachem is correct: doing mitzvos (even with that intention in mind) is one thing, a mass movement to leave galus - which is what Rashbash is talking about - is something else.
May 31	comment	Why is the weekday reading for Devarim different than for Shabbos? @DoubleAA: Sefer Haminhagim states that the Chabad custom is to break after v. 10 (no repetition). However, R. Mottel Schusterman (the long-time baal korei in 770) writes that this note in Sefer Haminhagim was based on his own practice (which in turn was a continuation of how he did it in another shul), and that indeed R. Yaakov Landau later informed him that the original Chabad practice was to break after v. 11. So there's no uniform Chabad minhag nowadays on this.
May 31	comment	Why doesn't Chabad read Ruth on Shavuot? @msh210: see Otzar Minhagei Chabad (last paragraph on the linked page) for a rundown.
May 30	comment	What is the source for Mesirath Nefesh being a virtue? @SethJ: ואהבת את ה' אלקיך... בכל נפשך: אפילו הוא נוטל את נפשך (Berachos 54a).
May 30	comment	Why doesn't Chabad read Ruth on Shavuot? @هه: that is the Chabad custom too.
May 30	comment	Is there a rule for Rashi's French transliterations (Laaz)? @SethJ: I last saw his sefer years ago (it doesn't seem to be available online), and I think he did give this same reference, but I don't remember for sure.
May 30	comment	What is Zimri's sin? @JimThio: Solomon converted his wives (even if some of them later regressed back to idolatry). Zimri had no such intention.