Questions tagged [abraham]
First of the Patriarchs אברהם
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Did Avrahom fail the test?
I was having a discussion with someone in Shul and he said that many big rabbis believe that he failed the test.
Because:
He should have said no to gd when asked to kill his son,
and he lost ...
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How could Avraham feed his guests tongue?
Avraham served his guests three tongues in mustard.1 However, Avraham kept all the mitzvot,2 one of which is to give the foreleg, jaw (including the tongue3), and maw of each slaughtered animal to the ...
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How old were Avraham and Sarah when they got married?
How old were Avraham Avinu and Sarah Imeinu when they got married?
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How did Avraham discover that God exists?
How did Avraham discover that God exists? Was because of logic or tradition since Adam? If was by logic, why do we call him Ivri (from Ever, his grandfather). Please bring sources.
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Why didn't Abraham ask the single best question?
Genesis 18:24ff:
And Abraham... said: Will You [God] also cause to perish the righteous one with the wicked one? ...Will You not spare the place for the sake of [say] 50 righteous ones in its ...
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Why did Avraham argue with G-d about Sodom but not about his son's sacrifice?
Are there any Mefarshim who commented on why Avraham chose to advocate on behalf of Sodom when G-d tells him that the city will be destroyed, but chose to remain silent and just accept the decree when ...
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Why are there so few Jews if God promised Abraham his children would number like the stars?
God promises Abraham a number of times that he would father a great nation whose numbers would be like the stars in the sky or the sand on the beach.
However today there are less than 14 million Jews,...
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Did Abraham know that Lot survived the Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah?
In last week's Parasha, we all know the story of Abraham arguing with God to have God spare the cities on account of the righteous. However, I haven't heard much about the end of the story.
Genesis ...
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Is it sourced that Avrohom Avinu charged his guests payment if they did not make a Brachah?
The Gemara in Soitah (10a I think) says that Avrohom used to tell people not to thank him, but rather to thank Hashem for the food that they ate.
I seem to remember learning once that if they refused,...
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What happened to Avraham's other sons?
After the Torah's account of Avraham's other sons, Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak and Shuah, being sent to the East with gifts, do we have any tradition about what became of them? Did they ...
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Source that Avraham's tent was open on all sides?
What is the source for the idea (I recall learning as a child) that Avraham's tent was open on all 4 directions to welcome guests?
user6641
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Sources that Avraham Avinu personified Gemilas Chasodim
See this thread which discusses that Avraham Avinu used to make his guests pay exorbitant prices if they did not wish to bless Hashem for the food.
I am struggling to differentiate between a ...
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What was Avraham Avinu's mother's name?
What was Avraham Avinu's mother's name?
Our shul received a paper with questions on Simhat Torah, with this question being one of the harder ones. Is there a midrash on her name?
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Centrality of Jerusalem for forefathers and before Temple
I was having an argument about the centrality of Jerusalem in our tradition when I realized surprisingly, that, seemingly from the scriptures, Jerusalem wasn't so central for our forefathers at all.
...
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Abram's worship of El Elyon [closed]
In Genesis 14:18-20 Abram recognizes the deity El Elyon of the Jebusite monarch Melchizedek.
Some scholars have investigated into the meaning of this name El Elyon and propose that it actually ...
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Why did the angel overturning Sodom visit Abraham?
Someone in my synagogue asked today as follows:
Rashi notes (Vayera 18:2, q.v.) that three angels visited Avraham's tent: one was assigned to inform Sara [of her impending pregnancy], one to overturn ...
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Why did Hashem not tell Avraham to have a Bris earlier?
Avraham Avinu was told to have a Bris at 99 years of age. Why didn't Hashem have him do a Bris earlier?
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Who was the mother of Avraham's daughter?
According to one opinion in the Gemarah (Bava Basra 16b, also 141a), when it says Avraham was blessed with everything (Bereishit 24:1) it means that he had a daughter. Who was her mother?
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Did Avraham Avinu really have a daughter named Bakol?
I heard that Avraham Avinu had a daughter named Bakol. But in the Biblical narrative, there is no mention of a daughter to Avraham, only a son, Yitzchak, whom we all know well.
Did Avraham really ...
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Why Did God Directly Command Abraham to Sacrifice Isaac but Sent Angels to Stop Him?
Genesis 21:1-3 says that God “tested” Abraham by commanding him to sacrifice his son Isaac and that Abraham immediately (or almost immediately) followed the directions God provided. 21:9-17 says that ...
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Abraham's converts.....to what?
Assuming the view that Avraham was not a Jew (see here and here1), "ha-nefesh asher asu beCharan" (Gen. 12:5) that Rashi explains were converts, what did they convert to?
To give credit where credit ...
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What would qualify a Sedomite as a "righteous person"?
In Genesis 18:23-33, Avraham pleads with God to spare Sedom from the destruction it had earned through its wicked institutionalized cruelty. Eventually, Avraham extracts an agreement from God that the ...
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Prayer of Avraham Avinu at Mount Moriah
On Yom Kippur and in Selichos we pray "The One who answered Avraham Avinu's prayer on Mount Moriah, should answer us". "מי שענה לאברהם אבינו בהר המוריה הוא יעננו".
What did Avraham pray for at Mount ...
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"If eight couldn't save the world, certainly eight couldn't save one city." Why not?
Rashi to Bereishis 18:32, explaining why Avraham only bargained for 10 and no less:
אָמַר דוֹר הַמַּבּוּל הָיוּ ח', נֹחַ וּבָנָיו וּנְשֵׁיהֶם, וְלֹא הִצִּילוּ עַל דּוֹרָם; וְעַל ט' עַל יְדֵי צֵרוּף ...
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Yishmael is the corruption of chesed
I once heard the following idea, and I'm wondering what is the source for it.
Avraham was the pillar of chesed. His son Yishmael was rejected as being part of the Jewish people. Chazal say that ...
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What happened with G-d's promise?
In Bereshit 15:18 G-d makes a covenant with Abraham in which He says that He has given certain land to Abraham's descendants.
בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא כָּרַת יְהֹוָה אֶת אַבְרָם בְּרִית לֵאמֹר לְזַרְעֲךָ ...
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Who performed the bris of Abraham?
It is clear that Abraham understood the Torah, and that he waited to enact his bris until commanded, but who performed it? Did he do it himself, or was someone else instructed to do it, to serve in ...
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Avraham's Converts [duplicate]
In Bereishis 12:5 we see that Avraham took with him את הנפש אשר עשו בחרן "the soul they had made in Charan." Rashi there comments that "Abraham would convert the men, and Sarah would convert the women,...
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Why does Rashi say Avraham thought the angels were wayfarers?
Rashi on Breishis 18:16
And the men arose from there, and they looked upon Sodom, and Abraham went with them to escort them,
says
to escort them: Heb. לְשַׁלְּחָם, to escort them. He thought ...
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Commandments/Laws followed by Avraham
Genesis 26:5 states:
Because that Avraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.
What were these laws, statutes, and commandments that Avraham was ...
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Why did the angels not go straight to S'dom?
It says in Bereishis 18,16 “and the men arose from there and they looked upon S’dom, and Avraham went with them to escort them”. This is followed by several posukim dealing with the dialogue between ...
user4523
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Why did Avraham ask Eliezer to go to his family?
What was so special about Avraham's family that he prefers that Eliezer should search there for a wife for Yitzchok (Bereshis 24:40)?
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Avraham a father of many
What was meant when HaShem told Avraham His covenant would be with him and he would become the father of a multitude of nations? (Genesis 17:4, see also 12:2-3).
To whom does the multitude of nations ...
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Covenant of pieces; cutting
The birds or pigeons in this covenant making (the ברית בין הבתרים) are not cut in two, but why? What is the meaning behind this?
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Deep Sleep Genesis 15:12
I would like to know if the "deep sleep" of Abraham (Genesis 15:12) is literally a "sleep", or a state of "trance" as The Midrash of Philo says (15:12). What does the ...
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Did Avrohom own חמץ on פסח?
In Gensis 18 -6, when Avrohom hosted the angels, he told his wife to
מַֽהֲרִ֞י שְׁל֤שׁ סְאִים֙ קֶ֣מַח סֹ֔לֶת ל֖וּשִׁי וַֽעֲשִׂ֥י עֻגֽוֹת:
"Hasten three seah of meal [and] fine flour; knead and ...
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What percentage of Jews are descendants of Abraham?
From my limited understanding of the religion being Jewish requires being born of Jewish parents or following some moderately complex procedures. From that I would assume that every Jew alive today ...
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Why would Abraham establish the morning prayer?
The Talmud proposes that the morning prayer was established by Abraham (Berakhot.26b):
"תַּנְיָא כְּווֹתֵיהּ דְּרַבִּי יוֹסֵי בְּרַבִּי חֲנִינָא:
אַבְרָהָם תִּקֵּן תְּפִלַּת שַׁחֲרִית, ...
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Why was Abraham cheap with Hagar and his son Yishmael?
Following "why-would-Hagar-go-to-the-desert-to-die", IIRC Abraham was freakishly wealthy and he should be full of Chessed (toward his former wife and his own son), Sarah didn't deny any ...
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The definitions of Judaism and Jew
An infinite loop:
Judaism according to Google is "the monotheistic religion of the Jews".
And Jew is "a member of the people and cultural community whose traditional religion is Judaism and who ...
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Did God want converts in the early days of Judaism?
The Midrash says that Abraham and Sarah made many converts, presumably with God's blessing:
Abraham made converts, for it is written, "And Abraham took Sarai his wife... and all the souls that they ...
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