All Questions
10 questions
5
votes
1
answer
143
views
Did Chazal ever divorce?
I'm wondering, out of pure interest, if we know of any Tannaim, Amoraim, Savoraim, Geonim or Rishonim who divorced their wives?
- 9,938
1
vote
1
answer
109
views
Historical references for non-halachic conversion
As of late much ado has been made about in the Torah world about the non-halachic conversion crisis. This is especially controversial in Israel due to halachic problems with gentiles owning land there....
- 4,532
3
votes
4
answers
876
views
Midah Keneged Midah in the Punishment of an Entire Tzibur [i.e, Covid-19]
I was recently reading a controversial article on The Lakewood Scoop claiming that Coronavirus (Covid-19) is a punishment for the fact that we expelled anti-vaxxers from our Yeshivos and Mosdos ...
- 143
7
votes
4
answers
352
views
Sefer on Chazal, Geonim and Later Acharonim
I currently own the Artscroll books The Rishonim and The Early Acharonim by Rabbi Goldwurm. They have a few features on Rabbonim of the ages that I really appreciate:
Anecdotal information about each ...
- 493
9
votes
2
answers
331
views
Is there any evidence that Chazal knew what caused eclipses?
Many ancient cultures believed that eclipses are caused by things other than syzygy. The Egyptians had Apophis. The Hindus had Rahu. (The interested reader can see more here.)
In light (ha) of the ...
- 34.7k
5
votes
2
answers
261
views
How did Chazal attain its continued acceptance?
My question is: How did Chazal attain its authority? More specifically, how did the Pharisees who evolved into Chazal beat out the Sadducees who would later become practically extinct (some say that ...
- 51
4
votes
6
answers
646
views
Can Chazal be wrong? [duplicate]
I understand that a later ruling can't contradict an earlier one, but does that mean that Chazal are infallible, the way Catholics believe the Pope is infallible? And if so, where's the line? Who was ...
- 416
4
votes
1
answer
121
views
Why do we refer to Chazal as a monolithic group?
In discussions of Torah, halacha, etc., people often say, "According to Chazal..." as though all the thousands of rabbis of an 800-year period spoke with one voice. But you almost never hear people ...
- 416
16
votes
3
answers
2k
views
How is it that the Talmud can make historical mistakes?
A Rav told me that when it comes to science and nature, the Talmud can say incorrect things (i.e. about animals, cosmology) because they were going by the Greeks and Romans. (Where he gets permission ...
- 1,484
2
votes
0
answers
91
views
Historicity of Chazal
What do traditional sources (particularly Rishonim and their predecessors) say about the historical accuracy of Chazal's statements?
- 36k