Questions tagged [geography]
Questions about places with Jewish connections.
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The kotel and the Beis HaMikdosh now
There are some floorplans of the inside of the Beis HaMikdosh, for example in the first edition of the ArtScroll gemara Yoma. However, I am looking for a (sefer) picture that describes the exact ...
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what were the various locations associated with the names of the 24 divisions in Palestine after they returned from Persia?
I read that the prophets Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi divided the four families that returned from exile in the first and second waves into 24 watches at the rebuilding of the Second Temple. ...
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You're a Jew in Israel and it's 70 CE. Where Should You Go for the Best Existence the Next 1900 Years? [closed]
(This is a Jewish History topic, and thus hopefully won't be closed. I realize it may be somewhat subjective, but any well-reasoned argument would be helpful in showing which places and times have ...
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Where were the Emorites located in relation to the Land of Israel
There is a map in the back of the Simanim Tanach that shows the land of Sichon (the king of the Emorites) to be on the east side of the Jordan, aligned with the northern half of the Dead Sea, north of ...
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Was Shomron, the capital of North Israel, supposed to revert to its ancestral owners in Yovel?
I Kings 16:24 has a king of North Israel buying some empty-ish land and building a new city on it to serve as the capital.
If I understand the laws of Yovel ("jubilee year") correctly, then ...
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How did Abraham end up in Ur Kasdim when Shem and Ever lived in Israel?
IIRC, it starts with Noah landing on the Ararat mountains somewhere in nowadays Turkey. Some 300 years later we hear that Shem runs a Yeshiva in Eretz Israel together with his grand-grandson Ever and ...
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Where does the name הגליל, The Galilee, come from?
As far as I was aware, the Galilee isn't considered a significant region of Israel in the Tanach. But when we get to the Mishna, the Galilee is mentioned everywhere. For example, https://www.sefaria....
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how could they see the fire signals so far away?
(Please include header and footer when redistributing this material.)
THE DAFYOMI DISCUSSION LIST
brought to you by Kollel Iyun Hadaf of Yerushalayim
Rosh Kollel: Rabbi ...
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Where are the regions Kerutim & Hatoulim, mentioned in the Mishna as having the best wine grapes, located on a map?
I have not been able to find these locations that are mentioned in the Mishna. I came across this quote:
The Mishna also (Menahot, 8, 6) points to the regions where the best
wine-making grapes were ...
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What were the names of the places to which Bney Yisrael backtracked in Bamidbar 33?
What were the names of the places to which Bney Yisrael backtracked in Bamidbar 33?
In Numbers 33, the children of Israel journeyed from a total of 42 encampments.
In the process, as pointed out in
...
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Why was Cheshbon given by the Gadites?
In Bamidbar 32:37 it says that Cheshbon was rebuilt by Reuven - seemingly, it was given to them after they reached the agreement with Moshe on the settlement of the land. In Yehoshua 13:17 it says ...
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Zohar / Facial features
Shalom all.
I once read/heard that the Zohar says that when Jews move to a certain location, then those Jewish people's facial features change to look like the people that they live among.
Does any ...
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How is it possible that Numbers 33 talks about 48 camps instead of 42?
How is it possible that Numbers 33 talks about 48 camps instead of 42?
To what peshat did these mefarshim source this enumeration?
Some of these mefarshim conclude that instead of 42 locations, there ...
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Why "Snir" in Yechezkel 27:5?
In Devarim 3:9 it says that the Tzidonim would call Mt. Chermon "Sirion" and the Amorim would call it "Snir". However, when Yechezkel laments the fall of Tzor, which is in Tzidon, ...
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What spot is on the other side of the World from the Beit HaMikdash?
If an axis goes through the world, where is the spot exactly opposite Har HaBayit where the axis comes out? Is it in the middle of the Ocean? Should there be anything special expected about this point?...
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Who are the Sinnites? [duplicate]
In Modern Hebrew, china is refered to as סין(Sin). There are three mentions of סין throughout tanach:
ויסעו מאלים ויבאו כל עדת בני ישראל אל מדבר סין אשר בין אילים ובין
סיני, בחמשה עשר יום לחדש השני ...
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Legal minyan in Stamford Hill
As of October 2020 the UK government has established strict laws and very specific guidelines for the currently ongoing holiday.
It would seem that we have to keep these regulations, especially since ...
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Source for the boundaries of Egypt
The Rambam codified the triplicate biblical injunction not to dwell permanently in the Land of Egypt as follows:
וּמֻתָּר לִשְׁכֹּן בְּכָל הָעוֹלָם חוּץ מֵאֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם. מִן הַיָּם הַגָּדוֹל וְעַד ...
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What is the mountain of the Amorite?
Moshe discusses in Devarim how the people were supposed to approach the Mountain of the Amorite and conquer the land. Then, after
Where is this mountain geographically? Does it have any special ...
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What is the halachic boundary of modern day Jerusalem in regards to Purim
I would like to know what the halachic boundaries of Jerusalem are today in terms of where one would be obligated in the mitzvot of Shushan Purim.
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How does the law of prayer direction apply to a spherical Earth?
A Beraita is cited in Berachot 30a as follows:
ת"ר סומא ומי שאינו יכול לכוין את הרוחות יכוין לבו כנגד אביו שבשמים שנא' והתפללו אל ה' היה עומד בח"ל יכוין את לבו כנגד ארץ ישראל שנא' והתפללו אליך דרך ...
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Geographical importance of Me'arat Hamachpela for Adam
Does anybody mention the geographical importance of the Me'ara being situated about 40KM South of Jerusalem?
As it preceded Hebron as a city, why did Adam choose this site specifically for his ...
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Orientation of Kahati's map of the Beis Hamikdash
R' Kahati's map of the Beis Hamikdash - that is printed just before the beginning of Meseches Midos - has South at the top and North at the bottom. I have always found this a little confusing, being ...
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Maps that can aid the locations of the cities referenced in Masechet Gittin?
I’m currently learning Masechet Gittin and would like to know where I can find maps of the cities referenced in the first daf or so that can assist me. Cities like heger, rekem, kfar lud, etc is what ...
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Did the Talmudic rabbis know about America?
Is there any evidence in the ancient Sources that the Talmudic rabbis were aware of the existence of America?
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Why did G-d create everything important off-center?
I hope not to argue that the Heliocentric view is true as is our current understanding of [our position in] the Universe, the Earth is rotating around the Sun, that is rotating around the center of ...
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How the areas of the tribes were possibly equally valued?
I base my question solely on the WIKI of the division of the Land of Israel between the 9.5 tribes (the final division by Yehoshua).
I'm not a big of a geographer, but I live in Israel, and I know ...
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Are the borders of Eretz Israel going to be the same in regard to the Torah when moshiach comes? [closed]
I have read before an opinion that they are not going to be the same borders, I am hoping for some backup information.
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Is Mt Hermon located within the biblical boundaries of the Holy Land?
According to interpreters, Is Mt Hermon located within the biblical boundaries of the Holy Land?
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Gr"A stating that Africa is [at] the South Pole
(Saw it today at the Kolel in Mikraot Gedolot, sorry can't find it online, please help).
At the beginning of Divrei Hayamim, Pirush HaGr"a explains various nations coming out of Noah's sons and ...
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Is the Bnei Brak of the Hagada and Megila the same as modern-day Bnei Brak?
The Pesach Hagada mentions the story of five rabbis in Bnei Brak
It happened once [on Pesach] that Rabbi Eliezer, Rabbi Yehoshua, Rabbi
Elazar ben Azariah, Rabbi Akiva and Rabbi Tarfon were ...
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The application of the dispute about the borders of Babylon
The Talmud (Kiddushin 71b) discusses the differences in the lineage of people from different places in the vicinity of Bavel (Babylon) by analogy of health. Bavel is healthy (has a good lineage), ...
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Is there a spiritual significance to the fact one of the most heavily Jewish neighborhoods in NYC is "Crown" Heights? [closed]
This may seem like a strange question but I was curious if there was any religious significance to this. Possibly, Jews following the opinion of a Rabbi who saw the name as signifying a place of ...
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Modern Directions to Sambatyon River
A Rav recently mentioned a sefer was written by an American Rav in the 1930s called Kol Mevaser which provided exact directions to find the Sambatyon River. (The map began in Tibet and carefully ...
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What's the difference between ציון and ירושלים?
What's the difference between ציון and ירושלים?
Initially I thought that they are just synonyms but after reading some phrases in the bible I doubt whether it's correct or not.
The phrases that ...
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Was Africa destined for the Europeans - descendants of Yefet?
A little follow-up to my previous question:
There are two interesting Targumim suggesting that Africa was oroginally destined for the descendants of Yefet (Gen 10,2):
תרגום ירושלמי, בראשית י׳:ב׳:
...
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Dividing the world for the sons of Noah
Rashi (Gen 12,6) mentions that Noah divided the world between his sons and that Israel was given to Shem and his descendants:
והכנעני אז בארץ. הָיָה הוֹלֵךְ וְכוֹבֵשׁ אֶת אֶרֶץ יִשְׂרָאֵל ...
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Sources for the location of the Red Sea
I am looking for Jewish sources that touch on the question of where (on a modern map) the crossing of the Red Sea (Sea of Reeds) took place.
In my research, I'm finding several possible locations, ...
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Was There a Specific Location that the Babylonian Talmud was Written
The exact (think GPS) location of many biblical sites are known. We know exectly where Abraham bound Issac and suspect that is the same spot where the Holy of Holies was. Some of the ancient sites (or ...
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Where is נהר פקוד?
Is this a actually river named pikod? Are there records where it is?
(Mentioned in Zevachim 8b among other places.)
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How do we determine "population statistics" for population-dependent Halachot?
There appear to be several halachot that are based on "a majority of Israel". For example:
Mishnah Berachot 54a:
הרואה מקום שנעשו בו נסים לישראל אומר ברוך שעשה נסים לאבותינו במקום הזה
IF ...
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What was Yaakov's funeral procession doing in Transjordan?
We read in Bereishit 50:10-11
וַיָּבֹאוּ עַד-גֹּרֶן הָאָטָד, אֲשֶׁר בְּעֵבֶר הַיַּרְדֵּן, וַיִּסְפְּדוּ-שָׁם, מִסְפֵּד גָּדוֹל וְכָבֵד מְאֹד; וַיַּעַשׂ לְאָבִיו אֵבֶל, שִׁבְעַת יָמִים. וַיַּרְא ...
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Are Ra'meses and Ra'amses the same place
In Bereishit 47:11 (and Shemot 12:37 and Bamidbar 33:3 and 33:5) we find mention of an Egyptian place called רַעְמְסֵס - Ra'meses.
In Shemot 1:11 we find mention of an Egyptian place called רַעַמְסֵס ...
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Why did Jacob live "in his father's dwelling land"?
Parashas Vayeshev begins (Genesis 37:1, in my own translation):
Jacob lived in the land of his father's dwelling: in the land of Canaan.
I understand why it repeats the already-known fact (35:27, ...
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Distance from Chevron to Sedom
Rashi (Genesis 19:1, "BaErev") asks rhetorically, וכי כל כך שהו המלאכים מחברון לסדום , implying that it's close from Chevron to Sedom. But if we assume that Sedom was located where the current Dead ...
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Does the Third Temple have to be built on the Temple Mount?
Suppose it is allowed for Jews in the present to build a Third Temple, does that temple have to stand on the Temple Mount? Modern Israel is in many ways (actually most) not similar to the Israelite's ...
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Where was Abraham born?
Where was Abraham born?
There are a couple of confusing, and perhaps even conflicting verses in the bible about Abraham's original homeland.
The general consensus is that Abraham and his family were ...
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Did Rabbi Akiva Go To Africa?
The Gemara in Rosh Hashana 26a says:
ואמר רבי עקיבא כשהלכתי לאפריקי...
Rabbi Akiva said: when I went to Afriki
Is this referring to the continent of Africa?
Was Africa in this time period ...
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Places with no half-denomination coin
The custom is to give 1 or 3 half-denomination coins to tzedaka on Taanit Esther to remember the yearly mitzva of machatzit hashekel (Rama 694:1).
How is this done in a country that has no half ...
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Tzarfat and France in Rabbinic Literature
Why does rabbinic literature identify France with Tzarfat? Tzarfat itself is mentioned only a few times, namely 'Ovadia 1:20, along with the only istance of Sepharad (which is identified with Spain) ...
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