Questions tagged [geography]
Questions about places with Jewish connections.
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What/Where is Tarshish
Springboarding from a conversation here, is the term "Tarshish" mentioned anywhere (besides Jastrow) in connection with Bigsan and Seresh?
This question is specifically looking to find a way ...
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So where are these mermaids?
According to the answers to Would a mermaid be kosher?, the Gemara and poskim apparently believed that mermaids exist, and would not be kosher.
So, if these mermaids and sirens exist, where would ...
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Where is the Sambatyon?
Where is the Sambatyon? Is there really a river somewhere that throws stones all week and rests on Shabbos?
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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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Where Is The City Of Gurbaal? Is It Bozrah?
And God helped him against the Philistines, and against the Arabians that dwelt in Gurbaal, and the Mehunims.(2 Chronicles 26:7)
Question- I have a question concerning the location of Gur-baal. I am ...
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Techelet from the Kineret
Is the Murex trunculus (used by Ptil Tekhelet) found exclusively at the Kineret? Or is at found at the Kineret as well as other locations?
The reason I am asking this question is because the Arizal ...
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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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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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Maps of Biblical Israel according to different authorities
After learning through Sefer Yehoshua with a variety of commentaries, I noticed that there seems to be a lot of differing opinions in how the land was divided up amongst the Shevatim and the shape of ...
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Sukkot--Object or place name?
Does anyone translate "סֻכּוֹת" in Vayikra 23:43 as a place name rather than an object (see Shmot 12:37 and 13:20, where it's a place name)?
Might the Toarah mean "celebrate Sukkot because that's the ...
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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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Why didn't Terach go to the Land of Canaan?
In Genesis 11:31, Terach takes Avraham (then Avram), Sarah (then Sarai), and Lot to the Land of Canaan, i.e. Israel. However, they stopped in Charan, and Terach spent the rest of his life there. Why ...
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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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Did Achashverosh rule over the entire Old World?
Megilla 11a says "Three ruled over the world - Achav, Achashverosh and Nebuchadnetzar." It suggests a few other names that weren't on the list and rejects them because they didn't rule over one ...
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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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Why did Yaakov give the city of Shechem to Yosef?
Yaakov gives Yosef what many commentators assume is the actual city of Shechem as an additional inheritance (see Genesis 48:22, especially according to Rashi's interpretation). Why did Yaakov choose ...
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Does Jacob's Well in present-day Nablus/Shechem have a Jewish tradition associated with it?
There's a well in present-day Shechem (Nablus) called "Jacob's Well." It has an Orthodox Christian church on top of it right now. I was wondering if there is any Jewish tradition that Jacob dug this ...
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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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Why does Scripture in parashat bereishit need to mention the four rivers?
In Bereishit 2:10, scripture mentions the following:
10: And a river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it separated and became four heads.
11: The name of one is Pishon; ...
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Al Hamichyah - Wide land?
In the Brocho after eating grains which are not bread we say:
על ארץ חמדה טובה ורחבה
Translated very loosely as: On the Land (ISRAEL) that is desirable good and WIDE.
Now, anyone with a knowledge ...
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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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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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Yarden's River Name
The Torah refers (e.g. Numbers 33) to a river called ירדן. Why is it called ירדן?
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Where did the Jews send the goat "for Azazel" while in the desert?
Rashi (Vayikra 16:8) says:
Azazel: This is a strong and hard mountain, [with] a high cliff, as the Scripture says [in describing Azazel] (verse 22 below),“a precipitous land (אֶרֶץ גְּזֵרָה),” ...
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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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The list of Binyamin's cities
When Y'hoshua 15:21–62 lists the cities of Y'huda, it does so by area/topography. M'tzudas David to 15:37 says that "everywhere it counts some separately and others separately", it does so ...
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When does a day start/end in the far North/South?
As I understand it, a day in the Jewish calendar is from sunset to sunset. How is this handled if you are living so far north or south that you have long periods of daylight or darkness?
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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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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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Who or what was Gilaad?
In parshas pinchas ch 26 vs 29 we find Menasheh had a son Machir who had a son Gilaad (גלעד). In fact this family group was called "Gilaadi" (גלעדי). At the end of parshas Matos ch 32 vs 39 - 40 we ...
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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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Why blessings on Mt. Gerizim and curses on Mt. Ebal?
Devarim 11:29 says:
וְהָיָה, כִּי יְבִיאֲךָ יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ, אֶל-הָאָרֶץ, אֲשֶׁר-אַתָּה בָא-שָׁמָּה לְרִשְׁתָּהּ--וְנָתַתָּה אֶת-הַבְּרָכָה עַל-הַר גְּרִזִים, וְאֶת-הַקְּלָלָה עַל-הַר עֵיבָל.
And it ...
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Ritual locations during the times of the Mishkan
There are certain, rituals such as the sending away of the scapegoat on Yom Kippur or the drawing of water on Sukkot which are described in Mishna as relating geographically to the location of the ...
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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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Is Juneau, Alaska -- surrounded by natural barriers -- a natural eruv
I recently visited Juneau, Alaska. It is a small city of 35,000. The city limits are quite large, however – 3,225 square miles – but much of this area is separated from downtown Juneau on Douglas ...
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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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Why don't islands read the m'gila two days?
Bavli, M'gila 5 amud 2, cites a doubt as to when the m'gila is read in T'verya: on the fourteenth of Adar, as in most places, or on the fifteenth, as in a city walled since the time of Y'hoshua. The ...
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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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How did the Sages know that Jerusalem had a wall in the times of Joshua?
The criterion for whether a city celebrates Purim on 14 Adar or Shushan Purim on 15 Adar is whether it was walled in the times of Joshua (about 3300 years ago). (Well, Shushan itself is an exception, ...
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Was the whole earth covered during The Flood?
Are there commentaries that suggest that the flood during the time of Noach was localised to one geographic area, as opposed to the whole Earth. In Bereishit 8:9 when the dove was sent out it says:
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Walled cities for Purim other than Jerusalem
The holiday of Purim is unique in that some locations celebrate it on different days. The rule is: if the city was walled at the time of Joshua's conquest of the Land of Israel then they celebrate on ...
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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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