Questions tagged [history]
Questions related to how something was in the past, and how it's developed since then.
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What Is the "Standard" Shulchan Aruch Page Based On? How Many Dapim Are There?
There are many editions of the Shulchan Aruch and they do not all follow the same pagination. However, many editions I have seen call themselves "tzurat hadaf" and appear to have a similar ...
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The Maharsha accusing Rav Pappa!
The Gemara Shabbos 140b states the following..
וְאָמַר רַב פָּפָּא: הַאי מַאן דְּאֶפְשָׁר לְמִישְׁתֵּי שִׁיכְרָא וְשָׁתֵי חַמְרָא — עוֹבֵר מִשּׁוּם ״בַּל תַּשְׁחִית״. וְלָאו מִילְּתָא הִיא — ״בַּל ...
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After the Sadducees, who was the the first Jew to deny the belief in the literal resurrection of the dead?
The Sadducees denied a coming resurrection of the dead, since they accepted only the written Torah as scripture. However, their movement went extinct in the early first millenium. After them, who was ...
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What other Jewish-born people have the same opinion about Judaism similarly to Richard Feynman's? [closed]
Richard Feynman, in a letter to Tina Lavitan, while expressing his atheism as a Jewish-born individual, states that he does not think that Judaism is a race, but a religion [See, e.g., the "...
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Wonder Child of Jerusalem
I grew up hearing about the story of a wonder child in Jerusalem that was born knowing כל התורה כולה. The Gedolim of that era explained that he didn't receive the flick from the angel at birth to make ...
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State of Judaism before the destruction of the first temple
Can someone recommend some good resources on delving into the state of Judaism between entry to Israel and the destruction of the first temple? Specifically, the state of the religion. What did it ...
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Is there any mention to someone wearing tefillin in Tanach? [duplicate]
Aside from the passages in Shmah, are there any accounts discussing or of Jews wearing tefillin in tanach?
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History of Creation Ex Nihilo
Is it known whether creation from nothing has always been the mainstream jewish belief (as far back as is possible to tell)? Were there notable groups within Judaism that, instead of going with the ex ...
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The beis hillel
Does anyone know at what period in his life the beis hillel (הלל בן ר' נפתלי הירץ) wrote his Sefer. I know it was published after his death I want to know what year he wrote it
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Are there two or three Rabbi Rashash?
How many Rabbi's are there that are named "Rashash"? I can't seem to find any sources that speak of another rashash, besides the ones mentioned below. I was told that there was one that ...
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Are there accounts detailing personal encounters with the Rambam and referring to his personality?
The Rambam, at least in his writing, is often forthright, reassured and direct. It seems to me that sometimes the Rambam can be construed as disparaging of certain groups of people. For example (...
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Do the non-traditional branches of Judaism claim to be rejecting the original foundations and replacing it with something superior?
R Dovid Gottlieb made the following claim to me:
"The non-traditional branches (Reform, Conservative, Reconstructionist) of Judaism claim to be rejecting the original foundations and replacing ...
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Origins of Ashkenazi Community
I saw a comment by mevaqesh:
To summarize the thesis set forth by R. Dr. Soloveitchik and in
collected Essays vol. II and elaborated on in vol. III, the Ashkenazic
mesorah was founded by a group of ...
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Which Jewish theologians won't cite Jewish survival as evidence of miracles?
Which Jewish theologians (defined below) disagree with the following conclusion:
"Jewish survival can't be [reasonably] explained in a natural way (and instead needs to be explained as a miracle)...
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When did The Talmud first become available to the readers as a written document?
What was the probable earliest time, when some Jewish readers could get a hold of a document that contains any material that belong to the material that is found in Talmud Sanhedrin?
What was the ...
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Preservation of the text
I read in an article that "rabbinic literature" states there was a preserved copy of a guarded text in the second temple, I was hoping someone could let me know where I can find this text, ...
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בָּרוּךְ אֱלֹקֵינוּ שֶׁבְּרָאָֽנוּ לִכְבוֹדוֹ - What is the background of this prayer?
What is the background of this prayer? I'd like to know who composed it, when, if there was any reason that it was composed, and what the intentions of the composer were that we should absorb when ...
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History of Hashkeim vs. Bo
I learned in this book that in some ancient traditions, they started a new parsha at Hashkeim (barad) instead of at Bo (arbeh), as I'm used to. (This is a variation of the minhag to read the whole ...
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What changed in the later First Temple period that increased interaction with further kingdoms?
If you read the Book of Kings, the nations with which Israel (or later, Judah and Israel) was always either warring or allying themselves are basically its neighbors: Egypt, Lebanon ("Tyre"),...
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To what extent would the kings of Israel and Judah have been involved in the upbringing and instruction of their children?
To what extent would the kings of Israel and Judah have been involved in the upbringing and instruction of their children? Are there any Biblical references that can help determine this?
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Where is Nimrod written about outside Genesis, Chronicles, and Micah? In particular, is he described anywhere as mighty, strong, vigorous, etc?
I am ultimately interested in finding out why Greek scribes translated the Hebrew works as "mighty hunter" in Genesis and Chronicles for the Septuagint. The original Hebrew in those books do ...
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Examples of prophecies that didn't and cannot come to pass?
Are there any examples of prophecies recorded by established Jewish prophets in Tanach which were about a specific time and/or a specific people and did not come to pass, and subsequently cannot come ...
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Is it true that Simeon ben Shetach was summoned to a diplomatic meeting between Parthians and King Alexander Jannaeus by Queen Salome Alexandra?
There is a story on wikipedia for Simeon ben Shetach at this link.. After the civil war between the Pharisees and King Alexander Jannaeus the Judeans are meeting with Parthians. The Parthians asked ...
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Why don't we celebrate Cyrus' edict to grant freedom to the Jews and to erect the Second Temple?
In my understanding of history, Cyrus the Great was the person who saved Judaism from vanishing not only by granting them the freedom of worship and letting them return to the Promised Land but by ...
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Non-Jewish Sources about Chanukah [closed]
I was listening to a podcast about Channukah, he was interviewing an Israeli professor on the subject. The professor was very reluctant to give credence to the ‘Jewish sources’ about Chanukah. ...
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Did ALL the Jews at the time of the closing of the Talmud accept the Talmud as binding?
The Rambam states in his introduction to Mishna Torah that the Talmud Bavli is binding because;
כל אותם הדברים שבתלמוד הסכימו עליהם כל ישראל.
What is the definition of the word "ישראל" in ...
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Sources regarding the Mesorah of the explanations/details of the Torah
It's difficult for me to accept that laws that I see written in a modern day Halacha sefer really originate from what G-d Told Moshe thousands of years ago. This is because there is so much time in ...
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When and by whom were the Piyutim of Channukah written?
There are communities that recite special prayers on Shabbos Channukah they begin with אודך כי אנפת ותשוב. Do we know who wrote these and when?
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Did Rav Dovid Leibowitz write any chiddushei Torah?
Rav Dovid Leibowitz was a talmid of the Chafetz Chaim and the father of Rav Henoch Leibowitz. I have heard in the name of Rav Yitzchak Hutner that out of all the yeshivas in America, only Rav ...
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Recommended edition of Flavius Josephus
I would like to read some of Flavius Josephus works in English regarding early Judaism (e.g., his History of the Jews). I understand many of the translations generally available are from a very old (...
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Who is Matrona which asked Reb Yossi many questions?
The Medrash in last week Parsha says מטרונא שאלה את רבי יוסי בן חלפתא אמרה ליה למה יצא עשו תחלה if we search for Reb Yossi with maternya there are a number of questions which she asked. Jastrow says ...
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Did the early generations do melacha on Chol Ha'moed?
The Gemara in Chagiga says:
that the Torah left it up to Chazal to figure out what constitutes as "work" on Chol Ha'moed.
"הא לא מסרן הכתוב אלא לחכמים, לומר לך אי זה יום אסור ואי זה ...
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What is the origin of Beta Israel?
Some have hypothesized that Beta Israel is the tribe of Dan, others that they originated with a child of Solomon. Is there any prevailing thought on their origin?
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Prior to the destruction of the Temple how did a Jew become either a Pharisee or a Sadducee?
I have been given an assignment which asks various questions about the Pharisees and the Sadducees, relating to the time prior to the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem by the Roman Empire.
The ...
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How would first-century Jews have understood "second death"?
In the biblical book of Revelation, there is mention of a lake of fire "which is the second death" which awaits the sinners which are resurrected in the second resurrection.
In searching ...
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If the ENTIRE Egyptian army drowned, why didn't the Babylonians/Hittites invade Egypt?
The following is an excerpt of a critique on "Reason to Believe":
Critic: Under these conditions, were the Ten Plagues and a total crush of the Egyptian army in the Red Sea waters to happen,...
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When did Jews first start using kosher butchers? (Sifrei Devarim 71) [closed]
I am wondering when Jews began the tradition of kosher butchery as such. The Torah is not very specific about how meat is to be slaughtered even for sacrifices:
Thou shalt slaughter of thy herd and ...
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Where is Iyov buried?
I was researching where the tomb of the prophets were and saw that the tomb of Iyov is claimed to be in Oman. Do we know if he's buried there?
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Why money is not mentioned in Job's wealth?
Job was famously a rich guy:
"his possessions were seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yokes of oxen and five hundred she-asses, and a very large household. That man was ...
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Who was/were the leaders during the Asarah Harugei Malchus?
I know that the Asarah Harugei Malchus took place over generations. Nonetheless, who is recognized as being the original antagonist? Who is the one who went to Chazal about the claim about Yosef's ...
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Why did velvet become the fabric of choice for kippot in many Orthodox communities? [duplicate]
Kippot come in a variety of fabrics and styles but if you're from specific Orthodox backgrounds, you tend to wear kippot made from velvet fabric.
Why did velvet become the norm exactly? Is there a ...
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After city walls were no longer built, what did the ~10M Jews living in pre-Holocaust Europe do regarding an Eruv?
As per my quick research 1 2 sometime around 1800 to 1920 European cities stopped erecting and started removing city walls. My understanding is that a lot of the laws regarding Eruv was assuming that ...
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How would you define this list of breakaways from Judaism?
I don’t know so much about history and theology, but I saw the following list and I was hoping that someone could help me understand it;
I saw R Dovid Gottlieb in "Reason to Believe" ...
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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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What happened to the Mishkan?
Where is the Mishkan today (i.e. where are its components)? What happened to the set of tablets that were housed inside?
This post suggests that the Mishkan was destroyed in Shiloh, but does not give ...
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How many editions of the "Authorised Daily Prayer Book" have there been?
Background: many years ago, while studying in the UK, I bought a pocket-sized, softcover edition of "The Authorised Daily Prayer Book of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth"....
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Evidence for the divine inspiration of the Torah
What evidence is there that the Torah was divinely inspired? Historical evidence, prophecies, etc, for example.
Further reading on this topic would be appreciated.
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Where do the Jewish prayers in the Siddur come from?
I am new to Judaism, and just bought the transliterated artscroll siddur. I have yet to consume the entire introduction, but have glanced through it, interested in getting to the prayers. I realize I ...
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Are there sources that predict a process of redemption?
I have been told that recent history reflects the process of redemption - גאולה. Whether or not this is true, I want to know if there are sources, in Tanakh or later, which predict such a process.
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Do the Mosaic Laws/Commandments need to be followed outside of Israel (or the Land God gave to the Israelites)?
Deuteronomy 12:1 seems very clear as to where the Laws/Statutes/Commands apply:
“These are the decrees and laws you must be careful to follow in the land that the Lord, the God of your ancestors, has ...
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