Questions tagged [mesorah-tradition]
The different traditions passed down through the generations.
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Simanim at the end of the Parshah
Does anyone have any coherent history of and/or source for the siman for the amount of pesukim in each parshah?
(I’m sure it’s been asked here before, but I was unable to find anything while searching ...
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The Dead Sea scrolls [duplicate]
I would like to know if recordings of the Dead Sea scrolls can be used halachically? By this I mean, recordings of halachic customs that are referenced in the Dead Sea scrolls if they can be used to ...
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Best variety of esrog
What is the best variety of esrog to use for the Mitzvah? Why, and what is this halachic opinion based on?
I know there is not one consensus answer for this, but there are a variety of halachic ...
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What are the peculiarities of a school or company of the prophets לַהֲקַ֚ת הַנְּבִיאִים֙ (1 Samuel 19:20)?
What are the peculiarities of a school or company of the prophets לַהֲקַ֚ת הַנְּבִיאִים֙ (I Samuel 19:20)?
What did one learn in a school of the prophets?
How did one become a student in a school of ...
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Is Vayelech misnumbered
Why is the siman for Parshat Vayelech listed as 70 if it only has 30 pesukim?
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Is the aleph bet of Ben sira canonical? [closed]
Is אלפא ביתא אחרת לבן סירא (excluding the passages brought in the gemara) in the sefer אוצר מדרשים part of the jewish mesorah?
Specifically this passage:
כתיב עושה גדולות עד אין חקר ונפלאות עד אין ...
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Why do we have many teachings from Hillel and Shammai, but very few of earlier zugot?
We venerate our previous generations, and have a principle of yeridat hadorot. Therefore I would imagine that the Torah of Samaya and Avtalyon, for example, would be pure gold for us, and threaded ...
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Change of Eida’s accent of Hebrew
Let’s say a certain Eida has a mesorah on how to enunciate Hebrew, and now their children learn Israeli Hebrew and within one generation it completely replaces the traditional way they used for more ...
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Transmission of Kabbalah - what happened after Shlomo Hamelech?
According to Brit Menucha, the chain of transmission of Kabbalah from Adam to Shlomo ends with his sons putting the knowledge in the geniza of the Beit Hamikdash.
After that, there seem to be 2 ...
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Chain of Transmission between Nachum and Rabbi Meyasha
In the Mishnah Peah 2:6, the text seems to suggest that Nachum the scribe received teachings from Rabbi Meyasha:
"אָמַר נַחוּם הַלַּבְלָר, מְקֻבָּל אֲנִי מֵרַבִּי מְיָאשָׁא שקבל מאבא,
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If we have full copies of the Torah in an unchanged form (Dead Sea Scrolls), why don’t we revert our Torah scrolls back?
We have found very old Torah scrolls, which were named the Dead Sea Scrolls. These scrolls are some of the oldest Torah scrolls out there; however, there are some discrepancies between these ancient ...
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Rambam controversy
I don’t like that I have to ask this but I haven’t heard of this before and would like some information on it.
If one holds, for example, that the Rambam literally holds that demons don’t exist, ...
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Na Nach Nachma Nachman Meuman
What is the background of the "Na Nach" movement within the greater Breslav chasidus?
Are they accepted within mainstream Breslav?
Is their belief system (something to do with finding a note ...
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Does prioritizing one's mental health supersede adherence to Torah commandments?
Does prioritizing one's mental health supersede adherence to Torah commandments until they have under control / recover from the intense mental health issues at hand?
For instance:
If attending ...
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Missing vav or not in Bamidbar 7:2
In parshat Nasso (Bamidbar 7:2), the Torah says
וַיַּקְרִ֙יבוּ֙ נְשִׂיאֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל רָאשֵׁ֖י בֵּ֣ית אֲבֹתָ֑ם הֵ֚ם נְשִׂיאֵ֣י הַמַּטֹּ֔ת הֵ֥ם הָעֹמְדִ֖ים עַל־הַפְּקֻדִֽים׃
On this verse, the Minchat ...
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Gezeira Shava - They were taught the word? or the verse?
There's a semi famous idea regarding gezeira shavas (learning one law to another context through the use of parallel language in both locations), that Chazal had a tradition for which words to use but ...
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When did R’ Hillel make the calendar?
I noticed that the Sefer HaChinukh (§4) attributes the calendar to Rabbi Hillel II, whom the mechaber says was the son of Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi. I have never before encountered the idea that Rabbi ...
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Why are the Niqqud different for the name of God sometimes? [duplicate]
Through my research of the Tanakh, I have observed that the tetragrammaton appears with varying niqqud in different locations. Additionally, I have noted that the niqqud used may differ but produce a ...
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Daniel or Danel [closed]
These days I saw an exegete argue that the Daniel in Ezekiel 14:14 and 28:3 does not refer to the Daniel of the homonymous book but to Danel of the Epic of Aqhat, who according to the Book of Jubilees ...
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The Rediscovered Torah Scroll in the times of King Yoshiyahu [closed]
The following question was asked here a bunch of years ago, however it wasn't treated with any great sources or analysis, so here I am attempting to give the topic another shot. In Melachim 2, 22: and ...
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Why did Joshua only burn Hazor
Joshua 11:13 reads:
But all the cities that stood in their strength, Israel burned none of them, save Hazor only, did Joshua burn.
Rashi says to this verse that there was a tradition that he burned ...
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Rambam introduction to MT, ashkenazi equivalent?
In the Rambam's introduction to the Mishneh Torah, he claims he received a direct transmission of the true rabbinic tradition from the academies of Babylonia to him and traces it.
For Ashkenazim, is ...
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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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Does Ramban's 8th principle require holding the Masoretic Text to be perfectly preserved? [duplicate]
If Rambam's 8th principle is accepted, is it neccessary to hold that the Masoretic Text is perfectly preserved, and superior to the Dead Sea Scrolls and Septuagint in all cases where there are ...
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Satmarer minhogim
I'm looking for a source to learn the minhogim of Satmar chassidus. I wonder how different or similar it is from a galitzianer chassidus for example, maybe it has non-chassidic hungarian influences, ...
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Problem in the text of Kings and Chronicles
I was watching a video of an exegete in which he claimed that according to the Masoretic treatise Sefer Oklah we-Oklah in topic 168 in Ezra's corrections, there was a Tiqqun soferim in 1 Kings 12:16 ...
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Is there a Jewish source for the saying: "only the father knows when the wedding would take place"?
The website below describes what is apparently an ancient Jewish wedding custom, in which it was apparently said that "only the Father" of the groom "knows" when the wedding would ...
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How do poskim in shulchan aruch disagree about the existence of a rabbinical decree?
There are times when Chazal says something and the meaning is debated and there are other times when whether an entire category even exists. How is this so? To give specific examples of what I'm ...
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Changes to the name of Hashem in written texts
I have seen an article which cites a text called Massorah and this text supposedly catalogs 134 instances (referenced here) in which the written text "originally" used the 4 letter name of ...
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Does "Not in Heaven" approach break of the chain of tradition (B"M 59b)?
In the famous argument about Tanuro Shel Akhnai (Bava Metzia.59b) R' Eliezer claims to faithfully represent the Heavenly tradition and he's supported by the Heaven. Neither R' Yehoshua, nor God admits ...
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Was the Talmud written with diacritcs?
This might sound like a strange question, but was the Talmud written with diacritics? The MT today is written with critical marks that were added in the middle of the first millennium. But the Talmud ...
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What is the relationship between Ezra's scroll and the Aleppo/Leningrad codeces?
I'm a little bit confused. If Ezra re-established a singular text to the Torah, how is it that we have the Aleppo Codex and the Leningrad Codex and three different scribal traditions for Ashkenaz, ...
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What version of the Masoretic Text is used in synagogues of Rabbinic Judaism? [duplicate]
In this Wikipedia article it is indicated that there are several editions of the Masoretic Text. It seems they are not identical to one another. Is there a standardized text for official use in ...
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Is there a Jewish principle: "To sleep on a big decision"?
In Anglo society, there is the principle to "sleep on" a big decision before pulling the trigger on it. (Be it a large purchase, a business deal, or other substantial decision in work or ...
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Differences between Breuer Tanachim
I stayed with Dr. Gabriel Wasserman for Shabbos over the summer and he mentioned that the different editions of R' Mordochai Breuer's זצ"ל Tana"ch have some small differences (eg. the Mosad ...
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Authentic Q'laph for Tephilin [closed]
The Gemara describes a process for developing q'laph for tephilin. However, this tradition has been lost since then. Has there been any research on restoring the method of producing authentic q'laph? ...
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Rabbi Yosef Maman and the Bukharian Jews
According to Wikipedia, Rabbi Yosef Maman, a Shad"ar who came to Bukhara in the late 18th century, discovered that the Bukharian Jews believed they were descendants of the Ten Tribes and used the ...
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Do different branches of Judaism authorize the same Hebrew text edition of the Tanach?
In Christianity, recent Bible translations in most languages use the Hebrew text edition from the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia (1983 edition) while consulting other ancient manuscripts (such as the ...
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Magen Avraham's sources from the Arizal
When the Magen Avraham (commentary on Shulchan Aruch Orach Chaim) refers to כתבים, writings, as his source, I take it for granted that he is referring to the writings of the students of the Arizal. ...
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Where are resources about counting Omer Year round?
My rabbi mentioned there's a custom to count the omer year round. The idea is to travel through all the sefirot for 7 sets of 50 days.
I'm looking for shiurim, texts, etc. that teach on this practice.
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ולא תתורו: kadma veazla or azla-geresh?
In the third parashah of Shema' (maftir from P' Shelach) we have a divergence of cantillation on the words ולא תתורו. In R' Wolf Heidenheim (see Koren for a contempary example) these words are ...
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How many instances of Kere and Ketiv?
How many instances of Kere and Ketiv appear within the TaNaKh?
And are there any sources that list every verse in which they occur?
And what are the underlying reasons for differences in count?
For ...
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Origin and development of the tradition that Torah scrolls are exact to the letter from Moses
The claim that our Torah scrolls are copied exactly to the letter from Sinai or "for thousands of years" is very common and is used frequently by Rabbis and Kiruv organizations to prove ...
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What day of the week was Yeziyat Mizrayim?
Do we have a tradition what day of the week Yeziayit Mizrayim was? I seem to recall seeing it stated somewhere, but a quick search didn't find any sources.
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How to apply the Masoretic note, "2x, once plene and once defectively" to Ruth 1:1?
In Ruth 1:1, there is a Masoretic note on שְׁפֹט which I do not understand:
The picture is a little unclear, but the note says (I have highlighted the letters with a dot above them):
ב חד מל וחד חס
...
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Difference between Sefaria and Artscroll in enumerating Pirkei Avos
There seems to be a difference in the splitting of a Perek in Pirkei Avos. On sefaria the perek I am referring to is Perek 3 where the Perek in Sefaria groups certain Mishnayos in that Perek together ...
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Would a conversion witnessed by three Jewish sheidim be approved? [closed]
Would the conversion of a person, (knowledgeable in Halacha, meeting all the criteria for conversion), be halachically approved and functional,
if the Beit Din is formed of three observant Jewish ...
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What is the significance of a yahrtzeit meal?
Some people are particular in having a yahrtzeit meal on the anniversary of someone's passing. Does this custom have any documented source, significance, or reason?
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Why is gefiltefish eaten at passover?
This is something I've been wondering for a while, so hopefully I can get a good answer.
Why do we eat gefiltefish during passover, and where did this tradition come from? Is there a story, similar ...
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Transition from "Temple Judaism" to "Rabbinic Judaism"
In reference to this comment on the Worldbuilding.SE question, "What educational resources could help someone who knows they will time travel to the future?":
There is little resemblance between ...
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