Questions tagged [mesorah-tradition]
The different traditions passed down through the generations.
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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?
user17319
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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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What is the source that says David wrote Psalms / Tehillim while hiding from Saul
I'm trying to find the source of the common tradition that David wrote at least part of Tehillim while on the run from Shaul, but I can't find any sources. Does anyone here know of a source for this ...
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What was actually handed down in the Oral Law?
When Judaism claims that the Oral law was transferred from Mount Sinai to today, what exactly was transferred over?
Meaning, what specific body of information was transferred as opposed to later ...
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Penalty for not washing hands?
(I originally asked this in Christianity.SE, but was redirected since the question deals with Jewish laws. Please forgive my obvious ignorances of Jewish society.)
In the Christian Bible, Matthew 15:...
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Gemara seems to ignore the Masoret
The Gemara Yoma quoted below enumerates five words in verses of the Pentateuque for which it's not clear, according to Issi Ben Yehuda if they are attached to the previous words or to the next words.
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History of Kabbalah
Has anyone attempted to write a historical sketch of the history of the shalsheles HaKabbalah (which, in this instance, I use to refer to Toras HaSod)? In other words, what was megale to Moshe Rabbenu,...
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Inconsistent sifrei Torah for the required number of aliyos
Different groups (Ashkenazim, Sefaradim, Teimonim) have different traditions for spellings of different words in the Torah. Practically, while each group writes according to their own mesorah, we ...
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Why no Torah or wisdom or knowledge is mentioned presented by G-d to Adam?
IIRC, the passing of the Tora/wisdom/divine knowledge in our tradition didn't start with Moses or even Abraham. Allegedly, the 19 generations of Tzadikim from Adam to Abraham studied/dealt with it ...
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The tradition of a Gezeira Shava
A number of questions and answers (here is one, for example) have pointed out that expounding text by means of a gezeriah shava requires a mesorah, a teaching from one's teacher, and that different ...
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Why was Shlomo haMelekh not a part of the Oral Torah’s transmission?
Reading the Rambam's introduction to his Mishne Torah, I am struck by the fact that he has Achiya haShiloni succeed David in the transmission of the Oral Torah, and not David's son Shlomo. I'm curious ...
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Large Samech in Bemidbar 13:30
A mesorah records that the samekh in Bemidbar 13:30 ויהס כלב is large (see marginal note in Artscroll and elsewhere). Yet none of the printed editions which I have consulted actually conform to this ...
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Source of small/large letters in the torah
Although there are many small and large letters throughout tanach, both the aleppo codex and the Leningrad codex have extremely few of them. Were they later introduced? The different miforshim, ...
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When the Torah was almost lost and one (or several) Rabbis saved it?
I heard several times from numerous sources, that there were times in history (during the 1st and the 2nd Temples) when the Torah (incl. Oral) was almost completely lost and just one Rabbi (or a ...
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Customs/Habits around having a second child?
Besides the brit milah ceremony, pidyon haben/habat (redemption of the firstborn) or kidush peter rechem (sanctification of the womb's opening) or seder kidushat chaye hamishpacha, (ceremony of ...
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"Vaishakehu" Extra Points over entire word? or some letters?
Shalom!
The famous Passuk on which Esav and Jaacov ran, hug, kiss and cry.
The Word VAISHAKEHU has points-dots over every leter.
Siftei Chakhamim seems to have VAISHAKEHU וישקהו with 5 nekudot, ...
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Why break Hallel in the middle of a parsha?
On Pesach night, following Beis Hillel we break up Hallel between חלמיש למעינו מים and לא לנו.
This is in the middle of a parsha, according to the Keter (navigate to Psalms --> From 114_2 to 118_1) ...
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Why did the Savoraim only emend certain parts of the Talmud?
I remember learning that Savoraim added certain parts to the Talmud- ex: the beginning of Kiddushin (2a-3a) & parts of Bava Metzia.
(feel free to add additional examples)
Any idea why they ...
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If the Dodo bird had a tradition of being kosher & was resurrected, would it be OK to eat again?
Came across an article titled "Could scientists resurrect the dodo bird?" and it made me wonder: suppose there was a mesorah that the Dodo bird was kosher before it went extinct in 1681.
If we in ...
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Strange letters according to Sefer haTaggin
My chevrusoh mentioned last week that there is a sefer entitled Sefer haTaggin which discusses all of the strange letters found in Tana"ch.
Is there a collection of these letters and their forms (...
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Why is the location of Mount Sinai not traditionally known?
Why don’t we know the exact location of Mount Sinai, after all if millions of people were there, surely they would have handed down the tradition of the location just like Kivrey Avos or Har Hamoriyah ...
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Who are the Elders in the beginning of Avot
The Pirkei Avot 1:1 says
משֶׁה קִבֵּל תּוֹרָה מִסִּינַי, וּמְסָרָהּ לִיהוֹשֻׁעַ, וִיהוֹשֻׁעַ
לִזְקֵנִים, וּזְקֵנִים לִנְבִיאִים,
וּנְבִיאִים מְסָרוּהָ לְאַנְשֵׁי כְנֶסֶת הַגְּדוֹלָה.
Moshe received ...
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Was there a parasha beginning at Exodus 18:21?
Rashi to Exodus 18:1 says that Yisro was also called
Yeser because he added (yasar) a parasha in the Torah: "And you see…" [from 18:21].
We don't have a parasha break before verse 21. Did ...
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Does Jewish law have a separate status for someone whose father is a Jew rather than simply grouping them with non-Jews? [duplicate]
Traditional standards on Judaism are clear about the topic. One is only legally Jewish if they have a matrilineal connection to the community.
That being said, I've heard a few people throw around ...
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Can we use archaeology to determine halacha or mesorah?
Can archaeology be used to determine the proper halacha or mesorah in certain cases? For instance, what if we found a Sefer Torah from the times of Moshe Rabbeinu and it differed from our mesorah. ...
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Is there a surviving Jewish translation of the entire Masoretic Text in Greek?
Please don't say "the Septuagint" because I know that this has fallen out of favor among most modern Jews (the only exception being Beta Israel, which I believe still uses it - correct me if I am ...
user16888
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Meaning of "נראים דבריהם מדברינו" - accepting scientific theories over Jewish tradition?
Questions about the reconciliation of the Torah and the science are very frequent and popular, but they are nothing new. The sages were asked similar questions by the philosophers of Ancient Greece ...
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Looking for an interpretation of Shir Hashirim that follows the parsha breaks
Coming off of some tangential discussion in the comments here, I'm looking for an interpretation of Shir Hashirim that follows the parsha breaks. It doesn't have to explicitly address every one, but ...
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Do any of the differences between the various printings of Shas (Mishnah and Gemara) have halachic significance?
I recently watched a video by Rabbi David bar Hayim about the "18 minute matzah fallacy." While I don't think I know nearly enough to weigh into this debate in particular, he brings an odd proof. He ...
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At what point does Moshe relay G-d's commandments to B'nai Yisra'el?
I'm asking this as a general question. We do see in a few places that G-d speaks to Moshe and then, the Torah says something like, "Moshe told this to B'nai Yisra'el".
But, in numerous other places (...
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Does anyone say the "extra" pesukim in Yehoshua about the cities from Reuven belong there?
Some versions of Yehoshua, including Sefaria, print two extra pesukim (identical to the ones in Divrei Hayamim) about the cities that Shevet Reuven gave to the Leviyim. The Radak, quoted by the ...
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Who compared "the ox that gores the cow" to "I am Hashem Your G-d"?
I once read a machshava--possibly from chasidus--to the effect that: "'The ox that gores the cow' is as much charged with G-dliness as 'I am H' your G-d.'"
I was quite moved by this. What is its ...
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Must one follow Minhagim he reads in books?
If an Ashkenazi reads of a minhag, for example in Mishna Brura which it says Ashkenazim follow (the Rema), must he follow it? Or is it only what a father teaches his children?
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At what point does a Jew going against tradition establish a legitimate extension to that tradition?
This question is in reference to tzitzit knots but it can really apply to any Jewish tradition which comes in "flavors" so to speak.
Tzitzit are an interesting article because they tend to come in a ...
user15672
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How was brit milah practiced during the First Century?
The Christian New Testament records that both John the Baptist and Jesus were circumcised on the eighth day in accordance with Jewish Law.
Luke 1:57-60 English Standard Version (ESV)
Now the time ...
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It is same species if offspring can have offspring (source)
I heard that if we do not have a messora on a certain bird but we do have one on a similar species then we can check by checking if their offspring can have offspring
What is this idea based on?
I ...
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Why did Rabbi Akiva write down Torah She Baal Peh?
In the Rambam's introduction he writes:
וחיברו חכמי משנה חיבורין אחרים, לפרש דברי התורה: רבי הושעיה תלמידו
של רבנו הקדוש, חיבר ביאור ספר בראשית. ורבי ישמעאל פירש מאלה שמות עד
סוף התורה, והוא ...
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