Questions tagged [shimshon-samson]
One of the Shoftim-judges of Israel for 20 years when they were subjugated under the Philistines. He took revenge from them by killing many Philistines with his tremendous strength and afforded some degree of peace for the Jews.
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Why Did Shimshon have no interest in Jewish Women? or was it the other way around?
There must have been 1000's of Jewish women flaunting themselves at Shimshon. Why did he choose somebody else?
or was this not the case?
I want to give Shimshon the benefit of the doubt because he was ...
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Samson and the Jawbone
Is the story of Samson killing a thousand men (Judges 15:15) with the jawbone of a donkey supposed to be taken literally or is it an allegory or metaphor? Seems unlikely in the extreme that a man ...
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Why did Shimshon not suspect Delilah of betraying him?
Shalom.
I have been troubled by the story of Shimshon and Delilah since I first heard it as a child.
Why did Shimshon not suspect Delilah of betraying him long before he was finally captured? Three ...
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Why was Shimshon allowed to marry a wife from Philistine?
In the Family Midrash Says it is written that Shimshon (Samson) asked his parents to convert the Philistine woman so he can marry her. How can we explain this when in our days we don't convert anyone ...
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Samson and Hercules [closed]
I have recently heard of the notion that Samson and his story had roots in older stories and these same stories also started Hercules and that they are both based on myths. Is there any source to this ...
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May a catholic take the nazerite vow? [closed]
If a non-Jew takes the nazirite vow, may they be granted supernatural strength like Samson?
Speak to the Israelites and say to them: If anyone, man or woman,
explicitly utters a nazirite’s vow, to ...
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Was Samson permitted to commit suicide and if so why?
In Judges 16:30 Samson commits suicide.
Samson cried, “Let me die with the Philistines!
See Metzudat David there
Seemingly his supernatural strength had returned, perhaps only temporarily. But, ...
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Why was Shimshon's fourth response to Delilah worse than the third?
When Delilah asked Shimshon where his miraculous strength came from, he gave four responses:
tie me up with seven moist ropes
no, they have to be NEW, THICK ropes
put seven of my hairs into a loom
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Why did Shimshon ask his parents to help him marry a Philistine woman?
In the 14th perek of Sefer Shoftim the pasuk reads:
Translation is via Sefaria
וַיַּ֗עַל וַיַּגֵּד֙ לְאָבִ֣יו וּלְאִמּ֔וֹ וַיֹּ֗אמֶר אִשָּׁ֛ה רָאִ֥יתִי בְתִמְנָ֖תָה מִבְּנ֣וֹת פְּלִשְׁתִּ֑ים ...
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Why were Nazarites forbidden to touch anything made of grapes, but we make a brocha over wine on Sabbath?
In numbers 6:1-21, there are a number of requirements for somebody who takes a Nazarite vow. Among them are that the Nazarite
"... shall abstain from wine and strong drink: he shall drink no vinegar ...
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Did Shimshon sleep with the harlot when he Came to Gaza
In the book of Judges Chapter 16 it says:
1And Samson went to Gaza, and saw there a harlot, and came to her. אוַיֵּלֶךְ שִׁמְשׁוֹן עַזָּתָה וַיַּרְא שָׁם אִשָּׁה זוֹנָה וַיָּבֹא אֵלֶיהָ:
When it ...
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Samson and the Nazarite Vow
When Samson returned to check on the carcass of the lion he had slain (Judges 14:8), did he ceremonially defile himself? (especially considering that he took honey from out of the carcass)
Would even ...
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After the Philistines caught Shimshon, is it true they used to bring their wives to him for sex?
And the Philistines seized him, and gouged out his eyes. And they brought him down to Gaza, and bound him with copper chains, and he did grind in the prison house.
כאוַיֹּאחֲזוּהוּ פְלִשְׁתִּים ...
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Sidra question about Samson
Why did Samson the holiest ever person at birth 'degrade' himself and 'marry' a philistine woman and how did she cause his 'downfall? What made him tell her his 'precious' secret? Did that he came ...
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Was Delilah Micah's mother
After the story of Shimshon and Delilah and the sum of 1100 shekels it goes onto the story of Micah and the 1100 shekels he stole from his mother.
Could the mother of Micah whose name is not mentioned ...
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Was the honey that Samson ate from the lion kosher?
Was the honey that Samson ate from the inside of the lion (Judges 14:8-9) kosher?
There are two premises to my question: 1) The derivation that bee's honey os kosher is from the Talmud, which, ...
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Hair in Aggadah
I have encountered two different instances in midrashim which mention hair doing peculiar things.
Genesis Rabah 93:6 and 7, regarding a sign of Judah's anger:
אמר רבי חנין בשעה שהיה יהודה מעלה חמה ...
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Why did Samson's parents not see the incident with the lion?
It says in sefer Shoftim (14,5-6) "And Shimshon and his father and mother went down to
Timnas, and they came until the vineyards of Timnas, and behold, a
young lion roared towards him. And there ...
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Why is Shimshon buried "in the grave of his father" and not father and mother?
Nearly everywhere in the story of Samson, more than in most stories in Tanakh, both parents are mentioned quite frequently. Leading up to birth, both parents share about equal page-time. After birth,...
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Why isn't Shimson's mother named?
Why isn't Shimson's mother named in Pesukim that tell the story? She is featured rather prominently, and the angel appears to her before speaking with both her and Manoaḥ. It would stand to reason ...
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Why was Shimshon viewed positively?
There is no indication in the text that the Jews were aware that Shimshon was secretly waging a one-man war against the Plishtim. From outward appearances it would seem that a former shofet of the ...
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Source of appellation "Shimshon HaGibor"
I've heard it claimed that the expression "Shimshon HaGibor" (Samson the Mighty) [as a descriptive of Shimshon in Tanach] was invented by the Zionists, to promote their "strong Jew" narrative. Is this ...
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