Questions tagged [shiurim-measurements]
measurements relating to the performance of different Mitzvot
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What's the Shiur of Mashehu?
Certain issurim (forbidden things) can become batel (halachically nullified) if they were unintentionally mixed in heter (permitted things). In order for this to happen, the heter must outnumber the ...
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Operating a mechanical calculator on Shabbos
Are mechanical calculators Mukzte on Shabbos? Would it be considered a form of measuring?
Mechanical calculators have no electric parts. Everything is purely mechanical:
If it is considered measuring,...
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Can you carry an object from the step outside your house inside your house?
According to the laws of carrying on shabbos one may not carry from one domain to another aside from a makom petur ("exempt area"). A makom petur is less that 4X4 handbreadths and more than three ...
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Why the minimal footage of a Succah is not mentioned in the Mishnah?
The first Mishnah in Succah discusses the height of Schach but not the measures. Subsequently, the Mishnah does not deal with it at all (Mishna 2.7 discusses the placement of the table independently ...
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Have the measurements for tumah changed throughout the ages?
There is discussion among poskim whether we measure a kezayit (and other measurements) using contemporary olives/eggs/etc, or whether we use some larger measurement based on a perceived historical ...
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Halachic restrictions on Sefarim shelves
If memory serves me correctly, I believe Jonathan Rosenblum cites in his biography of Rav Yaakov Kamenetsky a story where Rav Yaakov complained that someone had placed a sefer on an arm of a bench ...
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Meaning of "emunah shlaima"?
The Rambam's 13 Articles of Faith begin with the statement: "אני מאמין באמונה שלמה" - "I believe with complete faith...", words that then go on to express our faith that God "creates and guides" all ...
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What's the definition of "not now" for priority-of-b'racha purposes?
Orach Chayim 211 is about what food to recite a blessing over (that is, and eat) first when one wishes to eat two foods. It's clear that (except according to the Rambam cited in 211:2) one does not ...
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Must the entire decoration be within 4 t'fachim of the schach?
Inspired by Can too many decorations render a sukkah invalid?
If there is a big decoration hanging from the schach, is it OK as long as the top (part, or most of the decoration) is within 4 tefachim, ...
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Connection of Toch Kedei Dibbur to Walking 4 Amot
According to this, the gemara compares Toch Kedei Dibbur (the length of time neccasary to greet someone; see Shalom alecha rebbi (u'mori) ) to the time it takes to walk 4 amot (cubits). Thus, with ...
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Sotah 34a se’a as unit of weight?
In Sotah 34a, the weight of the stones at the Jordan from Joshua 4:3 is given as “about forty se’a.” Some (for instance Steinsaltz) use this in the discussion of the cluster of grapes brought back by ...
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Where can we assume that time refers to Shaot Zmaniot?
For many daily activities, the time frame for completion is dependent on the proportional hours (sha'ot zmaniot). But is there an extension of those hours to proportional minutes and seconds which ...
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Suit Jackets and Tzitzis
I recently purchased a suit, and with Hashem's help it will be ready sometime this week. When I was at the suiting shop, I began thinking about whether or not my new suit would be obligated in tzitzis ...
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Strictly speaking hilchos tznius for a man
Strictly speaking when going to play basketball, what must a man wear in regards to covering his body, I am asking because as I had learned a man has to cover from his breastbone to and including his ...
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What is the minimum shiur for Shulchan Orekh?
It has been mentioned that abbreviating shulchan orekh at the seder can be a practical way of keeping the seder from going too late. I have also heard rabbis--when asked for leniencies in the amount ...
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Giving Tzedakah Less than a Perutah
The consensus among poskim is that a prutah is 1/40 of a gram of silver, which is usually more than 1 cent but less than 5 cents. So if a person only gives a penny to tzedakah (let's say that is all ...
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How large is an issar coin in halacha?
The Shulchan Aruch OC (648:2) writes
אתרוג שניקב נקב מפולש כל שהוא פסול ושאינו מפולש אם היה כאיסר פסול ואם
חסר כל שהוא פסול ויש אומרים דגם בנקב מפולש בעינן חסרון משהו ושאינו
מפולש בחסרון כאיסר - An ...
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Do any sources discuss reading Megillas Ester too fast?
I remember seeing a source explaining that ideally Megilla should be read somewhat fast because it is called "iggeret" (a letter), and letters are read at fast speed out loud. I've also heard the ...
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Distance between foundation stone and western wall
What is the distance between the foundation stone and the western wall? Does the Talmud or anything say anything about the distance?
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Does other food combine to a c'beitza for the bracha of netilas yadayim?
It's a well known halacha that if one intends to eat less than a k'zais of bread then one doesn't make a bracha on al netilas yadayim.
This comes up sometimes on Pesach when there's not enough Matzah ...
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How much snow for tevilah?
In respect to tovelling dishes in the snow, this discussion concludes that who knows what the Shulchan Aruch holds, but the Rema allows such a practice in times of need.
But just how much snow? After ...
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Length of skirt
If I understand correctly there are two reasons that women wear skirts:
To cover the shok
To solve the issue of pisuk raglayim
To solve the "shok" concern, I understand that the skirt should reach ...
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How is a ten tefachim wall hard to use?
The Gemara in Eiruvin 77a says that when a ten tefachim wall is between two courtyards, but is less than that to one courtyard (the floor of the courtyard is heigher), we give it to the one which is ...
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Minimum measure for שריטה/גדידה
I was learning about cutting/scratching. This is a pagan practice of cutting oneself in mourning, and is forbidden in the Torah.
The halachot for this are in משנה תורה, הלכות עבודה זרה וחוקות הגויים ...
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Size of an amah (אמה)
One of the our measurements is the אמה ("cubit"), for which the most usual value is 24 אצבעות. My question is, What information do we have from earlier sources (Rishon or Acharon, say, ...
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Can someone fulfill his Shabbat meal obligation through his family if they eat a k'betza and he eats just a bit?
Suppose someone for health reasons can't eat a full k'betza of bread but can eat a crumb.
He wants to l'chatchila (or bedi'eved) fulfil the standard Shabbat obligation of seuda and lechem mishna for ...
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Shortest/longest halachic hours
Chabad's article explains the “halachic hour” like this:
The hour has a special meaning in Jewish law. "The third hour of the
day" doesn't mean 3:00 a.m., or three sixty-minute hours after
...
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How much should Rosho Verubo be for Succah measurements?
The Gemmorah (Succah 3 and Mishna on 28) states that the requirements for a Succah are that a person can fit it "ראשו ורובו" - the head and most of the body.
IIRC the average body is 3 Amot (18 ...
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Why Temples' dimensions were different from the Mishkan?
After asking "why-did-the-mizbeach-grow-40-times", I realized (thanks JoelK) that both measurements were dictated by G-d (it's unclear to whom: Moses, David or other prophets). See also Yalkut Shimoni ...
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why were the measurements of the kiyor not given?
the measurements of all the other utensils in the mishkan are provided except for those of the kiyor. why were the measurements of the kiyor not given?
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Measuring the time of eating (c'dei achilas pras)
I once saw written in a "alon" (given out in shuls before Shabbos) that in regards to eating matzah that it has to be done in the amount of time that is "c'dei achilas pras" -- that this time begins ...
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Shamash needs to be a little longer than the rest of the strings?
In this answer, @Ezra linked to video tutorials of different methods of tying tzitzit.
In the Arizal/Chabad method, the tutor says that according to Halacha, once the tying of the tzitzit is ...
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How much skin is a woman halachically allowed to show from the neck downward?
Is there a requirement to how much skin a woman can show - when going out in public - from where the neck ends to where the torso begins going downward at the top of her shirt?
The question is ...
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the measurements of Noah's arc and the arc of the covenent
The volume of Noah's Ark is 450,000 cubic cubits. The volume of the Ark of the Covenant is 5.625. Noah's Ark was thus exactly 80,000 times larger than the Ark of the Covenant. Is it significant that ...
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Of all Aron measures, why the thickness of the Kapores was not mentioned?
While working on "the-holy-ark-weigh-4-tons" I noticed, the thickness of the Kapores (1 Tefach) is concluded only in the Gemmorah by גזירה שווה to other measures (Succa 5a):
"... אלא כפורת טפח מנלן?...
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How to understand quantity in terms of prohibitions and the affect that this has on interacting with that quantity of issur?
Do all issurim have a shiur and how is that quantified?
An example of what inspired the question. In my taaruvos shiur the rav told us that on yontiff if wood that was muktza such as branches that ...
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Rabbinic weights and measures in primary source
Where can I find a concise presentation of the full system of rabbinic weights and measures, in a primary source?
Meaning X tefachim in an Amah, etc.
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Amah, tefach, and pi
I have a question on Eruvin 14a bottom which says that Shlomo's pool was round, had diameter of 10 amot and thickness 1 tefach, and circumference 30 amot (we learn from this that halachically pi=3).
...
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How much is "k'dei l'chametz"?
How much is "enough sourdough to ferment"? Orla 2:6 refers to it as a qualitative measure, independent of the 200:1 ratio which is the quantitative measure that would render the sourdough indelible ...
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Additional examples of measuring length in 'whole people in Halachah
אמר ר' יוחנן: סוכה העשויה ככבשן, אם יש בהקיפה
כדי לישב בה כ"ד בני אדם כשרה ואם לאו פסולה.
Rabbi Yoḥanan said: With regard to a sukka that is shaped like a furnace and is completely round, if ...
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Arokh HaShulchan and shiur tzitzith
A braita cited authoritatively in the Talmud (Menachoth 40b-41a) seems to be pretty explicit that only a garment sufficient to cover a majority of a child is obligated in tzitzith:
טלית שהקטן מתכסה ...
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Arokh HaShulchan and pocket square tzitzith
According to the Arokh HaShulchan (OC 16:5) that there is no size limit on garments to require tzitzith, does that mean a pocket square is obligated in tzitzith?
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Halachic definition of "full" (sated)
I was reading this:
After the fact (if one ate between 8 Kezayitim and a definite meal), if one is not full make Al HaMichya and if one is full make Birkat HaMazon, yet, in such a case it’s ...
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Source of the idea of "enough to square" - "כדי לרבע"
IIRC the idea of "to square" addresses two main issues - measuring a minimal Succah and a minimal house for Mezzuzah (I'll focus on the first but the discussion on the later is similar).
IIRC the ...
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Who was responsible for keeping the original measures - weights and rulers?
The Torah obligates us to keep the proper measures in weights and rulers, like Amah and Tefach and Log and Shekel and Selah.
Let's imagine there's an argument in court about house footage - one says ...
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