All Questions

I'm told there's a midrash which takes it literally when the Torah says that 'Jared begot Enoch' and so on, ie it argues that it was the men who gave birth in those days. Can anyone help me find it? (...

Nowadays there are police. But how did Jews refrain from killing each other in, say, the middle ages? Was there anything like ghettos at that time with judenrat? Because that seems to be much later.

When I read about the various descriptions regarding the messianic age, I can't help but wonder if the age is one where the earth ceases to exist and instead merges with a divine plane of existence. ...

Is there an official haggadah? How does one version of a haggadah have authority over another? Is there a most popular one, a controversial one?

Perhaps, this is an overly "trivial" question. But, at all the mikva'ot that I have attended, only one man was in the mikvah at a time. Perhaps, this is merely a space issue. But, is there any halacha ...

I'm having tefilin written for my son's bar mitzvah, and the sofer told me that today the minhag is to only put tagim ("crowns" or "thorns") on the letters שעטנז גץ throughout the tefilin and nothing ...

What Torah reading should be read the Shabbat afternoon before a holiday, like the Shabbat afternoon before Sukkot, or the Shabbat afternoon before Rosh Hashanah or Yom Kippur? Thanks..

Follow up to this question about Bereishit 31:53. A word from the "eloh" root is used 3 times in that pasuk. In the Artscroll, there is the word "chol" in the margins for 2 of them, which echoes ...

If a person is summoned to a Beit Din today for a legal or monetary dispute and refuses to come to the Beit Din or participate in the process in any way, what punitive powers does a Beit Din in ...

I know that Yaakov left Charan after working for Lavan for 20 years and that the Sages comment that Yaakov was punished measure for measure by being separated from his own son for 22 years as he had ...

Shulchan Aruch Orach Chayim 671:5 rules that one places one's chanukah lights by the door that leads to the reshut harabim, and that if one has a courtyard between his house and the reshut harabim, ...

Was Rabban Yochanan Ben Zakkai a priest? And was he Nasi of a sanhedrin? I ask, because I read here that he was nasi of the sanhedrin from the years 70-80 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanhedrin ...

Is there any halachic reason why a nonJew should be forbidden from going into a mikvah room (not into the water) without a Jew present? (e.g., for cleaning or for other purposes)?

The Shulchan Aruch states the meals on Chanuka are (only) permissible feasts (not seudas mitzvah) since these days were never instituted as days of festive meals. The Ramma quotes an opinion stating ...

The Taz in siman 671:1 writes concerning how many menorahs to light in one's household, the Sefardim who light only one act in accordance with Tosafos and the Ashkenazim who light one for each family ...

If G-d is the final judge, what's the point of human courts in Judaism? Aside from their obvious function in practical matters like divorce that need to be taken care of here and now and not decided ...

This idea appears over and over again, and I failed to find where does it come from. I know that the sefirot are matched by the Ushpizin by the Arizal, Abraham stands for chesed, Yitzchak for gevurah/...

I’m an Italian Noahide. With regard to the false prophet, this is what Rambam says: Mishneh Torah-Yesodei haTorah 9:1 It is clear and explicit in the Torah that it is [God's] commandment, ...

I am planning on upgrading my kitchen but and I was wondering if a double oven could be kosher if 1 oven is just meat and one is just dairy.

Can someone tell me when this paper states? I don't know any Hebrew. I just want to know what the paper that came with pair of tefillin I bought states.

According to Pirkei d'Rebbi Eliezer: The first beracha of Shemoneh Esrei, "Blessed are You, Hashem, Protector of Avraham," refers to Hashem's protecting Avraham during the war with the four kings (ch....

In my Artscroll chumash, on Bereishit 31:53, there is an asterisk next to the two uses of "elohei" which refer to the "god" of Nachor and of "their fathers." It looks like this אֱלֹהֵ֨י אַבְרָהָ֜ם *...

רַבִּי שִׁמְעוֹן אוֹמֵר, שְׁלשָׁה כְתָרִים הֵם: כֶּתֶר תּוֹרָה וְכֶתֶר כְּהֻנָּה וְכֶתֶר מַלְכוּת...: Rabbi Shimon said: There are three crowns: the crown of Torah, the crown of priesthood, and ...

In the traditional Haredi education, becoming a Gdol Hador is the ultimate goal - ask any kid in Meah Shearim - their pictures are on the walls and in children's cradle. While the Rabbis themselves ...

I'm looking for a sefer which is a collection of interesting, original and fundamental pieces from the Rishonim on the weekly Parsha. I prefer if they are quotes [the original wording], but also happy ...

I'm an Italian Noahide. The issue in question manifests my purely intellectual interest, concerning the Jews and not the Gentiles. In Contemporary Halakhic Problems, Vol II, Part II, Chapter XIII The ...

In this answer, the image below appears. Ignoring the issue of the propriety of "non-kosher" phones, is the sign correct that it can ban entry with something not used in the shul, and that entry with ...

The prophet Micah said: Micah 6:8 It has been told you, O man, what is good and what the Lord requires of you: Only to act justly [‘asot mishpat], to love mercy [ahavat chesed], and to walk ...

Can one ingest usually-medicinal substances for recreational purposes on Shabbos? As a concrete example, consider a pill of Tylenol with codeine (or codeine itself). A person would like to enhance ...

who ordained Hillel and Shammai? I have searched but have been unable to find any indication of who gave them semicha/ordination. added It's clear in the mishna that they received the tradition ...

What are the differences between Oz Vehadar regular shas and the murchevet edition? Also has anyone seen the handcrafted chosen has that's 4500 NIS? Is it very nice? Thanks

As [probably twice or three times] "more people die from obesity than from hunger", obesity is a higher threat than hunger. As up until now hunger was a greater danger than obesity we prayed for ...

רבנן דקיסרי ואמרי לה דייני דקיסרי אמרי ... The Sages of Caesarea, and some say that it was the judges of Caesarea, said that ... (Succah 8b) I'd assume that רבנים are דיינים and vice verse. But ...

I'm wondering if I can use use some bread that is partially sliced (but not completely severed in two) as lechem mishneh. An example is a bagel that was cut 90% of the way through, meaning that the ...

A number of questions on this site, most recently this one, require a definition of Kabbalah in order to answer them. That particular question is, apparently, about pre-Zohar kabbalah, as the ...

I've been reading the Divine Code by Rabbi Moshe Weiner and came across this in Part I 5:2 note. 91 "...(1) It is also prohibited for a Jew to teach Torah to gentiles in the canonised Hebrew or ...

In the eyes of halacha, who is in greater violation of the prohibition of blasphemy, an idolator or an atheist? Whichever is worse, is that the case by both Jew and Non-Jew?

In the Sefer Practical Guide to Kashruth page 101 notes that the proper disposal of the hafrashas challah is to burn it (brought in the Shulchan Aruch and Maharil). It then notes that when burning is ...

Torah story says absolutely nothing about color and race. Who originated the curse of ham scam??? Did Babylonian Talmud mindset Rabbis give the color interpretation to scripture story about Noah, ...

A variant of this issue was discussed before, but it does not fully answer my specific question. -Deut. 26:5 says: אֲרַמִּי אֹבֵד אָבִי. -It is frequently translated as: "My father was a wandering ...

I believe it's a mishna in Yadayim that says the first pour for netilas yadayim purifies the hand and the second pour purifies the water that's left on the hand. Hands are considered shniyim letumah ...

In Bereshit 29 we learn that Rachel was shepherding her father's sheep. Do any commentaries explain why Rachel, the younger sister, was the shepherdess instead of Leah the older sister? Related ...

The standard Talmudic measures of length include, for example, Amah, Tefach, and Etzbah. But those measures are pretty loose, around 20% of freedom. What object or usage, in our Halacha, requires the ...

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 ...

Many times while discussing a possible interpretation of a Mishnah, the Gemmorah tries to offer "dead-end solutions" - possible ways of explanations that are knowingly false. NOTE: I don't ask WHY ...

A friend of mine told me that the halacha of discouraging a convert three times has a little nuance - the convert has to make the second and third attempt (to persuade the rabbi to let him convert) at ...

I was thinking that you would have to say it, since it's sofek d'oraisah. But then you there is a sofek d'oraisah of bracha l'vatallah and we have a rule of sofek brochos l'kullah. Anyone have ...

During a hesped for Rav Belsky z"tl, Rav Yisroel Reisman mentions Rav Belsky's ability to connect common words with their Torah source, alluding to "terafim" of Lavan being connected with "therapy". ...

The Oxford Handbook of Judaism and Economics (page 435, footnote 50, available on Google Books preview here) refers to a comment in the Shiltei ha-Gibborim. The only precise reference is "note 3 on ...

Rabbeinu Bahya (13th Century) wrote that in non-sacred usage the Nun of adonai has a Patah, and only with an Etnahta or Sof pasuk a Qamatz when the word stands on its own. ‘And for this reason in the ...