All Questions

This was discussed here, but my question was not posed before. In the rainy season, from Shemini Atzeret until the first day of Pessah, we add to the Amidah: Mashiv HaRuach U’Morid HaG*shem -- [...

A friend of mine, a professional translator and interpreter, was stymied in her work by a word that some rabbis keep using when quoting Talmud, baraitot, Rambam, even Rav Kook. To her ear (she is a ...

In Megillat Esther, why is the word "maidens" spelled with a sh'va under the first letter (נְעָרוֹת) in verses 2:2, 2:8, 2:9, but with a patach (נַעֲרוֹת) in verse 4:4?

Near the end of the birchat hamazon there is alternate wording for the beginning of a sentence for eating at your own table, or that of another person, but the end of that sentence is always in the ...

Are there any sources that discuss whether Abraham and Noah knew of each other's existence, if there was ever any interactions between the two and/or if they ever met (not sure if their lives actually ...

Following "what-is-the-purpose-of-tchiat-hametim", the Gemmorah says: העולם הבא אין בו לא אכילה ולא שתיה ולא פריה ורביה ולא משא ומתן ולא קנאה ולא שנאה ולא תחרות אלא צדיקים יושבין ועטרותיהם בראשיהם ...

וַיֹּאמֶר ה' הֵן עַם אֶחָד וְשָׂפָה אַחַת לְכֻלָּם וְזֶה הַחִלָּם לַעֲשׂוֹת וְעַתָּה לֹא־יִבָּצֵר מֵהֶם כֹּל אֲשֶׁר יָזְמוּ לַעֲשׂוֹת׃ and the LORD said, “If, as one people with one language ...

IIRC, the idea was to reach the skies, pass (somehow) the firmament and fight G-d above. That is only possible if G-d is right above the Earth, which suggests the Flat Earth worldview. If they knew ...

The alter rebbe discusses the notion of one soul counteracting the notion of otherness. Where in the Tanya is this discussion?

Would this be shehakol or boreh pri since the chia seeds are visible in the water even though they are very small? Would the concentration of chia seeds in the water matter? For those unfamiliar:

The Kaf HaChaim (426:12) writes – בס' אור חדש וגם שמעתי שמי שיקדש הלבנה מיום שיקדשה לא ידאג שימות באותו החדש מאותו היום ואילך עכ"ל. והביאו א"ר וש"ץ שם. והיינו שלא ימות מיתה משונה - I heard ...

Something I've noticed is almost every speech, devar Torah, or words of inspiration I hear end the exact same. The speaker ends with some permutation of the following words: May we all merit to see ...

Famously when Moshe came down from Sinai the first time and saw the Jews sinning he cast down the tablets of the law given to him by God. My question works on the basic assumption that these tablets ...

See this Yalkut Reuvein at the fourth and fifth line, that brings a Pshat that Mesushelach dies 14 years after the flood. As far as I am aware this cannot be resolved with the timeline that exists in ...

Besides for the odd letter, such as an extra Vov or Yud, what Scriptual verses that we would find in Tanach today, were once or still debated by Halachic Authorities as to what is the correct text. Or ...

I am wondering what style and what script the original or the earlier/earliest Hebrew scriptures were written in. For example, the earliest Greek scriptures were likely written in the Uncial font (...

There's a pretty common custom to observe what's commonly called a "Shalom Zachar" on the Friday night after a baby boy is born. People go to where the baby's father is, eat snacks, sing and share ...

I heard that the Gemmorah discusses some islands in the Mediterranean sea as belonging to the Biblical Eretz Israel. Is the sea considered a part of Eretz Israel and what are practical ramifications ...

I was told that some Rishonim on Sha"s comment that Amorayim were not required to know Beraitot or Toseftot, they only were required to know the Mishna. Where's that source?

Why did animals need to eat/be fed for a year in the Ark? "Oh, because they need to eat", you'd say, but really the Mabul was one big miracle, overriding all laws of nature - physics, geology, ...

I heard the when Rambam presented his 13 principles the opinions divided pretty sharply between the Sefardic Rabbis that openly supported it and the Ashkenazi (Rabaney Tzarfat) that opposed it for ...

As suggested in this question, there are some who hold that the mabul did not cover the whole Earth. I would like to broaden the scope of that question a little. What indications are there from ...

The Mishna (Sanhedrin 10) states that Dor Hamabul do not have a part in the world to come: דּוֹר הַמַּבּוּל אֵין לָהֶם חֵלֶק לָעוֹלָם הַבָּא וְאֵין עוֹמְדִין בַּדִּין The generation of the flood ...

וַיָּ֣רַח ה' אֶת־רֵ֣יחַ הַנִּיחֹחַ֒ וַיֹּ֨אמֶר ה' אֶל־לִבּ֗וֹ לֹֽא־אֹ֠סִף לְקַלֵּ֨ל ע֤וֹד אֶת־הָֽאֲדָמָה֙ בַּעֲב֣וּר הָֽאָדָ֔ם כִּ֠י יֵ֣צֶר לֵ֧ב הָאָדָ֛ם רַ֖ע מִנְּעֻרָ֑יו וְלֹֽא־אֹסִ֥ף ע֛וֹד ...

In the story of the Mabul, the Torah's description of the overall disorder is very vague - "The Earth was corrupted and filled with Hamas". THe outcome is clear - the whole of humanity was judged. ...

I am confused by the contradiction between the open text of the Torah describing the happenings and its interpretations. The text says: they (some) sinned with adultery and then G-d decides to wipe ...

Rambam in Melachim 9 concludes that : כָּל מִיתַת בְּנֵי נֹחַ בְּסַיִף. אֶלָּא אִם בָּעַל אֵשֶׁת יִשְׂרָאֵל אוֹ נַעֲרָה מְאֹרָסָה יִסָּקֵל. וְאִם בְּעָלָהּ אַחַר שֶׁנִּכְנְסָה לַחֻפָּה קֹדֶם ...

The Torah says the Earth was filled with Hamas before the flood and [because that was equaled to Gezel] what caused G-d to get angry and wipe the humanity out. In our Halachah (B"K 62), Hamas is ...

At the end of Parashat Bereishit (6,7) the Torah repeats two very similar statements twice - in a form of "ABAB" instead of "AABB": Aוַיִּרְא֤וּ בְנֵי־הָֽאֱלֹהִים֙ ...וַיִּקְח֤וּ לָהֶם֙ נָשִׁ֔ים ...

I've always understood The 7 Noahide Laws not as "Judaism Light" or "Judaism for Gentiles" but as moral realism grounded in ethical monotheism. My question is: Are monotheistic non-jews, who abide ...

There is a rabbinic decree that a Jew may not ask a gentile, right before Shabbat, to do work for him because he might do it on Shabbat [Gittin 8b]. But in the Mishna [Shabbat 1:8] Hillel allows it, "...

In parsha Noach, G-d ALLOWS man to eat meat but there is no literal commandment to do so. Later, when the Mishkan and then ultimately the Beis Hamikdash are built, there are commandments for the ...

תנו רבנן: שתי שנים ומחצה נחלקו בית שמאי ובית הלל, הללו אומרים: נוח לו לאדם שלא נברא יותר משנברא, והללו אומרים: נוח לו לאדם שנברא יותר משלא נברא. נמנו וגמרו: נוח לו לאדם שלא נברא יותר משנברא, עכשיו ...

Our calendar marks days and dates important to our existence but they all start from the Exodus from Mitzrayim which makes sense because A -- that's when we started fixing a calendar that related to ...

I'm trying to understand G-d's plan for creating wicked and sinful humans, waiting for 1600 years/10 generations for them to sin, wiping them out completely, then waiting for another 400 years for the ...

Someone told me that a rabbi once told them that according to Kaballah, on the day of creation, what spiritually happened was the father/male and mother/female "aspects" of Hashem turned towards each ...

My question is maybe an elaboration on this question "How does the tree of life work?: The Gemmorah says that G-d decides exclusively on a person’s lifespan. But the Torah says that G-d Himself is ...

Undoubtfully the all-loving G-d was a bit harsh on punishing the whole generation of Noah (probably millions?) by drowning them (and all the animals - what did they do?) in boiling water (He could ...

Consider this form of plea-bargaining: "Plead guilty to a lesser crime. In exchange, we won't prosecute you further and you give us information about your bosses and testify against them." This is ...

Assuming it is forbidden to consume media (e.g literature, music, film) that contains nivul peh, is it the same issur as speak nivul peh, or it is it more related to “guarding yourself from all evil” (...

I'm trying to understand the simple "game theory" of the plain text of the Tora. I don't deal with the idea of afterlife/World to Come as it does not appear in the scriptures (maybe remotely hinted). ...

There's a passage in the daily Shacharit tefilla in the 1st of the pre-Shema blessing that says: המחדש בטובו בכל יום תמיד מעשה בראשית My translation and inference from this phrase is that God ...

This preliminary question asks about what N"D is. The נהמא דכיסופא is a possible explanation for why should we suffer in this world to receive the reward in the afterworld. I tried to verify that: ...

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 ...

I'm still trying to grasp the way of transmission of the Torah knowledge from day 1. This question can equally deal with two phenomena: the commandment of eating the forbidden fruit or the commandment ...

"... we get on average about one new star per year, and one star dying each year as a planetary nebula in the Milky Way.... therefore there are about 275 million [born] per day, in the whole ...

In Bernard-Henri Levy's book, "The Genius of Judaism", on p222-3, the author describes what appears to be the discussion in the gemara in Yevamot 49b about Moshe's level of prophecy. He says that ...

Many children are old enough to learn short brachot (and somewhat understand them, if explained), but don't have the memory/patience for longer brachot. Frustratingly, many of the brachot that could ...

When a Kohain chas v'Shalom marries a divorcée or convert, halacha requires us to suspend his privileges - he may not receive the first aliyah during the Torah reading, duchen, etc, until such time as ...

The Mishna Brurah 116 s.k. 3 rules like the opinion that one may insert a prayer for the recovery of a sick person in the bracha of refaeinu during the Amidah (as opposed to the opinion that one must ...