All Questions

Rashi's note on Num. 11:5 הָאֲבַטִּחִים is בורק"ש per http://www.daat.ac.il/daat/olam_hatanah/mefaresh.asp?book=4&perek=11&mefaresh=rashi, accessed Dec. 2019. How is this read and what ...

At my shul, the first maariv minyan on Chanukah is after teitz hachocavim (5:15, in Eretz Yisroel). It takes a couple minutes until there are ten people, and when ten people arrived some members ...

A while ago, I asked a mashgiach what type of duck is typically sold in the U.S. kosher market? He said mallards. My area has many mallards in nearby ponds. But, I also see teals and wood ducks as ...

Many yiden have the custom to eat potato latkes or jelly doughnuts on chanukah. Who started this custom??

The Ritva, R. Yom Tov Asivelli (in the 13th century) wrote that pork will become kosher when the Messiah comes: (קידושין מט:) ועליהם אמרו בהגדה למה נקרא שמו חזיר שעתיד הקב"ה להחזירו לישראל לעתיד ...

I keep seeing Chanukah being referred to as "the festival of lights". However I don't recall encountering this term in any of the classic religious texts (Talmud, Midrash, Maimonides, Shulchan Aruch, ...

Did sorcerers have genuine power or were people simply gullible. Perhaps they discovered things like electricity or magnetism that people of that time would think were magical. However I'm thinking of ...

I have done some digging and I cannot seem to find anywhere where people try to explain this apparent discrepancy. Numbers 1 says the total number of Israelites were 603,550. However, if you add up ...

The word תְּפִלָּתִי in the poem Maoz Tsur seems out of context: תִכּוֹן בֵּית תְּפִלָּתִי וְשָׁם תּוֹדָה נְזַבֵּחַ לְעֵת תָּכִין מַטְבֵּחַ מִצָּר הַמְנַבֵּחַ אָז אֶגְמוֹר בְּשִׁיר מִזְמוֹר ...

In Erchin 1:3, the Mishna opens with: הגוסס והיוצא להרג לא נדר ולא נערך. The "Goses" (one who is about to die) and someone who is about to be killed are not used as either a measurement of ...

Following up on this answer. The answer seems to conclude that one way that we measure happiness is by the saying of Hallel and it lists the days on which we say the whole of hallel. But we do not ...

Someone told me that 'Happy Hanukka' is not a kosher greeting since it is following the laws of the non-Jews... (and there is no mitzvah to have a meal on Hanukka as on Purim (some say because many ...

I have been reviewing some discussions of a married woman's obligation to light Channukah candles. It appears that according to some, a married woman, whose husband is lighting at home does not light. ...

While looking up info for a different question, I saw that on the pasuk in Bereshit 43:32, Targum Yonatan translates the word "Ha'Ivrim" as "Yehudaee", while Onkelos translates it as "Ivraee". Is ...

The answers to this question explain that if one is not eating at home during Chanukah, he nevertheless needs to light at his house, where he will be sleeping that night. What happen if someone ...

In Yirmiyahu 6:25 and 20:3 he mentions the word magor. Is this related to the Zoroastrian deity magi https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magi

How do you tovel a shabbes coffee urn without damaging it

The Midrash says that Abraham and Sarah made many converts, presumably with God's blessing: Abraham made converts, for it is written, "And Abraham took Sarai his wife... and all the souls that they ...

The posuk says Shimon and Levi took swords and killed all the male inhabitants : so why in the next posuk a) does it repeat that they killed Chamor and Schem and b) that they used swords ? Both ...

There seems to be a theme in Parshas Vayeshev around a coat or more generally an (upper) body garment: Yosef's coat of many colors Yosef's shirt soaked in blood of a wild animal Yehuda's cloak as a ...

What happened to Yosef's coat of many colors? I know the brothers gave it to Yakov. But what happened later? Did he have it in Egypt? Do we know?

Many Jewish holidays seem to provide opportunities to give small tokens, especially to children. Are there any holidays, traditionally, which could especially provide reasonable justification for ...

Coming from a scientific materialist past, I have always had a hard time wrapping my head around the concept of G-D and the Soul (נשמה ,רוח ,נפש). Due to some personal experiences, I have come to ...

In Masechet Shekalim (1:6) וְאֵלּוּ שֶׁחַיָּבִין בַּקָּלְבּוֹן, לְוִיִּם וְיִשְׂרְאֵלִים וְגֵרִים וַעֲבָדִים מְשֻׁחְרָרִים, אֲבָל לֹא כֹּהֲנִים וְנָשִׁים וַעֲבָדִים וּקְטַנִּים. הַשּׁוֹקֵל עַל ...

At the very end of Orach Chaim 128:45, the Rema says: אסור להשתמש בכהן אפי' בזמן הזה דהוי כמועל בהקדש אם לא מחל על כך It is forbidden to be serviced by a Kohen even in our current time......

After Jacob and his family settle in Goshen, near the end of the 2 d year of famine, the locals have to buy back the corn they had brought earlier for storage and they are moved from one locality to ...

I count four times where Rav Pappa notes differing opinions on how to conclude a bracha and rules to say both of them. In three of these cases, he uses a conjunctive ו to connect them, but not the ...

Tosfot in Yevamot 83b seems to address the comment of Rabbi Yosef Ibn Migash on Baba Batra. ול"ג דתניא כמו שגורס הרב אבן מאגש ואומר דתניא גבי בכור דלא היה לו לרבא להניח המשנה ולהביא הברייתא שאין ...

In discussing the source that Megillat Esther may be read on the 11th, 12th, or 13th of Adar in addition to the 14th and 15th of Adar, the Talmud (Megillah 2a) has the following exchange: What we ...

The word Hanukkah in Hebrew is written חֲנֻכָּה or חֲנוּכָּה -- with or without a vav. Why two spellings? Do they entail different things? (Delete the question if the answer is purely a grammatical ...

I learn Gemara daily and I can read rather well through the text with Rashi and Tosafos. I would like to incorporate Rishonim into my learning. How do I do this? Do I look at them on every sugya? Do I ...

What are the parameters of a tefillas shov (unnecessary prayer-request)? Someone is waiting for blood test results. He prays and asks Hashem that the results should indicate good health. Is this a ...

In T'murah 1:1, the Mishna starts off by saying: הכל ממירים, אחד אנשים ואחד נשים. The laws of T'murah apply to everyone, men and women. (my own loose translation) The G'mara (2a-b) ...

I understand that a non-Kohen should not ask a Kohen to do a task for him. It is quoted in hewikipedia האיסור להשתמש בכהן הוא איסור להשתמש בכהן כפועל או בעבודה כל שהיא, אפילו עבודה קלה. סיבת ...

Are there certain sets of segulot or psalms to read to defend/protect from all sorts of sheidim and koach hatuma?

Why was fortune telling through Astrology, Astromancy, Face Reading, Palmistry, Cartomancy (and a number of other methods) forbidden by the Rabbis, when there is numerous instances in the Bible of the ...

I'm an Italian noahide. I read what Rambam says in Avodat Kochavim 3: 10-11 about the making of images by a Jew. I also read the following words in a Jewish forum: “The Torah says, "Don't make a ...

Many institutions where people sleep are no-flame environments. For instance, hospitals have oxygen. Hotels have very sensitive smoke detectors. How does one fulfill the mitzvah of lighting the ...

I heard that there was a sefer written that has approximately 100 answers to the question of whether the Avot kept all of the Mitzvot. If anyone know about this and has the name of the sefer and ...

I am an Italian noahide. Unless I am mistaken, in terms of sexual conduct the prohibitions established by the Noahide Law are the following (see Rambam’s Mishneh Torah-Melachim uMilchamot 9:5): ...

DISCLAIMER: This is a goy lending money to a goy with a jewish broker... Here's the business: You the Broker get 3 months of business bank statements & an application from the Business Owner. ...

BH This is one that I still have a problem wrapping my head to understand how this is possible. I remember my rabbi teaching me Torah and Exodus 23 reads ... You shall not boil a kid in its ...

I take the position that everything in the Talmud is there for a reason. That reason could be transmitting relevant facts through the generations. Even if they are not facts, surely there is a ...

Wikipedia says the Great Assembly was established in 410 BCE, and I'm wondering if that's what the masorah teaches. Wikipedia also mentions that Sanhedrin began to form around 57-55 BCE, and I'm also ...

The Torah forbids necromancy [Lev. 19:31 and 20:6,27; Deut. 18:11]. Yet King Saul goes to the witch of Endor, who brings up the dead prophet Samuel for him. Samuel responds: Why have you ...

I'm almost afraid to ask this question here for fear of being shot down in flames because I'm not Jewish. However, nothing ventured, etc..... I understand that many of the Psalms were put to music ...

There are several allusions in the Torah that through divine inspiration the Patriarchs kept it entirely (see Yoma 28b based on Bereishit 26:5 for Abraham and Rashi on Bereishit 32:5 for Jacob). Yet, ...

Just realized -- the third segment of Birkat HaMazon looks like this: Hashem, please have mercy on Jerusalem and the Temple ... and rebuild Jerusalem speedily please. Fine. But in the middle of ...

Are there any qualifications for being considered a Ba'al Tekiah? Need one complete a measure of learning on the subject?

The Gemara Yoma 28b says that Avraham Avinu kept the whole Torah including Eruv Tavshilin. We see that Avraham kept the Rabbinic laws. Does this mean he lit the Menorah as well? אמר (רב) ואיתימא רב ...