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This past Erev Succos I arrived at a local synagogue that had a fellow selling Lulavim and Esrogim in their Simcha hall. The fellow left three Esrogim (not in the greatest condition - yet Kosher) on t …

What are some good mnemonics for remembering Talmud and Mishna? The Talmud refers to it as making simanim for what you learn.

Mishna, Tamid chapter 3:9, in a loose translation: Those who merited removing the ashes from the inner altar and the candelabrum would precede. They had four tools in their hands: the basket, the pit …

Towards the beginning of the נוסח אשכנז version of davening, in the section beginning לעולם יהא אדם ירא שמים, we say as follows: לפיכך אנחנו חייבים להודות לך ולשבחך ולפארך ולברך ולקדש ולתת שבח והו …

I'm a practicing Christian getting my master's degree in education, and one of my classes (cultural foundations of education) calls for me to spend time in a culture other than my own. I have a grea …

I am puzzled by the Mishnah's original text of the famous Jewish idea that "whoever saves one life [...] saves an entire world" (Sanhedrin 4:5). The English from sefaria.org reads thus: "It was fo …

In the manuscript Parma 3173 there is no "מישראל"; In the manuscript Budapest Kaufman A50 no more. The Mishna of Mechon Mamre, Mishna Sanhedrin 4:5 based on Rambam manuscript idem; לפיכך נברא אדם יח …

In my area there are (secular) library boxes like these. The idea is a simple variation on the honor system: Take a book, return a book. Someone, generally a volunteer, puts out a roofed box in a pub …

I've heard that women are meant to wait until after the first trimester to reveal that they are pregnant. (One rabbi I heard say they should wait even beyond, if possible.) The idea being to avoid dr …

In Genesis 1:6-8 the firmament and its creation are mentioned for the first time: And God said: 'Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.' …

The effect was among many found by Rabbi Dov Weismandel (originally from Prague) in the 1950s in New York. It was his discoveries that motivated all the Torah Code stuff, but he made no claims about f …

The use of DNA testing has been hotly debated in a number of cases, e.g., proving parenting to obtain child support, checking if a person died to permit his wife to remarry, preventing inheritance, et …

I'm attending a bar mitzva celebration recently, and the father of the boy gives a short speech. During his speech he mentions in passing that Rabbi Akiva Eiger (1761–1837, modern-day Austria and Pola …

In שׁמואל א טז, Shaul is distressed: 14: וְר֧וּחַ יְהוָ֛ה סָ֖רָה מֵעִ֣ם שָׁא֑וּל וּבִֽעֲתַ֥תּוּ רֽוּחַ־רָעָ֖ה מֵאֵ֥ת יְהוָֽה The spirit of God left him. So his advisers recommend that he get someone …

Related to this question. Rashi, on Shemot (13:16): "...וְהָיָה לְאוֹת עַל יָדְכָה וּלְטוֹטָפֹת בֵּין עֵינֶיךָ " writes: and for ornaments between your eyes: Heb. וּלְטוֹטָפֹת, tefillin. Since th …