17
votes
Why didn't Abraham ask the single best question?
We see in Vayeira 18:32
32 And he said, "Please, let the Lord's wrath not be kindled, and I
will speak yet this time, perhaps ten will be found there." And He
said, "I will not destroy for the ...
- 42.9k
17
votes
What is the source for: One shouldn't name a baby using names from before Abraham
Pitchei Teshuva YD 265:6
עיין בשו"ת תשובה מאהבה ח"א סימן ל"ה שאין להקפיד מלקרות שמות כשמות שהיה קודם אברהם אבינו ע"ה דלא כהמבי"ט ח"א סי' רע"ו שכתב דאין ראוי לקרוא ...
- 97.4k
16
votes
Did Avraham Avinu really have a daughter named Bakol?
Bava Batra (16b) records a dispute (found earlier in Tosefta Kiddushin (5:17 in R. Lieberman's edition) regarding the interpretation of Genesis (24:1) which states that God blessed Abraham "bakol" (...
- 35.4k
12
votes
Accepted
Was Avrohom really born in 1948?
For example, the posuk (5:32) says that Noach begot Sheim (Chom and Yefes) when he was 500 so I added 500 on to 1056 and got 1556.
But it doesn't say what order they were born in. Rashi later on (10:...
- 97.4k
11
votes
Accepted
Why is Sarah rebuked for laughing whereas Avraham is not?
The commentators have several different approaches here. [Sources are from a shiur my father gives. Text copied either from Sefaria (first two) or his sourcesheet (last two).]
Rashi's take (17:17), ...
- 23k
11
votes
Accepted
Are there any Jewish traditions that can place Abraham in the location of present day Mecca?
Abraham left Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan, stopping at Haran along the way (Genesis 11:31, 12:5). Chaldeans were described as coming from the north (Jeremiah 1:14). Since Mecca is far south, a ...
- 24k
11
votes
Accepted
Is it sourced that Avrohom Avinu charged his guests payment if they did not make a Brachah?
The Shita Mekubetzet to Sotah 10b brings exactly what you are remembering in the name of midrash.
והודו ושבחו וברכו למי שאמר והיה העולם. יש במדרש שלא רצו לברך ברצונם עד שאמר להם אברהם אבינו פרעו מה ...
- 14.3k
11
votes
Is it sourced that Avrohom Avinu charged his guests payment if they did not make a Brachah?
Midrash Rabbah 49:7 (Sefaria Link) (Hebrewbooks.org Link) brings the story in full, including the details about the exorbitant prices Avraham would charge, since he was located in the desert.
כִּי ...
- 43.9k
10
votes
Why didn't Avraham argue with HaShem about sacrificing Yitzchak just like he argued with Him about destroying Sodom?
Ralbag has an interesting explanation of the challenge of the Binding of Isaac, which could answer this question.
He explains that the challenge was specifically to see how easy it would be for ...
- 49.1k
10
votes
Accepted
Midrash on the sale of the Machpelah Cave
You're perhaps referring to the Sefer Hayashar on Chayei Sarah:
ויכתוב אברהם את הדבר הזה בספר ויחתום, ויעד ארבעה עדים. ואלה שמות העדים: אמיגל בן אבישוע החתי אליחורף בן אשונה החוי, עדון בן אחירע הגרדי,...
- 17.7k
9
votes
Did Abraham know that Lot survived the Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah?
Rashi on Genesis 20:1:1:
ויסע משם אברהם. (excerpt)
להתרחק מלוט שיצא עליו שם רע שבא על בנותיו
My translation (and context):
The parsha (paragraph) following the story of Lot mentions that Avraham ...
- 70.1k
9
votes
Did Abraham and Noah know of each other?
The Kad Ha'Kemach by Rabeinu Bachyei ben Asher, implies that Avraham saw Noach (see footnote ג). It is very possible he met him later on on life since they were from different locations.
As was ...
- 41.1k
8
votes
Source that Avraham's tent was open on all sides?
It is clearly stated in Shochar Tov, the Midrash on Tehillim chapter 110.
זש"ה (ישעיה מא) מי העיר ממזרח צדק. ישנים היו אומות העכו"ם מלבא תחת כנפי השכינה ומי העירן לבא לחסות תחת כנפי השכינה אברהם ...
- 79
8
votes
Why did the angel overturning Sodom visit Abraham?
The final decree on S'dom was not made until they visited Avraham and Sarah. Their behavior sealed the doom of S'dom. Had Avraham not received them as he did, there would have been an argument not to ...
- 42.9k
8
votes
Accepted
Where, and what, is Elonei Mamre? And who is Mamre?
Ber. 13:18
Abram moved on. He came and settled in the (1)Plains of (2)Mamre, in (3)Hebron, and there he built an altar to God.
(1)Plains
Eloney Mamre in Hebrew. Others translate it, 'Terebinths ...
- 479
8
votes
Accepted
Why Did God Directly Command Abraham to Sacrifice Isaac but Sent Angels to Stop Him?
Leviticus Rabbah (parsha 1) states that the angel called but the utterance spoke:
באברהם כתיב ויקרא מלאך ה' אל אברהם המלאך קורא והדבור מדבר
R. Yaakov Tzvi Mecklenburg understands this to mean that ...
- 49.1k
8
votes
Accepted
“As many as the stars in the sky”- literally or allegorically?
As I wrote in this answer:
According to Ralbag (Commentary to Parshas Lech Lecha), the promise was not that Avraham's descendants would be as numerous as the stars. Rather the promise was that they ...
- 49.1k
8
votes
How does one reconcile the fact that Avraham Avinu proselytized to non-Jews and yet Judaism is not a proselytizing religion?
I think there is a subtle difference.
To proselyte is to ask/convince someone to convert to a religion. In the case of Avraham there was no Jewish religion, it was just an acknowledgment of G-d's ...
- 30.3k
7
votes
Why did the angel overturning Sodom visit Abraham?
This is an answer that I heard from one of my Rabbeim. It is from the Sefer Chidushei HaRim, on Bereishis 18:9. While he gives the basic pshat mentioned below, he does not quote every source that I ...
- 34.1k
7
votes
Why don't we have a weaning party like Avraham did?
According to one opinion in the Midrash (Bereishis Rabbah 53:10), we do.
וַיִּגְדַּל הַיֶּלֶד וַיִּגָּמַל (בראשית כא, ח), רַבִּי הוֹשַׁעְיָה רַבָּה אָמַר נִגְמַל מִיֵּצֶר הָרָע. רַבָּנָן אָמְרֵי ...
- 34.1k
7
votes
Did Abraham and Noah know of each other?
Yes they Avraham stayed together with Noach for 39 years Midrash Sefer Hayashar parshas Noach states explicitely:
ויהי בצאת אברם מן המערה וילך לו אל נח ושם בנו וישב בביתם ללמוד את
מוסר ה ואת ...
- 11.4k
7
votes
Where was Malkitzedek of Jerusalem at the time of the Akedah?
Malkitzedek was no longer Kohen Gadol at the time, as it says in Nedarim 32b:
"Rabbi Zekharya said in the name of Rabbi Yishmael: The Holy One, Blessed be He, wanted the priesthood to emerge ...
- 24.9k
6
votes
Why did the angel overturning Sodom visit Abraham?
Rabbi Dovid Feinstein raised this point in a shiur of his and answered that we find instances where angels keep to their duty, but utilize some wiggle room, such as Gabriel who had coals he was ...
- 33.4k
6
votes
Why doesn't the Chumash record a blessing for Yitzchak?
Rashi to Bereishis 25:11 quotes the Gemara in Sotah 14 that, as Avraham foresaw that Eisav would descend from Yitzchak, he was afraid to give Yitzchak the Brachos, fearing that they would go to Eisav ...
- 34.1k
6
votes
Accepted
Why identified by the name Og?
The Munkatcher Rebbe is quoted as asking this question here. He answers that the Arizal is quoted as having said that at the time of matzah baking one should exert oneself and sweat and this will ...
- 35.4k
6
votes
How did Abraham perform brit milah?
The description of Abraham's circumcision in the Bible doesn't say what tool he used. However, Joshua is described as having circumcised the Israelites with swords of stone (Joshua 5:2), and, as רבות ...
- 24k
6
votes
Accepted
Did Hashem originally intend to have a connection with everyone?
Yes - every child of Adam HaRishon was supposed to be equal. At the end of Paragraph #3 in Chap 4 of Part II in Luzzato's Derech Hashem, he says Hashem judged humanity at the Tower of Bavel - when ...
- 160
6
votes
What was G-d's plan in having 20 wicked generations before Abraham?
It's like the story of the wise man of Chelm who is hungry so he buys a bagel, but he's still hungry, so he buys another bagel; but then he's still hungry and they're out of bagels, so he buys a knish ...
- 131k
6
votes
What was the ethnicity of Abraham?
This is two questions:
1) How could the Torah describe the city of Ur as being of the Chaldeans if they didn't exist yet?
The Torah clearly describes a city in which Avraham and his father resided ...
- 593
6
votes
Why wasn't Avraham lying when he said "Eloh-im yireh lo haseh li-ola, bni"?
Read it "Elokim yireh lo haseh l'olah = bni". He was hinting that the lamb was his son. And according to Rashi, Yitzchak got the hint, "vayelchu shneihem yachdav" - he accepted it willingly.
I quote ...
- 5,310
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