21
As part of the extensive research behind my RASHI'S DAUGHTERS, no subject intrigued me more than the elusive [and ubiquitous] legend that they wore tefillin. Indeed, when I first started studying Talmud and was introduced to Rashi, I was told that legend held that they were learned and wore tefillin. I actually tracked the earliest mention of this back to ...
17
According to this article by Rabbi Dr. Ari Z. Zivotofsky (published in the Orthodox Union's Jewish Action Journal, Summer 2011), such a source does not exist. Apparently, this idea appeared in the late 20th century, and never before then.
16
See the sefer Pardes Yosef on parshat Teruma chapter 25 sub ubb"b d"y [= ubibava batra daf yod] where it is described how the Besh"t was asked about a Talmudic source which says that every Torah prohibition has a permitted aspect to it, so where is heresy permitted? His answer was that in performing the mitzvah of charity, one should help the poor man as if ...
15
I heard once in a recording from R. Y.S. Schorr that Shamai represented a middas hadin, an exacting attitude of strict justice (as is evidenced by those very stories). His measuring stick was a display of just that point - everything had to be measured and exactly according to what was deserved.
14
Sanhedrin 68a
These were some of the final words of R' Eliezer, as he lay on his deathbed.
'Moreover, I have studied three hundred, (or, as others state, three thousand laws) about the planting of cucumbers [by magic] and no man, excepting Akiba b. Joseph, ever questioned me thereon. For it once happened that he and I were walking together on a road, ...
13
R. Eitam Henkin (R. Y.H. Henkin's son) wrote an essay on the curious Rashi.
He claims there that the text attributed to Rashi was a later interpolation by an errant student, since it is not referred to by any of the subsequent commentaries for centuries. His argument is not the usual "must have been an errant student" type, but rather is quite convincingly ...
13
Sanhedrin 104, from the last line of the first amud to perhaps a quarter of the way down the second.
Soncino Translation:
Our Rabbis taught: It once happened that two men [Jews] were taken captive on Mount Carmel,
and their captor was walking behind them.
One of them said to the other, ‘The camel walking in front of us is blind in one eye, and is ...
13
The story is a well-known piece of Jewish folklore, and it is hard to know if the story is true at all, and if it is, how much it may have changed over the generations.
The story can be found in the sefer Michtavei Chofetz Chaim (p.262) at the beginning of an essay written in honor the shloshim of the Chofetz Chaim. It was originally published in the ...
13
The Chassam Sofer seen here s.v. על רגל אחד says that Shammai besides being a Talmid Chacham was also a builder by trade, כי הוא היה תלמיד חכם וגם בנאי באמת הבנין.
The apikores thought that a person must choose between being a good person who interacts with other people kindly, or one can dedicate their life to Hashem as a religious recluse. Shammai wanted ...
13
Shemos Rabbah (29:4) says:
דבר אחר "אָנֹכִי ה' אֱלֹהֶיךָ" רבי אחא ברבי חנינא פתח בו (תהלים נ, ז)
שמעה עמי ואדברה (כמ"ש בעשרת הדברות (פסיקתא רבתי, יב) עד) א"ר שמעון בן
יוחאי אמר להם הקדוש ברוך הוא לישראל אלוה אני על כל באי עולם אבל לא
יחדתי שמי אלא עליכם איני נקרא אלהי עובדי כוכבים ומזלות אלא אלהי ישראל
א"ר לוי שני דברים שאלו ישראל מלפני הקדוש ברוך ...
13
Megillah 28b (English)
ההוא דהוי תני הלכתא סיפרא וסיפרי ותוספתא ושכיב אתו ואמרו ליה לרב נחמן ליספדיה מר אמר היכי נספדיה הי צנא דמלי סיפרי דחסר
there was a certain man who used to
repeat halachoth, Sifra and Sifre and Tosefta, and when he died they came and said to R. Nahman,
Sir, will you deliver a funeral oration for him, and he said, How are we ...
12
Despite this being an old question, it recently came up in conversation, so I'll take a stab at it. Three of these sources (the exception being the Chizkuni, which I found myself) come from a footnote to Eliezer Brodt's article on ברכות הראייה printed in Yeshurun vol. 26
There are indeed a few commentaries that mention werewolves:
Rashi, in his commentary ...
12
This story is told in Talmud Menachos (44a) about one of R' Chiya's students. The story ends up with them both doing teshuva and subsequently marrying each other.
http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/530129/jewish/In-the-Words-of-the-Sages.htm
12
The medrash tanchuma on parshas Shmini #7 takes the opinion that at that great feast of Beheimos and Leviason, the mitzvos which until now were only to purify/smelt the people with will no longer apply. The proof is that the Beheimos will not have a proper slaughtering, but will rather be killed by the Liviason. The medrash goes on to prove that Liviason is ...
12
This is found in Brachot 8a:
אמרו ליה לרבי יוחנן איכא סבי בבבל
תמה ואמר למען ירבו ימיכם וימי בניכם על האדמה כתיב אבל בחוצה לארץ לא
כיון דאמרי ליה מקדמי ומחשכי לבי כנישתא אמר היינו דאהני להו כדאמר רבי
יהושע בן לוי לבניה קדימו וחשיכו ועיילו לבי כנישתא כי היכי דתורכו חיי
The Gemara relates that when the Sages told Rabbi Yoḥanan that there
are ...
11
The story is found in מדרש שוחר טוב to Tehillim (39:2). (Menachem's comment [now deleted])
This is probably the earliest source.
It is also quoted in the אורחות צדיקים (in שער כ"ה, שער לשון הרע) [on that page, toward the bottom in blue text]
(from Menachem, in another deleted comment)
According to he.Wikipedia, this story is also quoted in אגדות המלך שלמה ...
11
The Babylonian Talmud (M'gila, page 3 column 1) relates in the name of Ravina:
One who is afraid [for no apparent reason] — although he doesn't see [anything], his mazal sees [something].
The commentary of Rashi explains that "mazal" here refers to the person's angel. And the commentary Ben Y'hoyada explains that what his mazal sees (and he's afraid of) ...
10
This story, sounds like an adaptation of the writings of Rav Kook.
Rav Kook wrote extensively on the spiritual good that came from many of the "troubles" of his time. The rise of Atheism was one of those topics.
He writes in many places that Atheism helps cleanse religion of Man's false beliefs, and Heresy helps shine light on the darkness of falsehood.
...
10
You seem to be looking for the Bar Yuchnei. Talmud Bechoros 56b:
פעם אחת נפלה ביצת בר יוכני וטבעה ששים כרכים ושברה שלש מאות ארזים
Once the Bar Yuchnei's egg fell and it flooded sixty cities and destroyed three hundred cedars.
The gemara there says that normally this wouldn't happen, but this particular egg was rotten so the bird threw it away.
It ...
10
It was R' Masya ben Charash. The Tanchuma (Chukas) relates the story you mention, except it says that he burned his eyes (he didn't stab them). The story is related in the Hebrew Wikipedia article (fn. 14).
9
The Gemara in Maseches Berachos (11b) clearly tells us what types of learning require a blessing.
א"ר יהודה אמר שמואל השכים לשנות עד שלא קרא ק"ש צריך לברך משקרא ק"ש א"צ לברך שכבר נפטר באהבה רבה אמר רב הונא למקרא צריך לברך ולמדרש א"צ לברך ור' אלעזר אמר למקרא ולמדרש
צריך לברך למשנה א"צ לברך ור' יוחנן אמר אף למשנה נמי צריך לברך [אבל
לתלמוד א"צ לברך] ורבא ...
9
I Googled it and came up with this page (see top left). It says to look at Zohar Chadash Yisro 31a.
In the Zohar, it is referred to as ארבעים ותשע חילי דמסאבותא
9
Rashi in Rosh Hashanah 33a holds that women may not perform mitzvot in which they are not obligated because of "bal tosif."
ד"ה הא נשים מעכבין. דפטורות לגמרי דמצות עשה שהזמן גרמא הוא וכי תקעי איכא בל תוסיף
Although Rashi's opinion rejected by most Rishonim, it does seem to make the story that his daughters wore tefillin more unlikely. (Tosafot in Eiruvin ...
9
Pshat
At the simplest level, he was acting in a manner akin to the zaken mamre or "rebellious elder" (Deuteronomy 17:12). As the Gemara in Sanhedrin explains, a member of the Sanhedrin is allowed, and encouraged, to express a dissenting opinion. However, once the Sanhedrin votes and his opinion is determined to be the minority, he may still:
Personally ...
8
Sounds like you're looking for the Gemara on Shabbos 104a.
The Rabbis told R. Joshua b. Levi: Children have come to the Beth
Hamidrash and said things the like of which was not said even in the
days of Joshua the son of Nun. [Thus:] alef Beth [means] ‘learn wisdom
[alef Binah];Gimmel Daleth, show kindness to the Poor [Gemol Dallim].
Why is the ...
8
The Mishnah about Magic cucumbers appears in Sanhedrin. It discusses the case of whether a person used an actual maseh or just "achizas enayim" to raise cucumbers:
ז,יא המכשף--העושה מעשה, ולא האוחז את העיניים. רבי עקיבה אומר משום רבי יהושוע, שניים לוקטין קישואים--אחד לוקט ופטור, ואחד לוקט וחייב; העושה מעשה חייב, והאוחז את העיניים פטור.
8
This story is mentioned in the name of the Munkatcher Rebbe in the Wagschal edition of the Alshich's Toras Moshe to Bereishis (pg. 15) and in Toldos HaAri HaQadosh (pg. 27, last paragraph). I can't find earlier sources for this.
8
This folktale is quite popular throughout European and Asian cultures, and predates Jewish oral accounts.
In Folktales of the Jews, Volume 1: Tales from the Sephardic Dispersion, folklorist Dov Noy links this Jewish folktale to its European precursors. In the 19th century, the French folklorist Emmanuel Georges Cosquin conducted a wide survey on the story'...
8
One source for the story you mentioned:
http://yeranenyaakov.blogspot.co.il/2012/06/rav-wosner-asks-kallah-for-blessing.html
In short, the author relates how a young woman received a wonderful shidduch. However, the chatan became ill and the local beit din advised that the couple not go forward. the kallah wrote to R' Wosner, who said that although he had ...
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