12
votes
Accepted
Looking for a source which was mentioned in a shiur
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 ...
- 2,669
10
votes
Accepted
Where did the "a cat will always be a cat" story about the Rambam come from?
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 ...
- 11.3k
9
votes
On What Subjects Does One Say Birchas HaTorah?
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 ...
- 49.1k
9
votes
Accepted
Where is Rabbi Akiva told to stick to Halacha and not try Aggadah?
Chagigah 14a:
אמר
לוֹ רַבִּי אֶלְעָזָר בֶּן עֲזַרְיָה: עֲקִיבָא, מָה לְךָ אֵצֶל הַגָּדָה! כְּלָךְ מִדַּבְּרוֹתֶיךָ אֵצֶל נְגָעִים וְאֹהָלוֹת.
Rabbi Elazar ben Azarya said to him: Akiva, what are you ...
- 564
8
votes
Are Synagogues "holy ground," offering protection from evil creatures?
Also to the contrary, see Talmud Kiddushin 29b, where the story is told of a demon that attacked people who entered the study hall.
הוה ההוא מזיק בי רבנן דאביי דכי הוו עיילי בתרין אפי' ביממא הוו ...
- 81
8
votes
Why didn't Titus consort with someone worse than a harlot?
While I don't think that the premise for the question is very strong, as Titus may or many not have known about the technical severity of different relationships, and may or may not have cared, as ...
- 35.4k
8
votes
Accepted
Legends of the Jews sources
You are looking for volumes 5 & 6 which contain the notes . List of abbreviations of the sources are at the end of the volume.
Volume 5:
https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.75591/page/...
- 41k
7
votes
Jews were on 49th level of Tumah. Says who?
Here is a picture of the Zohar with the perush masok midvash on bottom. It is zohar charash yisro on daf lamed tes amud aleph in the original Zohar print.
- 71
7
votes
Why was שמאי holding a ruler?
in chovos halevavos gate 9 ch.5
Do so in your heart and mind if you are unable to free your body to
matters of the next world due to being so fully engaged with providing
for your livelihood ...
- 21.1k
7
votes
Divorce and Mizbeach
The Chidushei Agadata of the Maharsha points you to the same memoir in Sanhedrin 20a.
There he explains that the Mizbeach - usually - gets the bird offerings that a wife brings, mostly from the first ...
- 42.8k
7
votes
Story of a woman hitting a rabbi because husband said
It is in the Gemara Nedarim 66B
אֲמַר לַהּ: זִילִי תְּבַרִי יָתְהוֹן עַל רֵישָׁא דְבָבָא. הֲוָה יָתֵיב בָּבָא בֶּן בּוּטָא אַבָּבָא וְקָא דָאֵין דִּינָא. אֲזַלַת וּתְבַרַת יָתְהוֹן עַל רֵישֵׁיהּ. ...
- 10.6k
6
votes
Why was שמאי holding a ruler?
The Maharsha there s.v. על רגל אחת explains that Shamai was, in the two accounts in which he was holding the construction cubit (as he was not reported to be holding it in the first account), showing ...
- 58.3k
6
votes
Which of the Napoleonic wars had no casualties?
This is a reference to the Siege of Pressburg, also known as the Siege of Bratislava, in 1809, which was a little over a month-long Napoleonic campaign that ultimately failed (on Napoleon's part). I ...
- 24.9k
6
votes
Is it permissible to listen to a Rabbi instead of a doctor?
The Maharik as well as the Shevus Yaakov bring the Gemara in Niddah to prove that, on the contrary, Chazal would rely on the doctor's prognosis even in cases of potential Kares. Indeed, as the Rambam ...
- 4,313
6
votes
Where is the story from (I believe in the Talmud ) about a Rebbe who was head of a beis din in regards to a widow and his sentencing to death?
You're probably thinking of the story in tractate Semachos, one of the minor tractates
וכשבאו רשב״ג ורבי ישמעאל גזרו עליהם שיהרגו והיה רבי ישמעאל בוכה ור״ש אמר אברך בשתי פסיעות אתה נתן בחיקם של ...
- 40.3k
6
votes
Accepted
Is there a source for Og throwing a mountain?
It comes from Devarim Rabba 1:24 in the name of Rabbi Yochanan commenting on Rabbi Shmuel bar Nachman.
- 14.2k
6
votes
Accepted
The Messiah's hair will be greenish?
The Tikkune Zohar (123b-124a) reads:
דָּוִד שִׁבְעָה מִינֵי דַהֲבָא הֲוָה בְּשַׂעֲרוֹי, זָהָב יְרַקְרַק, זָהָב אוֹפָז, זָהָב אוֹפִיר, זָהָב פַּרְוָיִם, זָהָב סָגוּר, זָהָב תַּרְשִׁישׁ, זָהָב ...
- 11.9k
6
votes
Accepted
Reb Yitzhak's diamond, Rashi's birth - the source?
The source is Shalshelet Hakabala p. 111 (published 1587), who quotes it from an old manuscript.
Unlike the story you linked, he says that the priest wanted to buy it from him to use for the eye of ...
- 24k
5
votes
Accepted
Elijah the prophet as one who appears in times of need
The origin is the last two verses of Malachi (3:23-24):
הִנֵּה אָנֹכִי שֹׁלֵחַ לָכֶם אֵת אֵלִיָּה הַנָּבִיא לִפְנֵי בּוֹא יוֹם יְהוָה הַגָּדוֹל וְהַנּוֹרָא:
וְהֵשִׁ֤יב לֵב־אָבוֹת֙ עַל־בָּנִ֔ים וְלֵ֥ב ...
- 626
5
votes
Accepted
Why does Nero convert to Judaism in folio 56a in tractate Gittin in the Babylon Talmud?
I came across a possible explanation as to why the rabbis would insert this brief tid bit about Nero converting to Judaism into the narrative (if it wasn't factual -- if there are sources supporting ...
5
votes
Accepted
Where is Moshe in the Torah?
Rashi (there) addresses your question. He explains that it asks for a hint that references him before he came:
ועוד זה שאלו ממנו - מנין למשה רמז קודם שבא שסופו לבא
This is clearly the ...
- 35.4k
5
votes
What was the pillar of stone of Seth's children mentioned by Josephus?
There are a couple of questions here to respond to:
Regarding the fate of the tablets, as you cited from Josephus, it "remains in the land of Siriad to this day." To my limited knowledge we don't ...
- 11.9k
5
votes
Source of 3 daily miracles love of occupation, place of living and wife
I think what you're looking for, or at least the origin of the adage, is the talmud (Sot. 47a):
אמר רבי יוחנן שלשה חינות הן חן מקום על יושביו חן אשה על בעלה חן מקח על מקחו
Trans. from Sefaria:
...
- 11.9k
5
votes
Why is the first mishna of Brachos included in the Ein Yaakov?
It seems that the first mishna and gemara were not part of the original Ein Yaakov.
Rav Yaakov ibn Habib never intended to collect all of the aggados in shas. He collected what he thought fit into ...
- 9,618
5
votes
Accepted
Source for electricity in the times of the Talmud?
The story you are looking for is about the Tosafist Rabbi Yechiel of Paris. From a quick search it seems like the source is from Éliphas Lévi in his book Histoire de la magie, (The History of Magic), ...
- 1,827
5
votes
Accepted
How could Abba Ḥilkiyya do that?
Ben Yehoyada sidesteps the issue by positing that either they were not directly behind her, or that there was more than four amos between them.
ואין להקשות איך היה הולך אחרי אשתו? דאפשר היה מצדד ...
- 34.1k
5
votes
Accepted
Where can I find the story about the cow that kept shabbos?
It has been quoted as a midrash in Pesikta Rabbati 14. See the full story at chabad.org
There was once a Jew who owned a cow with which he plowed his field.
Then it came to pass that this Jew became ...
- 47.9k
5
votes
Do the Sages tell us why Ezekiel's wife died?
The ArtScroll version of Yechezkel cites different mefarshim that explain why the wife of Yechezkel died.
The Radak explains that she was not sick, but died without warning in the plague that befell ...
- 8,810
5
votes
40 days before the formation of the fetus
The Ben Yehoyada (והנה מקשים) asks this and offers four answers:
The masculine is related to rachamim (compassion) and the feminine to din (severity). This enables evil forces to more easily attach ...
- 2,226
4
votes
What's the source for the aggadah about Adam sacrificing a unicorn?
The Gemara in Shabbas 28b brings that Rav Yehuda said that the Ox that Adam offered had one horn. The discussion in the gemara was discussing what group should the Tachash (unicorn- or singled horned ...
- 41k
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