18
votes
Accepted
Exile helped the Jews to survive
Rabbi Oshaya said... The Holy One, Blessed be He, performed a charitable deed toward Israel in that He scattered them among the nations. [Sefaria adds: Had He exiled them to one place, they could have ...
- 20.7k
16
votes
Should a half Jewish man be discouraged from marrying a Jewess?
The man isn't Jewish in this case, so he has no obligation whatsoever in marrying a Jewish woman. It is forbidden for the Jewish woman to marry this man because he is not a Jew. If the man truly feels ...
- 18.5k
15
votes
Joining a synagogue after two generations non-practising
Yashar koach on becoming more involved in Jewish life.
We can't say what they will do (only they can answer that), but I'll address how you can approach it. You are Jewish because your mother is (...
- 56.4k
9
votes
Accepted
Why are we called 'Jews'?
The earliest reference to the term Jew (יהודי in Hebrew is found in Esther 2:5 where it has Mordechai
האִ֣ישׁ יְהוּדִ֔י הָיָ֖ה בְּשׁוּשַׁ֣ן הַבִּירָ֑ה וּשְׁמ֣וֹ מָרְדֳּכַ֗י
בֶּ֣ן יָאִ֧יר בֶּן־...
- 42.9k
9
votes
Exile helped the Jews to survive
To add to Maurice's fine answer, here is the Ramban's commentary on B'reishis 32:9 (regarding Ya'akov's plan to divide his people into two camps before encountering Esav):
וגם זה ירמוז שלא יגזרו ...
- 16.9k
8
votes
Accepted
Why didn't Esther reveal her origin earlier?
The following is culled from Oz V'hadar's Mesivta on Megillas Esther, page 37, note 89; pages 230-232; and pages 251-252. Unless otherwise specified, the mefarshim are on Esther 2:10.
Mordechai ...
- 34.1k
7
votes
Are the Conservatives and all who practice it considered non-Jews in the eyes of Orthodoxy
This is totally incorrect. Even if a Jew sins sufficiently to merit being punished with karet, he is still a Jew. An example would be those who succumbed to the Spanish in 1492 and converted to ...
- 42.9k
7
votes
Did Israelites who stayed in Egypt become halachically Jewish?
Rashi on Shemot 10:22 writes regarding the plague of darkness
And why did He bring darkness upon them? Because there were wicked
people amongst the Israelites of that generation who had no desire ...
- 47.9k
7
votes
Accepted
Other species in deep space and the Uniqueness of Klal Yisrael
R. Joseph B. Soloveitchik addressed this point when asked about alien life by R. David Holzer.
The Rav Thinking Aloud p. 93
[DH:] Would the discovery of alien life be an issue in terms of the Torah ...
- 49.1k
6
votes
Accepted
Ezra claimed that Samaritans are not Jews. Is genetic data in conflict with this?
Samaritans, much like Jews, are an isolated and endogamous community who remained in a single region for much of their existence. So while empires came and went and conquered the region, intermixed ...
- 492
6
votes
Accepted
Is it forbidden to count Jewish people without uttering any words?
The OU quotes "the Kaf Hachaim (13:10) writes that one is permitted to count Jewish People in one’s mind (b’machshava), as long as he does not count them audibly." This is referring to the ...
- 13.8k
6
votes
Did the Jewish people choose G-d, or did G-d choose the Jewish people? Or both?
Both, according to the commentary of Rashi to Deuteronomy 26:17–18.
- 73.7k
6
votes
Accepted
Yeshivas that relocated
Slabodka Yeshiva was originally in Lithuania and after the ravages of WWI and enforced military conscription in the years that followed, they established a branch in Chevron in 1924. Following the ...
- 30.2k
5
votes
The definitions of Judaism and Jew
The definition of Judaism is the laws and practices that were given to the Bnai Yisrael at Sinai and the halachos as taught by the unbroken chain of leaders, teachers and Rabbis from Moses through the ...
- 42.9k
5
votes
Were Adam and Eve Jewish?
UPDATE Technically everyone "became Jewish" at the revelation at Sinai which is regarded as everyone there having converted at that moment. This is the starting point of the recursive definition of "...
- 42.9k
4
votes
Why is the Jewish Population so small?
Dvarim 7:7 and Dvarim 4:27 would be my guess.
The LORD did not set His love upon you, nor choose you, because ye
were more in number than any people—for ye were the fewest of all
peoples
...
4
votes
Is there any Torah source for the phrase "עם ישראל חי"?
A quick search of Sefaria.org reveals that there are 0 results for those exact words. Therefore, it is safe to say that those words are not mentioned in Tanakh, Talmud, Midrash, Halacha, Kabbala, and ...
- 3,849
4
votes
What official position did Moses have acc. to Torah?
Rambam writes that Moses had the halachic status of king (Mishnah Torah Beis Habechirah 6:11):
אֵין מוֹסִיפִין עַל הָעִיר אוֹ עַל הָעֲזָרוֹת אֶלָּא עַל פִּי הַמֶּלֶךְ וְעַל פִּי נָבִיא וּבְאוּרִים ...
- 6,477
4
votes
Why are we called 'Jews'?
In the Hebrew Bible, the Jews are called B’nei Yisrael, Israelites. After the reign of Solomon, the unified twelve tribes split in two, the northern kingdom was called Israel, and the southern kingdom ...
- 675
4
votes
Would those of the lost tribes lose their status of Israelites after converting?
Unfortunately, we do not need to speculate widely about the application, as this type of scenario does occur in our day.
R. Dov Lior addressed the following question (דיני גר בן לוי):
האם אדם שנולד ...
- 6,483
4
votes
Would those of the lost tribes lose their status of Israelites after converting?
The Gemara in Yevamot 17a states that the 10 lost tribes have the status of non Jews and therefore must convert
- 314
3
votes
National Character affecting its Jewish Community
Rabbi Hamburger quotes the source as:
Michtav
Mei'Eliyahu, vol. IV, Yerushalayim 5745, pp. 129-30
He also goes on to quote Reb Yehuda HaChassid:
Sefer Chassidim (siman #1101), `In most places,...
- 33.4k
3
votes
Why didn't Esther reveal her origin earlier?
According to the Targum Sheni (2:10) Mordechai was concerned with Esther revealing this because the king would become upset with Esther at some point and direct his anger out on her people. Just as (...
- 6,864
3
votes
How can the child of a convert know/find out if the conversion was valid?
There should be documentation as to which bais din did it and when along with the kesuvah since the rav who married them would have verified the situation. Check the location where the kesuvah is ...
- 42.9k
3
votes
Can a yefas toar be Jewish?
An Eishet yefat toar is not Jewish because there is no Kiddushin for her. Kiddushin 68b:
א"ק (דברים כא, יג) ואחר כן תבוא אליה ובעלתה וגו' מכלל דמעיקרא לא תפסי בה קידושין
Only After she has cut ...
- 11.4k
3
votes
Was Uriah Jewish?
In shut Avraham ben Harambam 25 the author states that Uriah was a Jewish convert from Hittite origin. He adds that the Rambam his father maintained that Uriah was not even a full fledged convert but ...
- 2,669
3
votes
Why does the Torah forbid interest only on loans to Jews?
It seems to me that halakhah accommodates the reality that there is a time value of money (opportunity cost and whatnot). Therefore there is no moral problem with charging interest in-and-of-itself. ...
- 9,388
3
votes
Is it forbidden to count Jewish people without uttering any words?
Yoma 22b
תנא הוציאו אצבעותיכם למנין ונימנינהו לדידהו מסייע ליה לרבי יצחק דאמר רבי יצחק אסור למנות את ישראל אפילו לדבר מצוה דכתיב (שמואל א יא) ויפקדם בבזק מתקיף לה רב אשי ממאי דהאי בזק לישנא דמיבזק ...
- 22.7k
3
votes
Is there any Torah source for the phrase "עם ישראל חי"?
I found the following (and added in the bolding):
The Alei Tamar on Brachot 9
אגב הנני לרשום שמתוך דחף פנימי על קרב מלחמת ה' של בנינו הצעירים חביבי האומה ותפארתה נגד אויבנו אשר אמרו לכו ונכחידם מגוי ...
- 37.8k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible