19
votes
Accepted
"Die, but don't transgress": what about torture?
The Talmud Ketubot (33a) shows that lashes are worse than death by stating that had Hananya Mishael and Azarya been tortured, they would have worshiped the statue.
דאמר רב: אילמלי נגדוה לחנניה ...
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17
votes
Accepted
How does one receive forgiveness from someone they have wronged after their death?
Shulchan Aruch here
אם מת אשר חטא לו מביא עשרה בני אדם ומעמידם על קברו ואומר חטאתי לאלהי
ישראל ולפלוני זה שחטאתי לו (ונהגו לבקש מחילה בערב יו"כ
If the person against whom he sinned has died,...
- 6,113
16
votes
Accepted
Why do many non-Orthodox Jews come to shul regularly only after a parent's death?
It's something like that, based on my observations of my local Reform and Conservative communities. What I notice in particular with the Conservative daily minyan is that there are some regulars, some ...
- 56.4k
14
votes
Accepted
Abbreviation: בש"ט on a gravestone
It stands for נפטר בשם טוב - he died with a good name.
The expression is based on Berachot 17a.
רבי יוחנן כי הוה מסיים ספרא דאיוב אמר הכי סוף אדם למות וסוף בהמה לשחיטה והכל למיתה הם עומדים אשרי מי ...
- 41.3k
14
votes
Accepted
What are we celebrating on Lag B'Omer?
This exact question was asked by R. Hezekiah Silva in his commentary to the Shulchan Aruch where it says that the students stopped dying.
Peri Chadash O.C. 493:2
ומיהו יש לדקדק בשמחה זו למה ואי משום ...
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12
votes
Why were מִישָׁאֵל and אֶלְצָפָן chosen to remove Nadav and Avihu?
1) Netziv (Vayikra 10:4) says:
אל מישאל ואל אלצפן בני עזיאל דד אהרן – כבר נדרש בת״כ למאי כתיב דד אהרן. ולפי הפשט משמעות דד כמו ידידות מלשון כי טובים דדיך. ובא לפרש למה קרא לבני עוזיאל יותר מבני ...
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11
votes
Accepted
What causes a person to remain in this world as a ghost?
R. Ezekiel Landau discusses this aspect of the tale in his commentary there. He explains that the spirit cannot leave the body until the body decomposes, and that is why we conduct burials in a manner ...
- 48.9k
10
votes
Accepted
Does Judaism require burial of the dead?
The basic source is Deuteronomy 21:23, "You shall bury him on that day." (Whether it also applies to non-Jews is not so simple. The Ramban there mentions that Joshua took care to bury the bodies of ...
- 1,667
10
votes
Accepted
Why don't they use a coffin for Israeli burials, but do elsewhere?
Shulchan Oruch Yorei Deyoh 362 (1) says
הנותן מתו בארון ולא קברו בקרקע עובר משום מלין את המת. ואם נתנו בארון
וקברו בקרקע אינו עובר עליו, ומכל מקום יפה לקברו בקרקע ממש אפילו בחוצה
לארץ.
...
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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 ...
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9
votes
Why do many non-Orthodox Jews come to shul regularly only after a parent's death?
I wholly agree with Monica's excellent answer, but I would like to point out another phenomenon. Many non-Orthodox Jews go through a portion of their adult lives without giving much thought to ...
- 5,175
9
votes
Does Judaism teach that the soul cannot rest until the body turns to dust?
The Zohar (2:151) states that the soul is subject to judgment until the body has decomposed.
- 6,427
9
votes
List of people who lose a child in תנ"ך
Adam and Eve (Genesis 4:25):* their son Cain killed their other son Abel
Terah (Genesis 11:28): his son Haran died in his lifetime
Judah (Genesis 38:7,10):* his sons Er and Onan died after marrying ...
9
votes
Jerusalem Sand at a Burial
The Rema in Yoreh Deah 363:1 writes:
יש נוהגין לתת מעפר א"י בקבר (א"ז) (ויש למנהג זה על מה שיסמוכו) (מדרש תנחומא פ' ויחי)
Some have the custom to place some earth from the Land of Israel in ...
- 27.3k
9
votes
Accepted
Source for the four questions you're asked at the gates
Shabbat 31a:
אָמַר רָבָא: בְּשָׁעָה שֶׁמַּכְנִיסִין אָדָם לְדִין, אוֹמְרִים לוֹ: נָשָׂאתָ וְנָתַתָּ בָּאֱמוּנָה? קָבַעְתָּ עִתִּים לַתּוֹרָה? עָסַקְתָּ בִּפְרִיָּה וּרְבִיָּה? צָפִיתָ לִישׁוּעָה? ...
- 41.3k
8
votes
Why do fish die?
I couldn't find any commentators on the Midrash addressing this issue. So, instead, I will offer a deflection of the assumptions as my answer.
I will argue: Fish, along with plants and bugs, were ...
- 33.2k
8
votes
Accepted
Can you kill person A to protect yourself from B?
First, the concept of killing a non-guilty party in self defense is learned from the Gemara in Sanhedrin 82a. (See also the commentary of the Rosh to this Gemara; 9:4) When Pinchas was (doing the ...
- 10.6k
8
votes
How can I pray for Jewish people as they approach death? I am a hospice chaplain
Thank you for asking the question and performing this great action. In his book Mourning in Halacha (pp. 29-46), Rabbi Chaim Binyamin Goldberg has a number of recommendations based on Jewish law which ...
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8
votes
Accepted
Crying when reading about Aaron's sons' deaths
Mishnah Berurah 621:2 quotes this idea in the name of the Zohar. (I believe the relevant piece of Zohar is to be found in Vol. III 57b.)
- 41.3k
8
votes
Why did not Balaam's ass live to embarrass that evil man?
Rashi is quoting from the midrash in Tanchuma which clarifies why it was necessary to kill the jenny (thanks @robev). The midrash gives two reasons:
a. So that people would not turn her into an object ...
- 24.3k
7
votes
Accepted
Do Jews pray to deceased forefathers?
For a long time there have been Jews who have indeed beseeched the dead. However, numerous sources state that this is prohibited. Some state that it is permitted if the request is not directly from ...
- 35.4k
7
votes
Tahara procedure for a body with an infectious disease
Regarding the spread of COVID-19, the National Association of Chevra Kadisha headed by Rav Elchonon Zohn stated the following guidelines:
The following are suggested guidelines and precautions ...
- 13.6k
7
votes
R' Mordochai Benet's re-interment
R. Benet's son, R. Naftali, wrote in a letter (Misped Gadol Ve'kaved Meod, here) to the Nikolsburg community that his father died in Carlsbad while there for therapeutic reasons (ibid, note). He then ...
- 11.9k
7
votes
Accepted
Source for Cremation Specifically Not Jewish
I’d suggest the quote, albeit not exact, is from Tosafot (Chulin 125b s.v. Yachol):
בהא דאמרינן בביצה (י.)... דהתם במת שלם דאין דרך לשורפו ולנתחו פחות מכזית
- 11.9k
6
votes
Accepted
When saying Shema Yisroel as your last words, should you say "בָּרוּךְ שֵׁם כְּבוֹד מַלְכוּתוֹ לְעוֹלָם וָעֶד"?
Not to disagree with anyone, but if we look to the example of Rabbi Akiva as stated explicitly in Brachot 61b, it says that he fulfilled the mitzvah of Kriat Shema by ending on the word "Echod" at the ...
- 13.8k
6
votes
Accepted
Why do we cut the tzitzit out of a tallit for a dead person?
The source is from Shulchan Aruch Yoreh Deah 351:2
אֵין קוֹבְרִין אֶת הַמֵּת אֶלָּא בְּטַלִּית שֶׁיֵּשׁ בּוֹ צִיצִית.
הַגָּה: וְיֵשׁ אוֹמְרִים דְּאֵין צָרִיךְ צִיצִית (טוּר בְּשֵׁם י''א).
...
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6
votes
Accepted
Empty seat at the head of the table after the parent is dead
In general, no it does not apply after death (Az Nidbru vol. 8, 60).
See Chaim Byad Y.D. 125:48 who deduces as much from the wording of the Shulchan Aruch. He adds, however, that if one's father was ...
- 6,427
6
votes
Should you save yourself and let one person die, or the other way round
The Gemara (Bava Metzia 62a) talks about a case where two people are traveling in the desert. One man ran out of water and the other man has just enough water for himself to make it back to town. ...
- 10.6k
6
votes
Sending letters to the deceased
The Minchas Yitzchak 8:53) was asked if one is allowed to write one's name and leave the paper on the grave of a Tzaddik (The Chasam Sofer, in that case).
He wrote that Bach and the Maharil forbid ...
- 40.2k
6
votes
Death of all Jews at Har Sinai
Rabbi Yosef Hayyim of Baghdad in his book Ben Yehoyada (Meg. 7b s.v. Rabba) asserts that there was no need to redo kiddushin (their marriages were not terminated) and goes on to answer the (related) ...
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