3
votes
Accepted
Apparent contradiction between two Gemaras
Tosfos Sotah 25B asks this question:
וצריך עיון כלאי הכרם אמאי מטמאין טומאת אוכלים ולא אמר כתותי מכתת שיעוריה הלכך ליכא לדמויי להדדי
The Maharsham and others in the back of the Gemara propose ...
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3
votes
Why no early pidyon haben?
It is not clear that you can redeem the child before he is a month old. What is clear in the sources is you can give the money to the priest before the child is a month old stipulating that the money ...
- 97.2k
3
votes
Why is the Ramban's Hilchos Challah in the back of Bechoros?
I would like to supplement DonielF's answer.
Most mesechtos have the Halachos of the Rif written on them, and one of the exceptions is Bechoros. The other exceptions, other than the purely kodshim ...
- 3,463
3
votes
Accepted
Why is the Ramban's Hilchos Challah in the back of Bechoros?
There’s no Gemara Bavli on most of Zeraim, in particular on Challah or on the related Masechta of Terumos. So Ramban can’t put Hilchos Challah on its Masechta.
If I had to guess why it’s in Bechoros,...
- 34.1k
3
votes
R' Yehoshua and the Athenian Elders: Where is the center of the world?
As you say, the debate was a battle of wits. It is important to keep this in mind when analyzing it. We should not expect the account to necessarily yield many substantive insights -- that is not its ...
- 6,392
1
vote
Accepted
R' Yehoshua and the Athenian Elders: Where is the center of the world?
The Athenians were asking the Jew... "Where is the "center" of your spirituality, now that the Temple is destroyed?"
A Greek understood that a certain holy site was a focal point of the religion in ...
- 10.7k
1
vote
Accepted
R' Yehoshua and the Athenian Elders: The mule's debt, the rotting salt, and the field of swords
This is a series of mashalim attacking Bnai Yisrael and the Torah.
Art Scroll Bechoros Daf 8b(5) note 42 states that the next questions were deliberately absurd in order to test his ability to deal ...
- 42.9k
1
vote
Accepted
R' Yehoshua and the Athenian Elders: The case of the attempt to marry
While I have not read the Juggler and the King for many years, this one seems obvious. The Torah was turned down by all the nations but was accepted by Bnai Yisrael. The mashal of the Torah and Bnai ...
- 42.9k
1
vote
Why would one who redeems someone else's firstborn donkey be able to keep it, if he's effectively forcing the owner into a sale?
In the "former" approach you seek to clarify, the Gemara thought that since R' Yehudah forbids the owner of a first-born donkey to benefit from its work, then that is a clear Halachic sign that the "...
- 10.7k
1
vote
Chronological order of stories involving Rabban Gamliel
Partial answer:
בראש השנה אשתקד צעריה בבכורות במעשה דרבי צדוק צעריה. (emphasis mine). To me this means that a bunch of time had passed (a year?) between the first incident mentioned (Yom-Kippur) ...
- 3,698
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vote
What is the issue with Rabbi Tarfon's redeeming of first-borns in Bechoros 51?
The gemara's statement is meant to convey that R' Tarfon certainly wasn't lax in fulfillment of the mitzvot. Therefore, in other words, the gemara meant something like this: "has R' Tarfon never ...
- 867
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vote
Status of a human-mermaid offspring
Rashi to Sanhedrin 58a on the prohibition of bestiality:
שנעשה לבשר אחד - שזרע יוצא מהם שנעשה בשר האם והאב אחד בו:
Bestiality (for non-Jews) is forbidden by the verse "and they shall be one flesh" ...
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