8
votes
Accepted
Original Aliyah breaks for Ki Tisa
Indeed the custom you mention is first mentioned in 16th century Safed in the work Tikkun Yissakhar by Yissakhar ben Mordechai, and while he notes with praise the custom to have a Levi read the ...
- 101k
7
votes
Accepted
Who says that keneh bosem is cannabis?
In the book "Entheogens and the Development of Culture: The Anthropology and Neurobiology of Ecstatic Experience" by John Rush on page 73 he mentions that Sula Benet in her book "Le chanvre dans les ...
- 140k
7
votes
Contradiction between the book of Exodus and the book of Ezekiel
Berachot 7a asks a very similar question:
Isn’t it written: “He visits iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and fourth generations” (Exodus 34:7)...
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6
votes
Accepted
Why is the torah reading for minor fast days different by just one verse from when that reading occurs in the regular cycle?
R. Eliyahu Katz has a responsum where he was asked precisely (well not precisely) this question!
The basic idea is that on fast days we want to read the next verse because it is a consolation, and we ...
- 50.3k
6
votes
Accepted
How is כֹּרֵת בְּרִית interpreted as "make" instead of "cut"?
Rashi to Genesis 15:10 explains that it was the custom of those making a covenant to split an animal into pieces, and to then pass between the pieces.
Rashi also refers us to Jeremiah 34:18-19 where ...
- 46.6k
4
votes
Accepted
Is Aaron's lesson one of nepotism?
Moses prayed for Aaron, but he also prayed for the forgiveness of the entire Children of Israel, both for this sin and for many others (for the golden calf in Exodus 32:11, for the sin of the spies in ...
- 25.9k
4
votes
Accepted
Shemot 30:32 anointing oil NOT to be poured on human flesh?
Sefer Hachinuch
שלא יסוך זר בשמן המשחה - שלא למשח בשמן המשחה שעשה משה אלא כהנים לבד. שנאמר (שמות ל לב) על בשר אדם לא ייסך. ונתבאר בכתוב שמי שמשח (שנמשח) בו במזיד, חיב כרת, שנאמר (שם לג) ואשר יתן ממנו ...
- 730
4
votes
How many people participated in the golden calf?
I'm sure there are many more, but wanted to share 4 approaches as to how many people sinned/ participated in the golden calf.
1) Majority of the nation literally sinned (via their innermost thoughts)
...
- 12.2k
4
votes
Why is it believed that Angels spoke with Moses at Sinai, when he spoke with God 'face to face'?
It sounds like you're asking on Pesikta Rabbasi 21, which you quote as saying that the angels gave the Torah to the Jews, and the question is Hashem spoke to Moshe directly. If we look at the Pesikta ...
- 20.2k
3
votes
Egel Hazahav and idolatry: Ramban vs Rashi
Ramban himself explains why he feels it is acceptable to argue against Chazal (the Sages of the Mishnah and Gemara) when explaining the simple meaning (p'shat) of a verse in the Torah.
In his ...
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3
votes
A sound of distress, while dancing around the golden calf?
Ther are 2 Explanations In the Peirush Tur Haoroch (Rav Yaakov Ben Asher 14th Century)
קול ענות אנכי שומע. כ' הרמב"ן לא מפני שידע משה הדבר כי אדרבה לא להגיד לו כי לא רצה לספ' בגנותן של ישרא' אלא ...
- 11.6k
3
votes
Who was Uri, Betzalel's father?
The Ohr HaChaim HaKadosh citing Shemos Rabbah explains that the mention of Uri serves as part of a hint explaining the purpose of the Mishkan.
(Source from Sefara.org)
(Partial Quote)
ראה קראתי בשם. ...
- 4,297
3
votes
Accepted
Ki Tissa vs. Vaykhel - Shabbat & Mishkan
Sifsei Chachamim (s.k. 4) indeed seems to answer your question.
His question is that perhaps it's the opposite - it wrote it twice to say that it's the Mishkan that overrides Shabbos! He answers ...
- 34.7k
3
votes
Accepted
Eigel HaZahav: Killing Klal Yisrael
There are two levels of Divine justice that may affect sinners.
1) Punishment for the crime itself.
2) Extra-judicial punishment in the special case called Chillul Hashem.
Both of these are ...
- 11k
3
votes
Why is there an enlarged Nun in Exodus 34:7?
The Shelah HaKadosh (Maseches Yoma, hilchos teshuva) says that this enlarged nun is an allusion to the nachash that enticed mankind to sin. At the time of egel hazahav the yetzer hara became too ...
- 7,084
3
votes
Was every commandment on the Tablets inscribed with a different finger of G-d?
R. Ishmael is quoted in Pirke Rebbi Eliezer (ch. 48) saying (allegorically) that God used His middle finger to inscribe the commandments.
- 12.1k
3
votes
Why the Golden calf was a calf and not a bull?
In Tehillim 106:19-20 it does in fact refer to the golden calf as both an eigel (calf) and a shor (bull):
יעשו עגל בחרב וישתחוו למסכה. וימירו את כבודם בתבנית שור אכל
Though every eigel could be ...
- 11.6k
3
votes
Accepted
Rav Kapach on Rambam's view on the identification of Keneh bosem
There does not appear to be a contradiction. In his commentary to the Mishnah Rambam doesn’t describe the plant; he merely mentions it as one of the ingredients in the anointing oil. (Presumably ...
- 50.3k
2
votes
מחני נא -- Moshe's real name isn't mentioned
Sanhedrin 19a and Megillah 13a allude to your question. They say that a person who raises a child is like the person who bore him. Since Pharaoh's daughter Bisya raised Moshe, he is given the name ...
- 381
2
votes
God's Pair of Teffilin
R. Hai Gaon explains that this obviously cannot mean that Moses actually saw God wearing tefillin. The verse explicitly states that no man can see God and live, and the Talmud cannot disagree with ...
- 50.3k
2
votes
Accepted
Why is there an enlarged Nun in Exodus 34:7?
Although I don't recall where I saw this (it could have been in the commentary of the Komarna Rebbe to the Torah) The enlarged Nun found in 34:7 is connected to the enlarged Resh which follows it in ...
- 16.7k
2
votes
make atonement - אכפרה
Rashi Bereishit 32:21 explains that כפרה literally means wiping away. So in the context of forgiveness as in the verse about Moshe, it means to 'wipe away' sin. In the context of the other verse, it ...
- 6,535
2
votes
Seeing Elohim and live?
My answer is inferred from my understanding of traditional sources and discussions I have had in Yeshivah, receiving orally from my Rabbis.
This means I am offering an explanation and will provide ...
- 11k
2
votes
Seeing Elohim and live?
The Bechor Shor says that Yaakov was talking about having seen an angel and the chidush about being alive was because he had never fought one before
נלחמתי עם מלאך כמו (מ"ב י"ד) לכה נתראה פנים ...
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2
votes
Seeing Elohim and live?
The Targum Yerushalmi on Yaakov fighting the angel says (Bereishit 22,25):
"וַיִּוָּתֵר יַעֲקֹב לְבַדּוֹ וַיֵּאָבֵק אִישׁ עִמּוֹ עַד עֲלוֹת הַשָּׁחַר." =>
"וְאִשְׁתְּאַר יַעֲקב ...
- 28k
2
votes
What do the words 'Hinei Makom Iti' mean if Makom is also a title for G-d?
Although מָקוֹם is used a descriptor for Hashem according to the statement of Chazal (see here)
שהוא מקום לעולם ואין העולם מקום לו
That He is the place of the world and the world is not His ...
- 48.7k
2
votes
To pass אעביר (Exo 33:19), what does it mean?
The OP asked:
I noticed it's root ע - ב - ר can also mean something like 'to transfer' or 'to pass something'. And because it states that it is על־פניך, I wondered if HaShem foretold Moshe here that ...
- 21.2k
2
votes
What is the meaning of Eth Eyd'yam אֶת-עֶדְיָם in Shmoth (Exodus) 33.6?
Firstly, JPS translates that phrase as "their ornaments". Also, here is a link to a concordance for this word. You can click on the links and see how they are explained or translated in ...
- 21.2k
2
votes
How the Tablets were written - all at once or letter by letter?
This is how Or HaChaim sees it (here):
"כתובים באצבע אלהים": והודיע הכתוב אופן כתיבת הלוחות במה נכתבו ואמר כתובים באצבע אלהים.
פירוש כי היה ה' מצייר צורת האות באצבעו כביכול.
פירוש בחינת אור אחד ...
- 28k
2
votes
Why are future generations still paying for the sin of the Golden Calf?
One can use the analogy of someone who steals fails to repay the theft. He is told that as long as he does not commit any further crimes, he will not have to pay. If he does commit another crime, he ...
- 43.5k
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