10
votes
Accepted
"Fathers shall not be put to death because of sons, nor shall sons be put to death because of fathers" - Contradiction?
The Gemara in Meseches Brachos 7a says the following addressing this seeming "contradiction":
(Source from Sefaria.org)
והא כתיב (שמות לד, ז) פקד עון אבות על בנים וכתיב (דברים כד, טז) ובנים ...
10
votes
How was the Mekoshesh given the death penalty if the punishment wasn't known yet?
This is addressed by Sanhedrin 80b. It’s a dispute to begin with whether the particular form of death needs to be specified in the warning:
תניא ושאר חייבי מיתות שבתורה אין ממיתין אותן אלא בעדה ...
8
votes
Accepted
Are Tzitzis a Uniform/Badge of Honor?
The Gemoro Menachos 43b says
תניא היה רבי מאיר אומר גדול עונשו של לבן יותר מעונשו של תכלת משל למה
הדבר דומה למלך בשר ודם שאמר לשני עבדיו לאחד אמר הבא לי חותם של טיט
ולאחד אמר הבא לי חותם של זהב ופשעו ...
7
votes
Does teshuva remove punishment?
There is a disagreement between the Rambam and the Raavad regarding the Ir Hanidachas - wayward city, whether it is possible to remove the punishment if the town did indeed repent.
The Rambam (עבודת ...
7
votes
When did Israel stop having giant fruit?
Here's a quote from the Talmud, Ketuvot 112A:
רבי חלבו ור' עוירא ור' יוסי בר חנינא איקלעו לההוא אתרא אייתו קמייהו אפרסקא דהוה כאילפס כפר הינו ואילפס כפר הינו כמה הוי ה' סאין אכלו שליש והפקירו שליש ...
7
votes
Are there five or six reasons why Parshas Tzitzis was added to Shema?
This passage also appears in Yalkut Shimoni, and in that version there are indeed only five things. Number 4, "opinions of heretics" in your translation, does not appear. The supporting verse cited in ...
7
votes
Why does Rashi discuss ants instead of grasshoppers
The Gur Aryeh discusses this and (after dismissing the possibility of scribal error) explains (my translation)
ונראה שאין כאן טעות, ורש"י מפרש 'נמלים יש בכרם' לפי שהיו קטנים מאוד בעיניהם היו ...
6
votes
Source that the spies had prophecy
I have checked through all the mefarshim I could find and haven't seen any one of them comment that the meraglim saw prophetically that they wouldn't be the leaders in Eretz Yisroel. The closest I ...
6
votes
Accepted
Source that the spies had prophecy
Or perhaps, this is the simple reading of the Zohar.
I believe that this is the closest to the mark. We can quibble over whether it actually is the simplest and most straight-forward explanation of ...
5
votes
Why pray for Y'hoshua and not Kalev?
Rabbi Yochanan Zweig, my Rosh Yeshiva, explains this based on Targum Yonasan to Bamidbar 13:16: "When Moshe saw his humility, he changed his name." Why is humility a negative in this context? Moshe ...
5
votes
Spies punishment midda kneged midda?
The Be'er Basadeh (commenting on this Rashi) explains that the land of Israel is called the tibor/navel of the world because it is considered the center of the world, just as the navel is the center ...
5
votes
Accepted
Dageish in bin Nun
The masoretic treatise Kitāb al-Khilaf (ספר החילופים) by Misha'el ben `Uzziel records the differences (and similarities) between the famous masoretes Ben Asher and Ben Naftali. The book records that ...
5
votes
Accepted
How was the Mekoshesh given the death penalty if the punishment wasn't known yet?
Rashi and Rav Hirsch explain that Hashem had already commanded that he was subject to the death penalty, but they did not yet know the precise manner of the punishment.
Shlach Lecha 15:34
They put ...
5
votes
How do you understand this Rashi? (Bamidbor, 15:24)
Since when would the rabbis permit worship of idols in any manner?
Obviously they shouldn't but since they were human they were capable of making a mistake about whether something falls into the ...
4
votes
Accepted
Nephilim after the Flood
In Pirkei Derabbi Eliezer 23 it says that Og was the only survivor of the flood other than Noach and his family (and animals) as he hanged on to a ladder:
וימח את כל היקום אשר על פני האדמה חוץ מנח ...
4
votes
Source that the spies had prophecy
So I looked through a number of mefarshim (commentaries) and there doesn't appear to be any reference to any prophecy. As you say, many mention this Zohar, but I think it would be fair to say that the ...
3
votes
What lie did the spies say?
Bamidbar - Numbers - Chapter 13
https://www.chabad.org/library/bible_cdo/aid/9941/jewish/Chapter-13.htm
וַיֹּצִ֜יאוּ דִּבַּ֤ת הָאָ֨רֶץ֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר תָּר֣וּ אֹתָ֔הּ אֶל־בְּנֵ֥י יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל לֵאמֹ֑ר ...
3
votes
Accepted
Is Tzelafchad mentioned in Bamidbar 27:1 the same man in Bamidbar 15:32?
The pasuk in Bamidbar 27:3 tells us that כִּֽי־בְחֶטְא֣וֹ מֵ֔ת, Tzlofchad died because of his own sin. Rashi there, quoting the Gemarah in Shabbat 96b and 97a, says that
אלא בחטאו לבדו מת, ולא ...
3
votes
What's special about grasshoppers?
There's a Gemara about the Kohen who described the size of his sacrificial bread in terms of "a lizard's tail." That was considered uncouth, as lizards aren't kosher. So we may prefer to compare ...
3
votes
Does teshuva remove punishment?
The function of warning is to verify that the man would continue despite a good knowledge, there is one opinion in Tanayim in masechet Macot (Rabbi Yosi) which said that Talmid Chacham doesn't need ...
3
votes
Why did Caleiv mention the quail?
Rabbi Asher Wassertheil in his Bircas Asher quotes Rashi and seems to imply that it is a reference to the second set of quail and not the earlier occurrence. He writes expressly:
"כלומר השליו ...
3
votes
Why pray for Y'hoshua and not Kalev?
Maskil l'David explains that Moshe prayed for Yehoshua so people wouldn't assume he had sent Yehoshua to die so Moshe can lead them into Israel.
Rav Eliezer Ben-David explains that Yehoshua was going ...
3
votes
Levi tribe and the spies story investigation
I
Reuven and Gad did not request the land on the east of the yarden until after it had been conquered. See Matos 32:2 which has them asking Moshe and Elazar Hacohen (after the death of Aharon in the ...
3
votes
Did G-d command or not on sending the spies?
Rashi in Shlach 13:2 explains that Bnai Yisrael had approached Moshe because they were supposed to conquer as a normal way of war. Thus, they asked to send men to determine which parts were most ...
3
votes
Shelach: sending the spies to feel the Torah in the environment of Eretz Yisrael
The Kedushas Levi explains a similar approach i.e. that it was not a physical expedition (i.e. to check out the beauty and geography of the land etc.) but rather to verify the spiritual make-up of the ...
2
votes
Why are the Meraglim in that order?
R. Abraham Saba in his commentary on Torah (Shelach 13:4) says that they were listed in order of esteem they had toward the land.
2
votes
Accepted
Why did HaShem "need" the punishment to be a day for a year by the Meraglim?
I would argue that the premise of your question is slightly flawed. Rashi doesn't say that God was forced to do anything. What he says is that God knew that he would decree a punishment of a year per ...
2
votes
Why didn't the spies bring back a sample of all of the 7 species of fruits?
See Siftei Chachamim letter ר on verse 23. Essentially, the spies did this intentionally so that they could speak badly about the land, namely, that this was the only fruit that the land produces.
(...
2
votes
What lie did the spies say?
The fact that the meraglim lied is stated in the passuk (Bamidbar 13:32) וַיּוֹצִ֜יאוּ דִּבַּ֤ת הָאָ֙רֶץ֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר תָּר֣וּ אֹתָ֔הּ אֶל־בְּנֵ֥י יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל
Thus they spread calumnies among the ...
2
votes
Contradiction in the idea of sending spies
Rav Hirsch says that the initial request was (as I say in Did G-d command or not on sending the spies?) presented in order to follow the idea that the Bnai Yisrael would have to start living a normal ...
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