24
I recommend that you take a look at the commentary of R' Samson Raphael Hirsch on Leviticus 12, and in particular 12:5. I'll try to summarize the pertinent points here, but I won't do his beautiful thoughts and words justice.
The "uncleanliess" you're referring to is "tum-a." According to R' Hirsch, tum-a is a mental condition that would prevent a person ...
21
There are definitely some specially celebratory ones other than age 13, such as when one surpasses the deadline for kares, as Rav Yosef did when he turned 60 and threw himself a party (Mo'ed Katan 28). The Kaf Hachayim, cited in this article by Rav Ari Enkin, also quotes sources for age 70 being an appropriate birthday to recite birkas shehechiyanu (...
21
Yes (Yevamos 78a, Bechoros 46a), the child is completely Jewish. However, slightly different Halachos may be applied in some cases. (For example, whether the child can marry a Kohen.)
There is also a dispute over whether the fetus is considered a part of its mother or not, and therefore, whether the child was born Jewish, or is considered to have converted ...
21
This is from the Babylonian Talmud. Shabbat 135b says that we don't break Shabbas to save the life of a baby born in its eighth month of gestation. The idea was that there are 7-month babies and 9-month babies, and an 8-month baby was either an early 9-monther or a late 7-monther and if it were an early 9-monther, it probably wasn't going to make it.
...
18
Short answer -- it's allowed.
You'll find a discussion elsewhere on this site about if someone impregnated a woman, do we recommend that he marry her. Which implies that the rabbi can certainly do such a wedding.
The discussion becomes a little more complicated if the pregnant fiancee was not Jewish at the time, and the rabbi now wants to convert her and ...
17
The Rashbam to Bereishis 43:33 writes that not only were the 6 sons of Leah born in 7 years, but also all of the other sons of Yaakov (with the obvious exception of Binyamin, who is explicitly mentioned as having been born later).
There are two basic possibilities of how this would happen. One option is that the literal chronology of the verses (which ...
15
First, you should remember how bad infant mortality was in those days. So what it says about how some infants were considered not viable (and thus could not be touched on Shabbos), no longer applies today when infant mortality is much lower. You should talk about the change in infant mortality with your students.
The way you phrased your question implies ...
13
The last Lubavicher Rebbe, the Chazon Ish, and Rabbi Shmuel Auerbach (to name just a few prominent Rabbis who were never blessed woth children) did not divorce their wives, as we have not forced divorces after ten years, at least for half a millennium. I am not sure what the reasoning was for the change – if there ever was a change. It may be that rule has ...
13
Summary - Abortion is generally prohibited, but is permitted in certain cases. All opinions agree that one is permitted - perhaps even obligated - to abort if the mother's life is in direct danger due to the pregnancy - perhaps even up to actual birthing. If the mother is not in direct danger, but will have negatively impacted health, most opinions hold ...
12
In the back of the Chumash Shai LeMorah, a list and hierarchy of the the people who are obligated to receive an Aliyah to the Torah. He adds parenthetically as follows:
It is written in the Sefer Avodat Hakodesh of the Chida Z"l that there is a custom in Eretz Yisroel that someone whose wife enters her 9th month of pregnancy should be careful to do the ...
12
The Ramban addresses this in his commentary to B'reishis 17:17. He explains that miracle of Yitzchok's birth was not the age of Avraham or Sarah (as Avraham later had children from Keturah (Hagar) when he was 140). At that time, as long as people remained fertile they could still conceive children past age hundred. Rather, the miracle was in the fact that ...
12
In מריח ניחוח (Issue 10, Nitzavim - Vayeilech), R' Gamliel HaKohen Rabinowitz writes (as quoted in Daf al HaDaf to Nida 30b):
הסתפקתי פעם, אם גם לנקבה מלמדין התורה, או רק לזכר, ופשטתי זאת מדברי ה"נועם אלימלך" זי"ע, הנ"ל, שאם לא היו מלמדין התורה קודם שבאו לעולם, לא היה באפשרי להשיג התורה, והנה נשים צריכים לדעת היטב הלכות נדה חלה ועוד, וא"כ מה שהם צריכים ...
11
Someone asked this question online to Rabbi Yitzhak ben Yosef (posek and rabbi of Ramat Gan) here, and he responded as follows:
בהחלט שאלה נדירה ביותר.
לכאורה כל תינוק הוא פטר רחם וצריכים שני הילדים פדיון צריך לבדוק האם הם פטר רחם דהיינו שלכול רחם יש פתח נפרד.
This is an extremely rare case. Seemingly, each infant is the"opener of the womb" and ...
11
Dinonline answers,
Although a Ger is considered to be “born anew” when becoming Jewish,
this is a halachic concept that relates to family relationship and the
like, and it is not a “biological fact.”
The Ger’s birthday thus remains the date that he was physically born
on.
Note that there is no actual halachic significance to a person’s
...
10
One issue with taking such a test is tzovaya, as usually the test involves chemicals in the stick changing colors by reacting to the urine. R' Ribiat, in 39 Melachos, with regard to clinical test sticks used by diabetics to determine urine-sugar level, cites Sh'miras Shabbos K'Hilchasa (33:20), who is unsure about this (see footnotes 81-83 there), and ...
10
According to Shemos Rabba 1:13, Yocheved was three months pregnant with Moshe when Amram divorced her.
רבי חנינא בר רב יצחק אמר: שפרה, שהעמידה ישראל לאלהים, שבשבילם נבראו השמים, שכתוב בהם (איוב כו, יג) ברוחו שמים.
שפרה, פועה, שהופיעה פנים כנגד אביה, שהיה עמרם ראש סנהדרין באותה שעה, כיון שגזר פרעה, ואמר (שמות שם, כב) כל הבן הילוד.
אמר עמרם: ולריק ...
10
The Torah specifically states the prohibition against prostitution, in order to prevent the land to be filled with licentiousness: ולא תזנה הארץ ומלאה הארץ זמה. Rambam seems to be deducing the underlying reason for that concern of the Torah, in his statement:
For [ultimately], a father will marry his daughter and a brother his
sister, [for in a ...
10
Shulchan Aruch OC 339:4 rules that one should not perform Kiddushin (betrothal) or Nissuin (marriage) on Shabbat or Yom Tov. However he notes that if one did so, even on purpose, it works and the couple is fully married.
10
The Tosefta (Taanit 2:12) cited in part in the Bavli (Pesachim 54b) says that pregnant and nursing women must fast on Tisha Bav (in contrast to other minor fast days). No distinction is made for a postponed fast. Such a ruling is uniformly accepted and documented in all the classical codes, including the Mishneh Torah (Taaniyot 5:10) and the Shulchan Arukh (...
9
One way to look at Tuma is that it is a lack of holiness. When a women gives birth she has less life inside her, and thus less holiness.
When she gives birth to a girl she lost more holiness than with a boy because the girl inside her also has the capacity to grow life.
http://www.613design.com/tti/articles/tahara-tuma.pdf
9
There is a Baal Shem Tov story (one version of it is here) where a couple who couldn't have children, had a child due to the Baal Shem Tov's blessing. When the child died on his second birthday, the Baal Shem Tov consoled the bereaved couple by explaining that their child was the reincarnated soul of a great convert who had to come back down in this world in ...
9
The Gemara says that if a pregnant woman is desperately craving food, she can eat it even on Yom Kippur if needed. The Rishonim there discuss that this is firstly out of concern for her own safety; furthermore, if not having this food may harm the fetus, it's a lot riskier to the mother to deliver a stillborn than it is a live baby. But beyond that, the ...
9
Rav Ahron Lopiansky seemed to dispel this myth as being an old bubby's tale in a lecture. His words were some thing along the lines of "Yiddishe bubbies say that this is the makeh, (slap)", while gesturing to his philtrum, with a smile on his face. I subsequently had a phone conversation in which I asked him directly for his stance. He said that he hasn't ...
9
This blog post mentions that it appears in some collections of Jewish legends and the like, but not in any traditional Jewish sources.
R. Chaim Kanievsy (in this Kuntres on Chinuch) was asked whether or not woman are taught Torah in the womb, and pointing out that women also have a philtrum, and it seems like he uses this as a proof that the philtrum is not ...
9
The Ramban (B'reishis 30:9) comments that this was a means for Leah to ensure that the majority of Ya'akov's destined twelve sons would emanate from her or from her maidservant who was under her domain:
ותרא לאה כי עמדה מלדת - לא ידעתי מה המעשה הזה ללאה, ולמה נתנה שפחתה לבעלה, והיא לא היתה עקרה שתבנה ממנה, ואין דרך הנשים להרבות נשים לבעליהן. אבל נצטרך ...
9
Although Judaism prohibits abortion, including for non-Jews it doesn't necessarily prohibit all abortion. Certainly in the context of saving the life of the mother, abortion isn't only permitted, it is required.
That being the case, a question of a secular law which permits, but doesn't require or even sanction, prohibited behavior is much more of a ...
9
No, a Jewish man cannot be a sperm donor.
Based on tshuvos from Reb Moshe (Igrot Moshe, Even Ha'Ezer 1:71 & 4:32.5) we can say
Niuff byad is an issur which only married couples who undergo IVF can get around, but single guys in a clinic can't.
The assumption is that the sperm will go to a nonjew, so there is no kiyum of pru urvu to dissipate the ...
8
Excellent question.
Leviticus Ch. 12 says that it's 7 days if the baby is a boy, and 14 if a girl; (but she has to then immerse in mikvah, a ritual bath). (Then there's a lengthier stretch of time that she can't enter the Temple, but is permitted to her husband.)
However:
Skip ahead to Leviticus Chapter 15. If a woman has a normal period (15:19) then she ...
8
The Shailos Rav (by Rav Chaim Kanievsky), in 12:2, says one should not do it based off the Koheles Rabbah 11:5 and also can be seen in Medrash Rabbah Toldos 65:12 that says seven things are hidden from man and one of them is knowing the gender of a child in the womb .
8
Sichos in English has a list of birthday customs suggested by the last Lubavitcher Rebbe.
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