22
This practice seems to be (at least) as old as the Gemara, as the Gemara states in Brachos 27b:
'R. Yirmiah b. Abba is different, because he was a
disciple-colleague. [This can be proven by the fact that] R. Jeremiah
b. Abba said to Rav: Have you made havdalah? He replied: Yes, I
have; and he did not say to him, has the master made havdalah'
In ...
21
Shalom u'Vracha,
Thanks for your interest in Sefer Iyunei Deah/Procedure for semicah by R. Z.N. Goldberg, shlita.
Below is a standard response I prepared based on many people's questions. Not everything below may pertain to you, but hopefully your questions will be among those addressed. Please feel free to contact me if you are interested in further ...
21
Yes, the painting is based on a popular picture of the Chofetz Chaim, which can be seen in The Schwadron Collection of the National Library of Israel (Jerusalem). The archive lists the picture as following:
A photo portrait of Rabbi Israel Meir Cohen ("Chafetz Chaim"): printed
silver, black and white, 7X12 cm. Portfolio also includes a copy of
this ...
19
Dr. Jeremy Brown, in a post on his Talmudology blog on science in the Daf Yomi, points out that Rava, quoted in Yevamot 97a, provides the first published claim that boys' puberty can be delayed by their being either overweight or underweight.
כי אתו לקמיה דרבא אי כחוש אמר להו זילו אבריוהו ואי בריא אמר להו זילו אכחשוהו דהני סימנין זמנין דנתרי מחמת כחישותא ...
18
The issue we have to ask is why is a psak (legal ruling) ever binding in the first place? Why can't you just ask the next person?
There are two main possibilities (see Shach YD 242:31):
שויה אנפשיה חתיכה דאיסורא The asker accepted upon themselves when they asked the first authority to follow their answer. Let's assume for now this principle works similar ...
18
Semikhah is the name of the process through which a rabbi is ordained in Rabbinic Judaism.
17
Rabbi Y.L. Rapaport suggested that R' Yehoshua Ben Chananiah's statement
(כוכב אחד לשבעים שנה עולה ומתעה את (הספינות
(בבלי מסכת הוריות דף י עמוד א)
This is thought to refer to the periodicity of Halley's comet, about 1500 years before Halley discovered this.
In regards to comments suggesting that this claim is unfounded, I note that several reputable ...
17
R. Yehuda Aiash (Shut Beit Yehuda YD 28) rules that in general any honour which one must accord a male (such as standing up for an older man), one must accord an equivalent female as well:
פשוט דכל מיני כבוד שחייבין לעשות לאיש הה"נ לאשה
Similarly, R. Yitshak Attiya writes (Zera Yitshak: Pilpelet Kol Shehu p. 88, cited in Yalkut Yosef 627 p. 173) cites ...
17
I think the Ba'al Shem Tov had to have existed in some way (even if it's not the way we've been taught), as I doubt an entire branch of Orthodox Judaism would base itself off the teachings of a ficticious figure. Let me ask you this - if the Besht didn't exist, who made him up?
From a historical standpoint, saying he didn't exist is futile. We have books ...
16
As mentioned by @WAF, R' David Zvi Hoffman wrote a response to bible criticism in the early 1900's which is available on Daat.co.il.
Umberto Cassuto, while not strictly orthodox, published a book in reply to the DH in 1941. There are some notes on it here, and a new edition is available online here: http://www.shalempress.co.il/download/Products/...
16
There are, perhaps, several factors to consider:
In Chabad thought, the rebbe is more than just a leader, Torah teacher, spiritual guide, etc. All of these roles, and many more, are outgrowths and expressions of his being the נשמה כללית, the "all-encompassing soul" of the Jewish people (see Tanya, ch. 2).
Now, of course, barring an explicit ...
15
Click here to see this video that has been making the rounds on Jewish sites recently has a short scene of the Chafetz Chaim.
Here are some screen caps:
15
The question as currently phrased is asked by, among others, R. Yosef Albo in Sefer HaIkarim 3:23 (which is why I'm unsure as to why it still has a negative score). Since I don't have a better way of doing this, I'm going to just paste here what I wrote to this similar question, with a couple of variations.
1. Idiomatic Expressions
Some differences between ...
14
The ש"ך wrote a commentary on the שולחן ערוך. The ט"ז argued with many of his rulings. The ש"ך responded in the נקודת הכסף. The ט"ז responded again in the "דף אחרון". And the ש"ך responded to that in "קונטרס אחרון". (source)
In the הקדמה to the נקודת הכסף in יורה דעה, the author, the ש"ך, writes (see there):
אל יעלה על לב הקורא בספרי זה שמפני שהיה לי ח"ו ...
14
The term "rabbi" means that the person received semikha (not to be confused with the modern form of semikha which is different). There was no semikha in Bavel, so none of the amoraim who lived there were "rabbi" unless they came to Eretz Yisrael.
An easy way to remember this is by looking at the last letter of the word. "Rav" ends with ב which is also the ...
13
If we're counting mathematical comments by rishonim (Medieval Scholars), then in addition to @DoubleAA's reference to Ralbag (Gersonidies) who has the earliest known use of mathematical induction, other Jews have made some strides here as well.
R. Avraham bar Chiyya has an interesting proof that the area of a circle is equal to half its radius times ...
13
Shemaya and Avtalyon, two great rabbis from the 1st century BCE, are identified in the Talmud (Gittin 57b) as converts. So it seems that converts can become rabbis, and even important ones. I know of no sources that imply the law on this matter was different before that point.
See also this question: Can a convert be a prophet?
13
The Tzla'ch in Berachot 26b says the גמרא can't ask on Rebbe Yehoshua ben Levi from a ברייתא because he lived at the end of the Tannayic era and, therefore can argue on a ברייתא
13
Beit Shamai and Beit Hillel: The last mishnah in the 1st chapter of Yebamoth brings an argument between Beit Hillel and Beit Shamai. A consequence of this argument was Beit Hillel ruling certain children resulting from the ruling of Beit Shamai mamzerim, (individuals who could not marry regular jews), and Beit Shamai ruling certain children of Beit Hillel's ...
13
Yes, but it's not recommended-
The "orchestrator" of the wedding makes sure nothing goes wrong.
The sages say that anyone who does not know the marriage laws well should not get involved with them (kiddushin 6a), as many mistakes can result.
פרש"י : בטיב גיטין. בהלכותיהן : לא יהא לו עסק עמהם. להיות דיין בדבר שמא יתיר איסור ערוה וזהו עיוות ...
13
If you find that your questions are not being received as they were intended and they were asked with the proper deference (כבוד רבך ככבוד שמים), perhaps you need to ask your question of authorities who are willing to address it, or are comfortable saying they don't know the answer - but may research it. Or, you can ask your question here where you have a ...
13
Assuming we use the conventional Jewish chronology, that puts us right during the Babylonian exile. 2414 years ago = 400 BCE; conventional chronology has the first Temple destroyed 20 years earlier and rebuilt 50 years later. (The secular sources have a missing century or so, which would put this instead in early Second Temple years, but that's for another ...
13
Among those Rabbis that I know, if/when they are approached by someone who wasn't raised as a Jew but has a Jewish maternal grandparent, they welcome them with open arms as Jews, albeit Jews who have been estranged from their own religion. I have known this to have occurred on multiple occasions (although I was never personally involved in any).
It may be ...
13
147zcbm made what even 147zcbm thought was a wild inference from how things are ordered in the Aruch Hashulchan. You'll never believe what happened next.
The Aruch Hashulchan was written by R' Yechiel Michel Halevi Epstein. His son, R' Baruch Halevi Epstein, author of the Torah Temima, also wrote an autobiographical work called Mekor Baruch. His research, ...
13
The Mishnah in Sanhedrin says "... an apikores has no share in the world to come." Commenting on this records the Gemara (San. 99b):
רב ור' חנינא אמרי תרוייהו זה המבזה ת"ח
Trans.: Both Rav and R. Chanina interpret this ["apikores" to mean] one who disrespects a talmid chacham
Another Gemara in Shab. (119b) states:
א"ר יהודה לא חרבה ירושלים אלא בשביל ...
13
Beer Heitev to Orach Chayim 89:3 (ד״ה מותר) quotes the Pri Chadash saying:
Coffee can be drunk (before prayer), particularly in Egypt where their thinking doesn't work properly without coffee.
וכ"כ הפר"ח דקאו"י יכול לשתות ובפרט במצרים שאין הדעת מתיישב בלא קאו"י אבל קאו"י עם צו"קר או כל מיני תרגומא כדי שלא לשתות הקאו"י ...
12
The original article is available online:
http://docslide.us/documents/ny-times-1975-article-about-r-moshe-feinstein.html
12
The Rambam mentions him in the הקדמה to משניות in his list of people mentioned in the משנה as "someone mentioned but not for his views in אסור והיתר".
R' Sherira Gaon lists him as the same generation as Rav and Shmuel, but does not list him as one of the people how is both a Tanna and an Amora. it would seem that R' Sherira hold that he is not a Tanna.
12
I feel a bit of sadness in writing this, because I think it's something that should be - but isn't at all - obvious.
You can certainly seek out rabbis who can give general answers about Halachah without knowing you, perhaps without ever meeting you, but you shouldn't. You should, instead, seek out a rabbi with whom you can be comfortable asking these ...
12
According to Rabbi Noson Auerbach, Napoleon's Sanhedrin had no halakhic importance whatsoever. The greatest scholar to be part of the Sanhedrin was R' David Zinsheim, whose works on Shas are edited by R' Noson Auerbach (a descendant of R' Avraham Auerbach, R' Zinsheim's in-law), and in the introduction to one of those works, "Michas Ani" (pg 21-24) he writes ...
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