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 ...
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
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 ...
18
Semikhah is the name of the process through which a rabbi is ordained in Rabbinic Judaism.
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 ...
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
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
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 ...
11
I recently wrote an article for Torah Musings that focuses on a part of the answer that hasn't been focused on yet. "What does Mesorah Mean?" http://www.torahmusings.com/2015/08/what-does-masorah-mean . To quote just enough to capture the thesis, although it omits much of the argument and R JB Soloveitchik's poetry:
...
We speak of someone “having a masorah”...
11
I am a personal Talmid Of Rav Goldberg Shlit"a. I have been attending his Shiurim for over 8 years and had the pleasure of driving him over a 4 year period. He has also attended all of my family simchas (e.g. bris, wedding). We are very close. I have semicha from him as well, yet never advertised it.
Readers should be aware that his semicha means ...
11
The Ramban, in his commentary on Bereishit, writes that there were only two actual "creations" and the rest were more of "formations". He says that the two things that were actually "created" were light (and the resulting difference between that and darkness) and a "small point that had no substance" (נקודה קטנה שאין בה ממש). This seems to be a reference to ...
11
Apparently Rambam said:
בבוקר אכול כמלך, בצהריים כבן מלך ובערב כאביון
eat breakfast like a king, lunch like the son of a king and dinner
like a pauper.
among his other advice for health which seems to have stood the test of time.
I read about this study last year which seems to confirm the wisdom of the above advice:
High caloric intake at ...
11
This did not start with the post Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Israel. Nor did it start with Ovadia Yosef. Rabbis throughout the orient wore this type of garb regularly, as their dress reflected the culture they were in. So for example, you have Rabbi Aharon Ben Simeon, former Chief Rabbi of Egypt (until 1921 i believe)
The mantle of the Chief Sephardic Rabbi of ...
11
The story is brought down in Chagiga 15b:
When Acher died, they said, "We cannot judge him to punishment [in Gehinnom], but we cannot enter him into the World to Come. We cannot judge him to punishment, because he toiled in Torah; we cannot enter him into the World to Come, because he sinned." Rabbi Meir said, "It is better that they sentence him [so as ...
10
I live in the U.S. and have Semicha from R' Zalman Nechemia, so I feel qualified to share my experiences. I will preface that Rabbi Yirmiyahu Ullman was a tremendous help in providing information and assistance in terms of preparation and getting in to a meeting with the Rav. His Sefer on Basar v'Chalav and Hilchos Niddah, Iyunei De'ah, is built around R' ...
10
R. Hayyim Joseph David Azulai twice refers to the American Revolution in his diary. Both times he is talking about the negative effect the war was having on the finances of Jews in Amsterdam who had money invested in the London markets. He does not discuss whether the goals of the war itself were good or bad.
In the entry for March 9th, 1778 he wrote:
And ...
Only top voted, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible