15
votes
Did Rambam have Rashi's works?
Did Rashi's works even reach the lands in which the Rambam lived?
To summarize Prof. Shamma Friedman's piece, scholars in the early 20th century assumed from Rambam's silence, that he did not have ...
- 35.1k
15
votes
Can Rashi mean eagles actually fly with their young on their wings?
From: http://www.rationalistjudaism.com/2016/02/on-eagles-wings.html
One ornithologist writes:
"Many ornithologists have thought that the Bible picture of an eagle carrying her young was ...
- 17.4k
15
votes
Accepted
Did Rashi have nevuah?
Unfortunately, indeed we do not have prophets today, and Chazal say that the last prophets were Hagai, Zecharia and Malachi.
Rashi's momentous perush on most of the Bible and most of the gemara speak ...
- 3,794
13
votes
Did Rashi learn Kabbalah?
In his commentary on the Gemara, Rashi refers to Sefer Yetzirah several times. One example, on Menachos 29b:
אחת בה"י ואחת ביו"ד - חלק את שמו והטיף מכל אות ג' טיפין ומאותן טיפין נעשו מים ואש ואויר ...
- 7,617
12
votes
I'd love to but Hashem doesn't let
The Rambam in Shemoneh Perakim, ch. 6, discusses the preferable attitude towards avoiding aveiros, and references this midrash.
After citing sentiments of the Nevi'im, such as (Mishlei 21:10) "נֶפֶשׁ ...
- 57.8k
12
votes
Accepted
Who wrote/compiled Rashi on the Rif
The consensus of the majority of traditional and modern authorities is that the "Rashi on the Rif" is not written by Rashi, but rather by a different scholar around the 13th and 14th centuries.
The ...
- 1,571
12
votes
Accepted
What is the א"ת ב"ש ג"ר calendar mnemonic?
The Shulchan Aruch 428:3 explains the mnemonic:
סימן לקביעת המועדים א"ת ב"ש ג"ר ד"ק ה"ץ ו"ף פירוש ביום א' של פסח יהיה לעולם ת"ב וסימן על מצות ומרורים יאכלוהו ביום ...
- 18.9k
11
votes
Accepted
Why did Esav nickname his wife Yehudis?
The Gemarah (Megillah 13a) states that the term Yehudi refers to one who rejects idolatry:
רבי יוחנן אמר לעולם מבנימן קאתי ואמאי קרי ליה יהודי על שום שכפר בע"ז שכל הכופר בע"ז נקרא יהודי כדכתיב (...
- 6,394
10
votes
Accepted
Did Jacob actually send angels to Esau?
Very interesting question! However, Rashi is relying on the Midrash in Bereshit Raba (75:4):
מלאכים - אלו שלוחי בשר ודם. ורבנן אמרי מלאכים ממש.
Rashi, citing Rabanan, comments that the meaning is ...
- 975
10
votes
Authorship of Rashi's Bible commentary
Chida in Shem Hagedolim (page 7 of the file) quotes Seder Hadoros, who says that the commentary on Iyov isn't from Rashi. On that same page he also quotes someone who claims that none of the ...
- 1,657
10
votes
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Did anyone other than Rashi think the Ark could "bear itself" (Joshua 4:18)?
Rashi's source is a Gemara in Sotah (35a):
נמצא ארון ונושאיו וכהנים מצד אחד וישראל מצד אחד נשא ארון את נושאיו ועבר שנאמר (יהושע ד, יא) ויהי כאשר תם כל העם לעבור ויעבור ארון ה' והכהנים לפני העם
...
- 40.1k
10
votes
Accepted
What's the link between prostitution and one who "one who sells Mezonot"
This is not a euphemism for prostitution. Your link is to a text which abridges Rashi's commentary. The full text of Rashi is available (in Hebrew) here, and (in English) here.
אשה זונה • ת ״י ...
- 20.2k
10
votes
Accepted
Hundred like seventy and seventy like five
The question here seems to be based on a problem with the translation.
The text of the Rashi in question is:
בן ק' כבן ע' ובן ע' כבן ה' בלא חטא
There is nothing there about "strength".
Rashi ...
- 48.4k
10
votes
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"Amar Rabbi Yitzchak" - Who is Rabbi Yitzchak?
Lots of acharonim theorized about this, but it turns out that this is essentially a Midrash Tanchuma (Buber edition Parshat Bereishit #11):
אמר ר' יצחק לא היה צריך לכתוב את התורה אלא מהחדש הזה לכם ...
- 48.4k
10
votes
Why cannot a convert make certain statements? I feel they are being pushed away at the same time respect is being given to them
You're absolutely right to compare this statement to saying "our fathers" in tefillah. The mishnah in Bikkurim 1:4 makes the same comparison and rules that a convert can't say either one.
We don't ...
- 9,019
9
votes
Accepted
9
votes
Accepted
The Ear That Heard "Don't Steal"
Apparently although the Mechilta understood the prohibition to be kidnapping it still recognizes the literal meaning of theft. This is implied by this mechilta and also somewhat implied by this ...
- 35.1k
9
votes
Accepted
How can we say something is a machlokes Rashi vs Tosfos, if Rashi can't respond or defend himself?
The general assumption made while learning rishonim (and even more applicable to ammoraim and tannaim) is that they meant what they said, they are consistent with their own shitos/halachic positions ...
- 2,891
8
votes
Accepted
Hur in Ki Tisa - You only live twice?
In fact, there is no contradiction between Midrash Tanchuma and Vayikra Rabba. Both maintain that Chur died on the first day, rather than the second.
Tanchuma siman 19 reads:
וירא העם כי בושש משה
...
- 20.2k
8
votes
Why do fish die?
I couldn't find any commentators on the Midrash addressing this issue. So, instead, I will offer a deflection of the assumptions as my answer.
I will argue: Fish, along with plants and bugs, were ...
- 32.8k
8
votes
Why did the angel overturning Sodom visit Abraham?
The final decree on S'dom was not made until they visited Avraham and Sarah. Their behavior sealed the doom of S'dom. Had Avraham not received them as he did, there would have been an argument not to ...
- 42.6k
8
votes
Accepted
How is it that Abraham didn't ask that four save a city, yet four did so?
Rav Ozer Alport in his Parsha Potpourri Points to Ponder addresses this issue:
Question: How was Lot able to intercede in order to save one of the cities (Tzo'ar) from destruction (19:18-22) when ...
- 40.2k
8
votes
Why do Tosafot sometimes say the same thing Rashi said?
This is one of the considerations that led R. Tzvi Hirsch Chajes to question the attribution of Rashi on Maseches Taanis. He writes in the beginning of the Masechta:
וברוב פעמים פירושים של בעלי ...
- 48.4k
8
votes
Rashi quoting Yerushalmi on Kodshim
Artscroll [Teumrah 6b footnote 12 the last paragraph] quotes a Doros HaRishonim who conjectures, that ..
"in the case of Temurah, there existed two types of manuscripts, those
that originated ...
- 6,058
8
votes
What is the difference when Rashi says בגמרא מפרש and מפרש בגמרא?
I heard in the name of the late Mirrer Rosh Yeshiva, Rav Nosson Tzvi Finkel zt"l, the following about the difference:
The expression מפרש בגמרא is used to refer to an explanation for a local ...
- 796
7
votes
Why does Rashi say תנין is a snake, not a croc?
Lubavitcher Rabbi Zatzal explains that Rashi says that תנין is a snake since further in Posuk 7:15 it says וְהַמַּטֶּה אֲשֶׁר נֶהְפַּךְ לְנָחָשׁ תִּקַּח בְּיָדֶךָ, obviously it turned into a snake. He ...
- 138k
7
votes
Why did the angel overturning Sodom visit Abraham?
This is an answer that I heard from one of my Rabbeim. It is from the Sefer Chidushei HaRim, on Bereishis 18:9. While he gives the basic pshat mentioned below, he does not quote every source that I ...
- 33.7k
7
votes
How did Rashi come to the conclusion that the heavens were created from fire and water?
Chagigah 12a:
מַאי שָׁמַיִם אָמַר רַבִּי יוֹסֵי בַּר חֲנִינָא שֶׁשָּׁם מַיִם בְּמַתְנִיתָא תָּנָא אֵשׁ וּמַיִם מְלַמֵּד שֶׁהֱבִיאָן הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא וּטְרָפָן זֶה בָּזֶה וְעָשָׂה מֵהֶן ...
- 39.7k
7
votes
Where is this Rashi quote from?
Maybe you're referring to one of the many times Chazal employ the concept of כח דהתירא עדיף, it's more substantial to permit something (than to forbid something). Rashi usually explains it in the ...
- 18.9k
7
votes
Accepted
Who wrote Rashi on Chronicles I & II, Nehemiah, Ruth, Song of Songs, and Ecclesiastes?
Chronicles:
Eran Wiesel, within his discussion of the identity of the author of the commentary on Chronicles (הפירוש המיוחס לרש"י לספר דברי הימים, pp. 303-309), notes that though many Jewish ...
- 23.2k
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