17
votes
Accepted
How does one receive forgiveness from someone they have wronged after their death?
Shulchan Aruch here
אם מת אשר חטא לו מביא עשרה בני אדם ומעמידם על קברו ואומר חטאתי לאלהי
ישראל ולפלוני זה שחטאתי לו (ונהגו לבקש מחילה בערב יו"כ
If the person against whom he sinned has died,...
- 6,123
15
votes
Accepted
Do the Jews still send a scapegoat once a year to the wilderness?
Sefer HaChinukh 185:
The commandment of the service of Yom Kippur: That the high priest do all the procedure of Yom Kippur, with the order of the sacrifices, the confessions, the sending away of the ...
- 41.7k
11
votes
Accepted
Why is alcohol not prohibited?
Rabbenu Avraham ben HaRambam writes:
If God would forbid everyone to drink wine and alcohol as he forbade non-kosher animals and fowl, not all would be able to comply...such a prohibition would ...
- 35.4k
11
votes
Why didn't Adam ask for forgiveness?
Bereishis Rabbah 22:13 seems to indicate that Adam didn’t know that he had that option:
פָּגַע בּוֹ אָדָם הָרִאשׁוֹן אָמַר לוֹ מַה נַּעֲשָׂה בְּדִינְךָ, אָמַר לוֹ עָשִׂיתִי תְּשׁוּבָה ...
- 34.1k
11
votes
Accepted
Source for: Abstaining from sin being considered a mitzvah in Talmud Bavli
Kiddushin 39b:
רמי רב טובי בר רב קיסנא לרבא תנן כל העושה מצוה אחת מטיבין לו עשה אין לא עשה לא ורמינהי ישב ולא עבר עבירה נותנים לו שכר כעושה מצוה אמר ליה התם כגון שבא דבר עבירה לידו וניצול הימנה
...
- 6,467
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 ...
- 4,245
9
votes
Is wasting seed a sin for a gentile?
The Tzitz Eliezer brings opposing sources in his responsa discussing whether Bnei Noach are 'neherag' for wasting seed. Either way it seems undesirable from the remaining sources that he brings i.e. ...
- 10.1k
9
votes
Where are there discussions about Torah commands that nobody is known to have broken?
There are 3 mitzvot in the Talmud-Gemara Sanhedrin 71a, 1 in Makkos 7a and 1 in Mishna Zavim 2,2 in which the required procedure of punishment have never been enacted by the sanhedrin, due to lack of ...
- 11.4k
8
votes
Accepted
How is the Jewish understanding of the sinful soul of mankind different from the concept of "original sin"?
You cannot really appreciate Jewish theology in a meaningful way from answers on the Internet. This requires years of study, and knowledge of context.
For example, the first quote, which was the ...
- 20.4k
8
votes
Accepted
Tehilim 51, "in sin did his mother conceive him", What does that mean?
Rav Sa'adya Gaon explains in his commentary to Psalms (51:7) that David was not making a statement about the state of Man. Rather, he was speaking personally; that he was so ashamed, that he felt as ...
- 35.4k
8
votes
Difference between sins of Saul and sins of David?
David's sin was a personal matter, Saul's was national.
King Saul was personally commanded to eradicate Amalek. This was a national interest which was under his authority as king. When he sinned and ...
- 23k
8
votes
Accepted
Is there a Jewish theology equivalent to Calvinism?
That philosophy violates some core tenets of Judaism:
The concepts of teshuva and atonement are very important in Judaism, and say that we can repair a damaged relationship with God. The "you're ...
- 56.4k
8
votes
Why aren't there any Gay people in the Bible?
In this week’s Torah portion parshat Vayeira Genesis 19,5 it says about the wicked people of Sedom who got destroyed because of their sins:
וַיִּקְרְא֤וּ אֶל־לוֹט֙ וַיֹּ֣אמְרוּ ל֔וֹ אַיֵּ֧ה ...
- 11.4k
8
votes
Sinning and G-d's will, what's wrong with this logic?
Very short answer: Hashem wants creative beings in His own "Image" more than He wants any particular event.*
So far that's just a paraphrase of Loewian's answer.
We can go one step closer to the ...
- 9,388
7
votes
Why did Chava give Adam the fruit to eat?
In a comment to the OP's question Fred cites the well-known Rashi (see above). The Bartenura on the Torah expands on this Rashi (text borrowed from Sefaria.org, produced here in full):
ותתן גם ...
- 1,348
7
votes
Are thoughts of sin punished halachically?
The Gemara in Masechet Yoma (29A) says:
הרהורי עבירה קשין מעבירה וסימניך ריחא דבישרא
(Thoughts of sin are harder than sin itself, as smell of meat is more attractive than taste of meat)
...
- 22.7k
7
votes
Waiting to do teshuvah until 20
The implication of the last mishna in Yoma is that the answer is no:
האומר, אחטא ואשוב, אחטא ואשוב, אין מספיקין בידו לעשות תשובה.
One who says, "I will sin, and then repent, I will sin, and then ...
- 17.7k
7
votes
Accepted
What is the punishment before Vayehi Bineso'ah Ha'aron?
Ramban to Numbers 10:35 :
וקרא החטא "פורענות" אע"פ שלא אירע להם ממנו פורענות ושמא אלמלא חטאם זה היה מכניסם לארץ מיד
Chazal call the sin "punishment" even though no punishment occured, maybe ...
- 19.6k
7
votes
what is the source that a parent carries the sins of their children when the children are minors?
One of the places that this is mentioned in, is in Bereshit Raba 63:10
אָמַר רַבִּי אֶלְעָזָר צָרִיךְ אָדָם לְהִטָּפֵל בִּבְנוֹ עַד י"ג
שָׁנָה, מִיכָּן וָאֵילָךְ צָרִיךְ שֶׁיֹּאמַר בָּרוּךְ ...
- 3,849
7
votes
When can I attend service (Shabbat) after seminal emission?
The problem, as I understand it, is that your struggle is causing you to be distanced from normal, healthy mitzva behavior. Dr. Yocheved Debow writes about this phenomenon in her guide for educators.. ...
- 131k
6
votes
Learning Torah from a confirmed sinner?
Dovid Lichtenstein, in his excellent book Headlines 2, researched the question and brings many opinions.
Among those who rule against learning from a confirmed sinner (sometimes only until they return ...
- 47.8k
6
votes
Is cheating in a test an Averah?
R. Moshe Feinstein has a responsum about cheating. He was asked by someone who had heard that in yeshivot they allow the students to steal the answers for the Regents.
R. Moshe answered that it is ...
- 49.1k
6
votes
Is it greater to refrain from doing an aveirah than to perform a mitzvah?
Presumably this is quite a broad and interesting question but Or Hachaim on Shemos (3:5) claims that the reason that God tells Moses to not come near to the burning bush prior to telling him to remove ...
- 3,280
6
votes
Will we be obligated to bring many chatats when the temple is rebuilt?
As Scimonster mentioned the Gemara in Shabbos appears to address this. "קרא והטה וכתב על פנקסו אני ישמעאל בן אלישע קריתי והטיתי נר בשבת לכשיבנה בהמ"ק אביא חטאת שמנה" (Shabbat 12b)
Rabbi Yishmael ...
- 2,461
6
votes
Don't teach if they won’t follow...?
The Sefer Hachinuch Mitzva 239 - רלט. מצות תוכחה לישראל שאינו נוהג כשורה - does mention such a concept.
ומכל מקום, אמרו זכרונם לברכה (שם) גם כן, שאם יראה המוכיח שאין בדברי תוכחותיו שום תועלת נמצא, ...
- 42.8k
6
votes
Don't teach if they won’t follow...?
The phrase you're looking for may be
אלא הנח להם לישראל מוטב שיהיו שוגגין ואל יהיו מזידין
But leave the Jews alone. It is better that they be unwitting sinners and not be intentional sinners.
which ...
- 47.8k
6
votes
Would Yosef sleeping with the wife of Potifar have been a sin?
Yes, there is an issue of mitsvat asse in bne noach from which we can say that it have been a sin. See Talmud Bavli Kiddushin 21b:
וראית בשביה ת"ר וראית בשביה בשעת שביה אשת ואפילו אשת איש
Our ...
- 22.7k
6
votes
What is the phrase "sin of youth" (חטאת נעורים) referring to, as used in the Tanya?
The Shalah says (in שער האותיות):
והיה הדבר נקל אם לא היה עושה החטא הזה רק פעם אחת, אבל בעו"ה מי שהורגל
בחטאת נעורים במעשה כעורים ובא לכלל הוצאת זרע לבטלה הן מחמת הרהורים
בתאוה או ניאוף בידים ...
- 31.8k
6
votes
Medrash Tanchumah 0n Teshuvah
The quote is probably the following (Tanhuma Vayeira 16 in ed. Buber):
ראה מה יפה התשובה, אמר הקדוש ברוך הוא שובו אלי ואשובה אליכם (מלאכי ג
ז), שאם ביד אדם כמה עונות והוא שב לפני הקדוש ברוך הוא, ...
- 35.4k
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