11
votes
Accepted
Story ID: Woman named Chagigah
The story is in Sefer Menoras Hamoer מנורת המאור, נר ג, כלל ח, חלק ג, פרק ה
See Sdei Tzofim - which directed me to the Menoras Hamoer.
מעשה בחסיד אחד שהיה מתייחד במקום אחד והיה לומד בו במסכת חגיגה, ...
- 139k
10
votes
Accepted
Help with a quote from the Talmud regarding the good old days
You may be thinking of this similar passage in Talmud Bavli (BB 91b) with Sefaria trans.:
ואמר רבי יוחנן נהירנא כד הוו מטיילין טליא וטלייתא בשוקא כבר שית עשרה וכבר שב עשרה ולא הוו חטאן
And Rabbi ...
- 11.9k
10
votes
Source for story of how Lubavitcher Rebbe returned a letter with all the "I"s circled
In one of his weekly essays, Rabbi Sacks says he heard the story about the Rebbe:
In 1968 I met the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel
Schneersohn, of blessed memory, for the first time. While ...
- 2,216
9
votes
Accepted
What's this about a magical spitting bird?
This is an example of how a little information can generate a great deal of confusion. It appears to be the blending of several different elements from the Torah into a single story.
As Wasserstein ...
- 14.2k
9
votes
Searching for a story with the Rav's comment about the scientist
From here:
I once heard a great story about Rav Solovetchick, from R’ Motty
Berger of Aish. Isidor Rabi developed a theory in the 30’s that was a
harbinger of the Big Bang theory. Arno Penzias ...
- 49.1k
9
votes
Accepted
Sources of the story about drinking milk to fulfill the four cups at the seder
In her book about the family heritage, Shulamit Soloveitchik Meiselman writes this exact story about her great-grandfather¹, Rav Yoshe Ber Soloveitchik². Also known as the Beis HaLevi.
The book is ...
- 3,849
9
votes
Source of story about the Vilna Gaon and immigration policy
This sounds very similar to the story with R' Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev, but that story is about Tzedakah, not immigration. (Which makes sense, because I don't think there was a restriction against ...
- 43.9k
8
votes
Accepted
Source for a story about the Mir Yeshiva on the train to Shanghai?
I read this story in an essay from R. Schechter entitled ‘Ego and Humility in Torah Study’:
During the Second World War, when the students of the Mirrer Yeshiva were traveling for a week and a half ...
- 11.9k
8
votes
Accepted
Story of surgery in the Gemara
I believe the story you’re looking for is in Bava Metzi’a 83b:
אשקיוהו סמא דשינתא ועיילוהו לביתא דשישא וקרעו לכריסיה הוו מפקו מיניה דיקולי דיקולי דתרבא
They gave him a sedative to drink, and they ...
- 41.8k
7
votes
Accepted
Shulchan Aruch HaRav and the Gra
The Previous Lubavitcher Rebbe wrote:
Once, Reb Pinchas was deeply engrossed in a handwritten notebook. When Reb Henoch saw his son studying the manuscript so intently, he assumed that it must be a ...
- 40.3k
6
votes
Where is the story from (I believe in the Talmud ) about a Rebbe who was head of a beis din in regards to a widow and his sentencing to death?
You're probably thinking of the story in tractate Semachos, one of the minor tractates
וכשבאו רשב״ג ורבי ישמעאל גזרו עליהם שיהרגו והיה רבי ישמעאל בוכה ור״ש אמר אברך בשתי פסיעות אתה נתן בחיקם של ...
- 40.3k
6
votes
Accepted
Help me locate a midrash I only vaguely remember
The bells rung for me are in the Rashi on Bamidbor 27 (13) .
Verse 13 says
And when you have seen it, you too will be gathered to your people,
just as Aaron your brother was gathered.
Verse 14 ...
- 47.2k
6
votes
Accepted
Source for detail in the Chanukah story
At the minimum, the Rishonim mention this in their commentaries to Shabbat (23a), regarding the statement that women were included in the Hannukah miracle. The earliest of these Rishonim, is Rashi ...
- 35.4k
6
votes
Practical Kabbalah consequences
From the Encyclopedia.com entry on Joseph Della Reina:
JOSEPH DELLA REINA , hero of a kabbalistic legend who attempted to
bring an end to Satan's power and thus lead to the redemption. The
...
- 49.1k
6
votes
Accepted
Origin of pigs as a species
Maybe you heard of a story reported in "Legends of Old Testament Characters, from the Talmud and other sources" by a Rev. S. Baring-Gould, chapter 14
There left the ark two sorts of animals which ...
- 47.9k
6
votes
Accepted
Reb Yitzhak's diamond, Rashi's birth - the source?
The source is Shalshelet Hakabala p. 111 (published 1587), who quotes it from an old manuscript.
Unlike the story you linked, he says that the priest wanted to buy it from him to use for the eye of ...
- 24k
6
votes
Accepted
Source for a Rashi gem story
R. Gedaliah ibn Yachya (d. 1587) writes in his Shalsheles Hakabbalah (starts second line from the bottom) that he read this בקונטריס ישן, in an ancient pamphlet.
(It should be noted, though, that R. ...
- 7,781
6
votes
Is there a rabinical ruling where coins that circulate decides who the legitimate king is?
To back up a few steps, per the comment's request.
Governments have the right to tax. Check out I Samuel 8:11--17, and backing up to Deuteronomy, it says the king can't amass "too much gold and ...
- 131k
6
votes
When should we not to correct the ignorant? Search for sugya in Masechet Shabbat
It may be this:
Pesachim 51a:
יוֹצְאִים בְּקוֹרְדָּקֵיסוֹן בַּשַּׁבָּת, וְאֵין יוֹצְאִין בְּקוֹרְדָּקֵיסוֹן בַּשַּׁבָּת בְּבֵירֵי. וּמַעֲשֶׂה בִּיהוּדָה וְהִלֵּל בָּנָיו שֶׁל רַבָּן גַּמְלִיאֵל ...
- 527
6
votes
Trying to track down the textual source of a Jewish quote about a Rabbi Neskizh
Here.
ואמר שסיפר לו אחיו הקאוולר זצוקלה"ה איך שאביהם הנעסכיזו זצוקלה"ה אמר לו " בני הלא מי שאינו מרגיש חבלי לידה ממש כמו שיש להיולדת שהיא בתוך חמשים מייל סביבותיו כדי להתפלל עבורה לעשות ...
- 2,010
6
votes
Source for story about a Rabbi being happy to bury Sheimot
My father found it in a biography he was reading.
The story is about the Ponovezher Rav (Rav Yosef Shlomo Kahaneman).
- 910
5
votes
Aryeh Kaplan Text Identification
Your card with the footnoted source from Shem HaGadolim is to provide a source for the statement in chapter 81 on page 49 of Sefer HaDat v'HaChinuch cited and linked in your question.
It is ...
- 14.2k
5
votes
Aryeh Kaplan Text Identification
This text can be viewed here, in Sefer Shem HaGadolim, in a footnote about the second Raavid. It in turn is quoting from Sefer HaEmunot.
- 20.4k
5
votes
Accepted
The source of the story of GR"A and lashes
1 - The sefer הגאון החסיד מוילנא pg. רל - רלב. brings this story.
2 - According to this sefer, the reason the maskil got lashed by Beis Din, was because he degraded the words of Torah sages. He was ...
- 6,123
5
votes
Accepted
Source for a quotation from a Rabbi (or Jewish story)
When doing a google search I came across two Christian books one here and the other here which attribute it to the Chasidic master Rav Baruch of Medzebozh/Medzhybizh who was the grandson of the ...
- 30.2k
5
votes
Source for this Vilna Gaon?
As per @robev's point in the comments it is brought down by Rav Moshe Sternbuch in his teshuvos v'hanhagos on Tisha B'Av.
The relevant excerpt mentioning the Vilna Gaon is in the first paragraph and ...
- 30.2k
5
votes
Accepted
Where can I find the story about the cow that kept shabbos?
It has been quoted as a midrash in Pesikta Rabbati 14. See the full story at chabad.org
There was once a Jew who owned a cow with which he plowed his field.
Then it came to pass that this Jew became ...
- 47.9k
5
votes
Accepted
Source for story of authority of the halacha of the majority
The source for the story is in Talmud Yerushalmi Berachos 1:1:36 where it brings a few instances of such stories that the majority rules even if he himself disagreed. The one specifically about ...
- 10.6k
4
votes
Hallel on a non rosh chodesh day
You're probably thinking of the story of Rav's visit to Bavel, recorded on Taanit 28b, but you got the Rosh Chodesh part of it confused.
While most people nowadays are used to thinking of Rosh ...
- 97.4k
4
votes
Accepted
Cannot speak Torah while working
His name was Abba Chilkiya the grandson of Choni HaMe'agel. The story is in Taanis 23a-b.
אבא חלקיה בר בריה דחוני המעגל הוה וכי מצטריך עלמא למיטרא הוו משדרי רבנן לגביה ובעי רחמי ואתי מיטרא זימנא חדא ...
- 1,723
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible