30
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Is it forbidden for a woman to learn Gemara?
It doesn't seem that anyone attempted to address this in a comprehensive manner, so I will try. There might be slight overlap with some of the other answers here, and with my answer to this question. ...
- 49.9k
29
votes
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How can it be that David hamelech died on shavuos and Shabbos
That David died on both Shavuos and Shabbos is not necessarily true. The source that David died on Shavuos can be found in Yerushalmi in Beitzah 11a (2:4) and Chagigah 12a (2:3), but in neither place ...
- 34.7k
23
votes
On killing (?) Christians in Judaism
A quick Google shows that this person likely took the quote from this site here (I'm sorry to have linked to it).
It seems that this person likely didn't understand what he was reading. The topics are ...
- 1,743
20
votes
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Will the real Shas Kattan please stand up
This question has inspired an article over at the Seforim blog, most of which is reproduced below.
Using Sefaria's list of links, we can do either a simple count of how many other tractates of Shas ...
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18
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Does the Talmud say that Jesus writhes in excrement and Mary was a prostitute?
I would say "maybe" or "it depends" to both.
In Gittin 56b-57a there's a story in which Onkelos bar Kalonikos, the nephew of Titus, wishes to convert to Judaism, but before that, ...
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17
votes
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Why does the Gemara use gamma to compare shapes and not reish or chaf sofit?
According to Rabeinu Manoach (a 13th century Rishon) in his Sefer Menucha on Suka 4:2:2 it's because the letters of the Alef-Bet are too holy to be used to describe mundane things such as shapes.
כתב ...
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16
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How to explain the Talmud to someone who hasn't ever opened one?
(1) Compare it to an intellectual pursuit they already know. And (2), show don't tell.
I've never had the benefit of full-time learning in yeshiva, but I've participated in some shorter programs that ...
- 56.9k
15
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Masekhes Kesubos as "Shas Qatan"
Masheches Kesuvos was called כולל תלמוד by the Shla's son (Rav Sheptel Horowitz author of ווי העמודים) he wrote in his will to his children to first be fluent in these mashechtot : Brachos (inyan ...
- 42.5k
15
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Is this phrase about Adam and Eve recorded in the Talmud?
Although the English formulation is Matthew Henry's, the idea seems to have been borrowed from ancient Jewish sources, e.g., Devarim Rabbah:
א"ר יהושע דסכנין כשבא הקב"ה לבראת חוה היה מתבונן ...
- 14.6k
15
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Me'am Lo'ez on not beginning a new mesechta on Rosh Chodesh
Is the custom practiced today?
The רמ"א יו"ד סי' קע"ט סעיף ב [as understood by the פתחי תשובה יו"ד רמ"ה ס"ק ה] writes that our minhag is to start a new מסכת even on Rosh Chodesh.
Also, what does ...
- 6,183
15
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Shortest amud or daf in Shas?
The shortest amud is Nazir 33b which contains precisely zero words of gemara.
- 45.2k
15
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Source that you can't tell your wife not to lend to others
Kesubos 72a
תניא נמי הכי המדיר את אשתו שלא תשאל ושלא תשאיל נפה וכברה ריחים ותנור יוציא ויתן כתובה מפני שמשיאה שם רע בשכינותיה
Someone who imposes a vow on his wife that she may not borrow or lend ...
- 11.5k
14
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How do we understand the idea of something missing from the mishnah חסורי מיחסרא והכי קתני?
The Meiri writes in his introduction to Avot that this is an example of the Ammoraim disagreeing with the Tannaim which they would occasionally do if the Sages of the generation agreed. So that would ...
- 35.9k
14
votes
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Shortest amud or daf in Shas?
Shortest Amud
1st place: Bava Kama 77a has 9 words of gemara on it and is thus the shortest amud with words of gemara on it in shas. The Tosfos that fills the page is very VERY big.
A close 2nd place ...
- 11.5k
14
votes
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Where in ש״ס who one find the adage, “He who suggests the idea should carry it out”?
סנהדרין פב א
קריינא דאיגרתא איהו ליהוי פרוונקא
The reader of the letter (that contains the orders), let him be the one to carry it out.
The context there is Pinchas telling Moshe, didn't you ...
14
votes
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1/60: why was the figure 60 chosen?
The concept of nullifying forbidden food when mixed with kosher food 60 times its volume is discussed in the Gemara (Hulin 98a-b), followed by the biblical source for this number: the foreleg of the ...
- 11.8k
13
votes
In the Talmud, who is Plimo?
The Sefer Yuchasin mentions Plimo as someone in the times of Rebbe. This is echoed in the Seder Hadoros, and R. Reuven Margoliot in his investigation into Talmudic names and nicknames (לחקר שמות ...
- 49.9k
13
votes
Why is Talmud Bavli studied more than Yerushalmi?
In their introduction to Yerushalmi Brachot, artscroll adress this question and write that Bavli is better edited, more complete, better commented, easier to understand and less prone to alternative ...
- 53.7k
13
votes
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Instances in Shas where Tosfos quotes the Rambam?
According to a quote from Rav Chaim Kanievsky, there are only 3 places in Shas where Rambam is mentioned in Tosfos (brought down in the stories at the end of the 29th chapter of the Artscroll English ...
- 6,883
13
votes
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Does the Talmud continue to use extra Tanachic sources?
As @TamirEvan stated in the comments, Ben-Sira appears a few times in the Talmud, for example:
Sanhedrin 100b:
"The verse states: “All the days of the poor are terrible” (Proverbs 15:15). The ...
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13
votes
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What is "okinta"?
אוקימתא (from להקים - to put up) is putting a statement in a specific more elaborate way.
In short, when there are two (or more) contradicting sources that bring seemingly opposite opinions, Ukimta ...
- 27.5k
13
votes
Purpose of Learning Gemara
tl;dr R' Aharon Lichtenstein has an essay outlining four elements that make gemara learning unique and important:
Explanation of the principles and parameters of the laws
Exposure to the ...
- 17.2k
12
votes
On killing (?) Christians in Judaism
There is actually only one quote here, and it is taken directly from The Talmud Unmasked: The Secret Rabbinical Teachings Concerning Christians, which was originally written in Latin (with ...
- 19k
12
votes
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Looking for a source which was mentioned in a shiur
This is found in Brachot 8a:
אמרו ליה לרבי יוחנן איכא סבי בבבל
תמה ואמר למען ירבו ימיכם וימי בניכם על האדמה כתיב אבל בחוצה לארץ לא
כיון דאמרי ליה מקדמי ומחשכי לבי כנישתא אמר היינו דאהני להו ...
- 2,791
12
votes
Accepted
Why if you drink water directly from a river you'd be considered pagan?
You're thinking of Shoftim 7:5
וַיּ֥וֹרֶד אֶת־הָעָ֖ם אֶל־הַמָּ֑יִם (ס) וַיֹּ֨אמֶר יְהוָ֜ה אֶל־גִּדְע֗וֹן כֹּ֣ל אֲשֶׁר־יָלֹק֩ בִּלְשׁוֹנ֨וֹ מִן־הַמַּ֜יִם כַּאֲשֶׁ֧ר יָלֹ֣ק הַכֶּ֗לֶב תַּצִּ֤יג ...
- 20k
12
votes
Food ‘fight’ in the Talmud
There is something like you mention in the Talmud Yerushalmi in Demai 7:1:
Rebbi and Rabbi Yossi were invited as guests to eat at the home of a certain man. However, the Rabbis suspected that he did ...
- 681
12
votes
Shoteh in the gemara
Chagiga 3b is the main place in Talmud. This text does not easy lead to clear conclusions. But this is the main source. in psychiatry today perhaps those symptoms are included in the term "...
- 23k
12
votes
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I am 15 years old and do not go to a Yeshiva but would like to learn Talmud. A few rabbis near me said they could teach me. How should I start
First of all congratulations for wanting to grow in your Jewish learning. Learning Talmud means different things. One approach is to learn the structure of the Talmud, its way of approaching issues, ...
- 53.7k
12
votes
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Why is Yevamot the first masechet in Nashim?
Rambam writes in his Introduction to The Mishnah:
Afterwards, he [Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi] divided the material in the Order of Women [Nashim]. And he started with Tractate Yevamot (Levirate Marriages); ...
- 26.9k
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 ...
- 20k
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