15
votes
Holidays Beginning at sundown of the previous day
For the entirety of Jewish History, Judaism has kept to a day that begins at sunset on the previous 'secular/non-Jewish date'. Therefore, all meals eaten after sundown would be considered to already ...
- 21.2k
10
votes
Holidays Beginning at sundown of the previous day
Holidays don't begin before the date they are on. They are only on the date they are on. That date starts and ends at sundown. Many holiday rituals occur after sundown at the beginning of the holiday.
...
- 101k
7
votes
Accepted
Blessings on Birthdays
R. Elazar of Kozhnitz is cited as finding an allusion to the idea that one receives power of blessing (requesting) on their birthday in the verse (Ps. 2:7-8):
אֲסַפְּרָ֗ה אֶֽ֫ל חֹ֥ק יְײ אָמַ֘ר אֵלַ֥י ...
- 12.1k
7
votes
How long did Miriam wait by the river before Basya retrieved Moshe?
Exodus 20:5-6
"You shall neither prostrate yourself before them nor worship them, for I, the Lord, your God, am a zealous God, Who visits the iniquity of the fathers upon the sons, upon the third and ...
- 11k
7
votes
How long did Iyov suffer unfairly until G-d gave him blessings for resisting it?
The Mishna (Eduyot 2:10) says the judgement of Iyov was 12 months.
- 101k
7
votes
Latest time to say Maariv
One can pray until dawn (alot hashahar), ideally (lechathila) one should do so before midnight (halachic midnight i.e., hatzot) (Kitzur Shulchan Aruch 70:2).
Chabad.org explains
The time for ...
- 54.1k
7
votes
Accepted
Is there a formal prohibition of stealing time from someone?
I have personally heard from Harav Chaim Kanievsky shlit"a that the term "גזל זמן" (stealing time) [and גזל שינה - stealing sleep] is a halachic misnomer, because stealing time [or sleep] is not ...
- 7,092
7
votes
How many ‘Watches’ were there in an ancient Hebrew day?
Tractate Brachos of Talmud of Babylon 3b says this is a dispute between 2 tanaim (Rabbis in the period of the Mishna just under 2 millenia ago) whether there are 3 or 4 watches in the night:
תנו ...
- 11.6k
6
votes
Waiting six hours when chicken became meat
As documented with sources here, there never was a point in time when the Rabbis decree that chicken is to be considered as meat.
The meat-to-milk 6 hours waiting period was a gradual movement ...
- 44.7k
6
votes
Accepted
Sources for 3 hour time limit (not Rb. Yerucham)
The Mizmor LeDavid (Yoreh Deah 89:6) mentions a 3 hour wait. Its author, Rav David Pardo, lived from 1718-1790.
The Chayey Adam (127:10), first published in 1810, mentions a few hour wait. (Although ...
- 11k
6
votes
How much time do we have to perform mitzvot?
The lesson quoted in the question, "If [a commandment] comes your way, perform it immediately" (in the Hebrew "מצוה הבאה לידך אל תחמיצנה") isn't implying a time restraint but rather an overall idea ...
- 12.1k
6
votes
Why did Ralbag's commentary to Leviticus take so much longer than the other books of the Torah?
A couple of speculative suggestions:
1) Neema H. Adlerblum writes the following in Chapter Two of A Study of Gersonides in his Proper Perspective:
He writes somewhere that he could not go on with ...
- 50.3k
5
votes
How hungry does a Jew have to be to eat non-kosher food?
There are 2 situations for which the question of Pikuach Nefesh eating non-kosher food is relevant:
1. When a person is expecting kosher food but can't wait.
2. When a person is stranded and only Non-...
- 11.6k
5
votes
How do we know that the Judaic calendar should be primarily lunar based?
Rashi on Shmos 13:2 explicitly says that Hashem showed Moshe the moon and explained how the calendar was based and how the new month was to be determined. This explanation would include the rules for ...
- 43.5k
5
votes
Accepted
what year was David born?
Chabad.org David the Shepherd says
David was born in Beth-Lehem, in the land of Judah, in the year 2854.
He was only ten generations removed from Judah, one of Jacob's twelve
sons.
An ...
- 43.5k
5
votes
Davening Mussaf at home
Perhaps you are thinking about a citation from Rabbi Eliyahu Kitov, The Book of our Heritage as shown in Reciting Musaf At The Time Of Divine compassion
If an individual recites Musaf on Rosh ...
- 43.5k
5
votes
Accepted
Birchas Hachama and the world being created in Tishrei
The dispute you quote regarding when the world was created is that of R’ Eliezer and R’ Yehoshua, in Rosh HaShanah 10b-12a. At the end of that discussion, the Gemara sticks in this Braisa. Translation ...
- 34.7k
5
votes
Accepted
Earliest Sources for Giving Maaser of Time
Rabbi Haim Palachi (Nefesh Haim, ma’arechet Hei n. 7; s.v. ונלע״ד) articulated the idea of “tithing” one’s time by spreading or teaching Torah.
Similarly, Rabbi Shimon Shkop (Share Yosher, intro., s.v....
- 12.1k
5
votes
Importance of coming on time for davening
I once heard a true story (it might have been in one of Rabbi Paysach Krohn's books).
There was this man who came late every day to shul. One day the Rabbi asked him, "I can see that you come to ...
- 1,201
5
votes
Accepted
Many-worlds interpretation (MWI) interpretation of quantum mechanics
The Midrash says that God created many worlds before ours, then destroyed them because He "did not like them".
The Zohar says that God destroyed them because they would not follow the Torah. ...
- 23.6k
5
votes
List of “essential prayers”?
This is a great question and I am surprised we don't have it already.
Prayer is called the "service of the heart", meaning that kavana (intention) and understanding of the words are truly ...
- 54.1k
5
votes
What is the Schar one receives for being amongst the first 10 in a minyan?
There's the famous gemara in Brachos 47b:
וְאָמַר רַבִּי יְהוֹשֻׁעַ בֶּן לֵוִי: לְעוֹלָם יַשְׁכִּים אָדָם לְבֵית הַכְּנֶסֶת כְּדֵי שֶׁיִּזְכֶּה וְיִמָּנֶה עִם עֲשָׂרָה הָרִאשׁוֹנִים, שֶׁאֲפִילּוּ ...
- 34.5k
5
votes
Accepted
Do Jews have to take time from work to spend requested time with their parents
R' Doniel Neustadt writes:
...the poskim are in agreement that when the parent’s request will cause the child a financial loss ... the child need not obey. A child is not considered to have violated ...
- 2,310
4
votes
No mitzvah to wear tefillin every day?
Pri Megadim (Eshel Avraham 37:2) discusses whether the obligation is constant or daily.
Rabbeinu Yonah (Iggeres Teshuva Ois 24) writes that one who doesn’t wear tefillin has close to 300 עונשים ...
- 11.2k
4
votes
Why are women exempt from (many) time-bound mitzvot?
R. Samson Raphael Hirsch gives an explanation similar to the second one you mention; however, he discusses it at length which you might find helpful in addressing some of the issues you had with it. ...
- 50.3k
4
votes
How long was Yosef in prison?
According to Ibn Ezra and Bechor Shor, Joseph may have been in prison for only two years.
Ibn Ezra Genesis 41:1
ויהי מקץ. לא פירש הכתוב תחלת זה החשבון וכן ויהי מקץ ארבעים שנה וכן ובעוד ששים וחמש שנה ...
- 50.3k
4
votes
Are there prophetic perfect tenses?
Prophetic perfect is a matter of scholarly debate. Some scholars believe that it is indeed a phenomenon, while others are of the opinion that the use of qatal for prediction should be viewed as a more ...
- 3,987
4
votes
Accepted
Waiting six hours when chicken became meat
Assuming the premises of your case, one could perhaps address this question based on a question raised in the Talmud:
Chulin 17a
בעי רבי ירמיה אברי בשר נחירה שהכניסו ישראל עמהן לארץ מהו אימת ...
- 50.3k
4
votes
Can you fly from American Samoa on Friday evening to Upolu? (30 minute flight, 24 hour difference)
1 - Your assumption that if one changes his location, his Shabbos will depend on his present location, is true according most poskim (see תאריך לישראל סי' ה' אות ה', ט', וי"ג). However, שו"ת ארץ צבי ...
- 6,253
4
votes
How many days are there in each year of the 304th Metonic cycle?
Here's a screenshot of part of an excel calendar that I made a while ago, which answers your question:
- 46.6k
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