13
votes
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How could Rav be disproved?
I thought to answer as follows:
When the Gemara answers that Rav is a tanna, that is when the question is on Rav alone. In this case the question is on a joint statement of Rav and Shmuel. (Whether ...
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11
votes
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What causes a person to remain in this world as a ghost?
R. Ezekiel Landau discusses this aspect of the tale in his commentary there. He explains that the spirit cannot leave the body until the body decomposes, and that is why we conduct burials in a manner ...
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7
votes
Accepted
What level of danger is required for HaGomel?
www.shut-halacha.co.il reports a Teshuva from Rav Avigdor Nebenzahl which says:
מי שעבר ניתוח בהרדמה כללית צריך לברך הגומל, כיון שהרדמה כללית הנה
סכנה.
Someone who underwent surgery with a total ...
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7
votes
Freeing Non-Jewish Slave
It is a ‘prohibition’ derived from the positive command implied by Vayikra 25:46:
לעולם בהם תעבדו
For all time shall you treat them as slaves
See Sefer HaChinuch 347 for details.
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7
votes
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Is it forbidden for a man to sleep on his stomach?
This is indeed brought down by some as the Halacha, and in practice, both positions (face up and face down) are forbidden.
See the Kitzur Shulchan Aruch 71:5:
וְצָרִיךְ לִזָּהֵר מְאֹד לְהַרְגִּיל ...
- 6,883
7
votes
Accepted
Does one have to feed his dog, parrot, or goldfish before eating according to this Gemara?
Rav Yaakov Emden -Shilas Yaavetz 1:17 writes that a pet needs to be fed first and fish are included. It is important to note that if the animal has a feeding schedule and your pet wouldn't be hungry ...
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7
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What made Yochanan go off?
Yochanan didn't leave Judaism; he became a Sadducee, meaning that he left the Pharisees. If we follow Abbaye's opinion that Yannay is Yochanan (Berachot 29a), then the story of how he became a ...
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7
votes
Are there five or six reasons why Parshas Tzitzis was added to Shema?
This passage also appears in Yalkut Shimoni, and in that version there are indeed only five things. Number 4, "opinions of heretics" in your translation, does not appear. The supporting verse cited in ...
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7
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Is there a connection between Rav Yehuda loving Israel and forbidding the ascent from Babylon to Israel?
R. Tzvi Elimelech of Dinov in his commentary to the passage on 43b writes as follows:
מהראוי להתבונן מהיכן שפט זה דר"י אמר כך משום חביבות א"י שהיה לו ביותר מכל העולם וגם אם תלוי הדבר ...
- 49.9k
6
votes
Why is אותו מקום referred to as the מקום התורף? What does תורף mean?
Your answer is within the sources in your question.
Torf means an exposed place, that should be covered.
מקום התורף - woman's genitalia should be covered if exposed.
Document's תורף - Are the ...
6
votes
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Why is it that being embarrassed on one sin should atone for all?
The plural expression is common in Hazalic literature that refers to divine involvement with man, thus for example, Shabbat (104a) which famously states that man is allowed to sin, but helped to ...
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6
votes
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Mekor that bnei t'murah doesn't apply to women- berachot 20a?
You were correct about it being the Ben Ish Chai, but it is found in the Binayahu section of the set usually referred to as only Ben Yehoyada.
(There were various printings of Ben Yehoyada and ...
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6
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Tefillat Shav in Mishna Masechet Berachot
The Mishna to which you refer (Berachot 9:3) says explicitly that a tefilat shav (a vain prayer) is a prayer about the past, not the future.
הצועק לשעבר, הרי זו תפילת שוא.
If one cries out about the ...
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6
votes
Aveira Lishma: Is it permissible to make a decision that contradicts Halacha because it is for the greater good?
This topic is dealt with extensively by Rav Asher Weiss on his website. The following is a summary.
To begin with, two major authorities have already said that today there is no practical application ...
- 20k
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How could Rav be disproved?
There is another gemara where Rav is refuted from a beraita, and the gemara does not answer that Rav is a tanna who can argue.
Take a look at Menachot 5a (today's page in the Daf Yomi cycle!). Rav is ...
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Why does Rashi explain where yoke of Mitzvos is discussed in Parshas Tzitzis?
In the parallel passage in Yalkut Shimoni (which I cited here), no verses are given for the three that are obvious. In fact, R. Refael Nota Nosson Rabinowitz (Dikdukei Sofrim) presents this comment of ...
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6
votes
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What does the Gemara mean by שֶׁמְּמָאֲנִין אֶת הַקְּטַנָּה?
Sefaria offers a fairly comprehensive translation of most of Gemara which you might find helpful. They translate this line of the Gemara as "When an orphan girl, who was married off by her mother ...
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6
votes
Accepted
Why is this person deserving of death?
Tosfos, Berachos 6b (ד"ה אחורי בית הכנסת) says that
מיחזי כשתי רשויות
Meaning the guy's making it look like there are two gods of equal power. Avodah Zara is a capital crime, so it seems to fit....
- 176
5
votes
Accepted
"People who recite Ashrei many times": a question on Tosafot
Tosfot is disapproving of the practice of including extra verses beginning with Ashrei before Psalm 145. In the roughly contemporary Machzor Vitri (89), we find Psalm 145 introduced with Psalms 119:1, ...
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5
votes
Why is the first mishna of Brachos included in the Ein Yaakov?
It seems that the first mishna and gemara were not part of the original Ein Yaakov.
Rav Yaakov ibn Habib never intended to collect all of the aggados in shas. He collected what he thought fit into ...
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5
votes
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Modesty of the other side
Presumably he's referencing the Gemara in Kesubos 48A, that the default understanding when a couple gets married is to provide skin-on-skin contact to one another. If one party were to insist on ...
- 135k
5
votes
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How could Abba Ḥilkiyya do that?
Ben Yehoyada sidesteps the issue by positing that either they were not directly behind her, or that there was more than four amos between them.
ואין להקשות איך היה הולך אחרי אשתו? דאפשר היה מצדד ...
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5
votes
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What is the origin of the word פְּלַסְתֵּר?
The Hebrew Wiktionary has confirmed my suspicion, the word פְּלַסְתֵּר is of Greek origin, and it comes from πλαστός, meaning
invented, artificial
false, spurious, fictitious, counterfeit
This is ...
- 7,804
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votes
Whom does G-d pray to?
The next line on that page answers your question. G-d's prayer is to Himself, like it says:
אָמַר רַב זוּטְרָא בַּר טוֹבִיָּה, אָמַר רַב: ״יְהִי רָצוֹן מִלְּפָנַי
שֶׁיִּכְבְּשׁוּ רַחֲמַי אֶת כַּעֲסִי,...
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Why is this person deserving of death?
The Maharsha asks this question, and answers that this is the reason why the Rif changed the girsa from Elyahu to instead refer to a non Jew
חלף אליהו וחזייה אידמי ליה כטייעא כו'. ברי"ף ל"ג ...
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5
votes
Which came first?
The Maharsha states:
ואמר ונענע לי ראשו כי זה גם תפלתו ית' ב"ה כדלעיל
[R"Y] stated that God nodded his head. [Maharsha continues] For this was also God's prayer as [indicated] above ...
...
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4
votes
The bear and the lion (Bavel and persia) in Tosfos
Our gemara, at Berachos 13a, is discussing the possibility that the future redemption of the Jews will dwarf the long-ago exodus from Egypt. It remarks that if someone were endangered by (and then ...
- 2,255
4
votes
Accepted
What Brachah did the Tannaim Make on Pretzels?
Rav and Shmuel did not institute the blessing "mezonot".
Rav and Shmuel taught two laws, each of which contains new information:
The novelty of the one is that only the 5 species needs ...
- 23k
4
votes
Dream interpreting - Why did Paroh need Yosef?
Medrash Hagodol - Mikeitz - page 625 says that Yosef asked Paroh how did he know that the advisors did not interpet the dream properly? Paroh told him that he saw the interpretation in the dream and ...
- 140k
4
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does a husband pray for his seed (child until birth)?
Such a tefillah for an easy labor is brought in Seder Avodas Yisroel page 162, to be said after entering the 7th month of pregnancy.
יהי רצון לפניך ה' אלהי ואלהי אבותי שתקל מעל אשתי פלונית בת פלונית ...
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