Unanswered Questions
409 questions with no upvoted or accepted answers
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Was the Chasam Sofer known for having an interesting way of learning?
I have a lot of experience learning Gemara and find myself oft dealing with the views of the Achronim to understand the Pshat in Rishonim. Unfortunately, I have inside me a slight aversion to the ...
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Why does the Torah add ger sometimes
For some commandments in the chumash the Torah adds "and also the ger with you", and sometimes it does not.
What's the reason for this? Is there a specific reason every time?
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Baalei Batim and Daf Yomi versus Learning Halachah
Today, many baalei batim center their learning around gemara bavli, for example through programs like daf yomi. But the Drisha and Shach write that for those who aren't learning all day it's more ...
- 435
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The Alter Rebbe's view of reviewing Torah - is it followed in practice?
Related: comment thread in What should a Jew learn regularly?
In the end of the Shulchan Aruch Harav Yoreh Deah, chelek ה, the Alter Rebbe has a wonderful exposition on the laws of Talmud Torah. In ...
- 4,047
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Is learning Sifrei Neviim a fulfillment of the mitzvah to listen to a Navi?
There's a Torah commandment to listen to a navi. As far as I know, there are no neviim around nowadays to listen to, but we do have books written by the neviim.
If you learn Navi and do your best to ...
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Is there a halachic preference for milah over hatafas dam bris?
While hatafas dam bris is clearly valid for a convert who is already circumcised, is this considered bedieved? Suppose a man who is not already circumcised intends to convert.
Suppose he is also ...
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Field owned by nobody?
I feel like I should have seen this discussed somewhere, but I have no memory of it.
If someone dies with no sons and his daughters inherit his fields, one of the daughters marries a convert, and ...
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Is a pre-convert considered a Noahide?
If a non-Jew [ex-Muslim] is working with the Beit Din for an Orthodox Conversion to Judaism, is he still considered to be a Noahide as he does not yet have a status of being Jewish?
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Halacha to discourage a convert once every 6 months?
A friend of mine told me that the halacha of discouraging a convert three times has a little nuance - the convert has to make the second and third attempt (to persuade the rabbi to let him convert) at ...
- 1,215
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Earliest source for teaching Torah in secret to hide from the Romans
A number of online sources (such as this article by Rabbi Ari Enkin, or this article by Rabbi Yair Hoffman) mention the tradition that rabbonim used to go out into the woods and teach Torah while ...
- 28k
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Does a Ger have a Chiyuv to get an Aliya?
Inspired by the comments to my answer about (pseudo) 2nd Bar Mitzvahs.
Both the Magen Avraham in 282:18 and the Biur Halocho in 136:1:1 mention that the reason a Bar Mitzva boy has a high priority to ...
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Aryeh Kaplan and Talmud memorization
Aryeh Kaplan’s Jewish Meditation, page 27:
I recall that when I was in yeshivah, a few friends and I decided to have a contest to see who could memorize the most pages of Talmud. For me, it was an ...
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For the Sake of an Argument?
In the Mishna, Miqvaos 7:1, Rabbi Akiva quotes Rabbi Ishmael as having declared that snow does not count towards the completion of a mikva, but the people of Meibeba then testify that Rabbi Ishmael ...
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Who were the Nistarim?
It has been documented that there is a group of righteous people called "The Nistarim". I am not referring to the lammed vav tzaddikim of the Gemara (Sanhedrin 97b, Sukkah 45b). Rather, a mystical ...
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Source for Chazon Ish on What defines a Lamdan
I recently read an article and the author wrote the following:
"The Chazon Ish described the true lamdan as “someone who spends three hours preparing to deliver a five-minute shiur, and when he is ...
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