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Unanswered Questions

237 questions with no upvoted or accepted answers
8 votes
0 answers
607 views

Relationship between Chabad and the Malachim today

These days, what is the relationship between Chabad and the Malachim? How close are they -- do members of the groups marry each other, participate in each other's mosdos at all, etc.? Do Chabad ...
8 votes
3 answers
1k views

Women wearing men's "women's shirts"

Some chassidic shirts are basically identical to women's dress shirts, save for the bust shape, i.e. they button right-over-left. Would a female wearing the former be transgressing the prohibition on ...
7 votes
0 answers
64 views

For whom does Mekhilta d'Rashb"i mean the Zohar?

I saw that Malbim on Shir HaShirim (1:2) quotes the Zohar with the name מכלתא דרשב״י. Indeed, the words he quotes are in the Zohar here. On the other hand, there is another work called מכילתא דרשב״י, ...
6 votes
0 answers
615 views

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 ...
5 votes
0 answers
157 views

The Maggid of Mezeritch on jewels and straw

In his sermon on the ethics of controversy, R Norman Lamm says: The great Maggid of Mezeritch, the leading theoretician of Hasidism and one who knew only too well the life of controversy, told us ...
5 votes
0 answers
1k views

Smoking and psychedelics in kabbalah?

Many are familiar with stories of great tzaddikim smoking pipes and the like in some sort of kabbalastic rite. I've even heard some chassidic Rebbes having a so called "Kabbalah pipe". Im curious to ...
5 votes
0 answers
291 views

Understanding the Zohar's Anthropomorphism of God

Unlike the Rambam's now-conventional ideas against anthropomorphizing God, there are kabbalistic texts studied today which seem to espouse completely antithetical ideas. I am familiar with the ...
5 votes
0 answers
232 views

Siddur for Skolyer Chasidim

Is there a specific siddur for the minhag of the Skolyer Chasidim (Chasidim of Ukrainian town of Skole)?
5 votes
0 answers
639 views

Do other Chasidic communities follow Shulchan Aruch HaRav?

The Maggid of Mezeritch told the Baal HaTanya to put together a Shulchan Aruch for Chasidim. The result is the Shulchan Aruch HaRav, which is used as a final authority for halacha in Chabad ...
4 votes
0 answers
241 views

Satmar and the three oaths

I’m curious, since Satmar believes the three oaths prohibit a Zionist state of Israel, how do they reconcile it with the fact that the oaths weren’t merely for Jews to not rebel against the gentile ...
4 votes
0 answers
123 views

Is there any continuation to Kotzk\ Pershischa today?

Is there any sort of continuation to the dynasties of Kotz and Pershischa dynasties which actually adheres to the lifestyle of those chassidim? (I don't mean Ger and the like, which have absolutely ...
4 votes
0 answers
126 views

Source for Arizal’s teaching

I’m reading a book by Rabbi Shlomo Arush and he says the following: "According to our master, the Arizal, whoever wants to receive the light of Ein Sof in its entirety has to change its own nature ...
4 votes
0 answers
111 views

Why read about Rashb"i's death at a memorial ceremony?

Why do many people read the passage (known as אדרא זוטא) from Zohar about the death of Rabbi Shim'on ben Yochai at memorial ceremonies? A description of it can be found here.
4 votes
1 answer
693 views

What do the different chassidish tefillin tying on the palm and hand mean, what sects uses them?

I have noticed many different styles of wrapping tefillin over the hand, fingers, and palm, as seen below. My question is what is the significance of this, and who does this, and is it something ...
4 votes
1 answer
404 views

Maggidim (angelic mentors) in Jewish history. How new is it?

Did the phenomenon of "maggidim" (celestial/angelic mentors) who come to teach a person kabbalistic mysteries and other revelations, but begin with those who studied Lurianic kaballah in the 1500's - ...

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