Unanswered Questions
239 questions with no upvoted or accepted answers
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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, ...
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Asking forgiveness from a deceased person who has no gravesite
The Rambam in Hilchos Teshuvah 2:9 writes:
הַחוֹטֵא לַחֲבֵרוֹ וּמֵת חֲבֵרוֹ קֹדֶם שֶׁיְּבַקֵּשׁ מְחִילָה מֵבִיא עֲשָׂרָה בְּנֵי אָדָם וּמַעֲמִידָן עַל קִבְרוֹ וְיֹאמַר בִּפְנֵיהֶם חָטָאתִי לַה' ...
CommunityBot
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Is the mourning for a late relative dependent on the state of their relationship before death?
Are the halochos (laws) about observing mourning rituals for a relative (e.g., shiva, shloshim, etc.), affected in any way by the state of the relationship between the mourner and deceased before his ...
CommunityBot
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How do you avoid 'al tiftah peh l'satan'?
There is a principle of al tiftach peh l'satan (Ketubot 8b) - literally "don't open your mouth to the Satan". How can concern for this principle be avoided when discussing possible bad future ...
- 36k
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After-death care of a non-Jewish relative
If a Jew has been entrusted with the after-death care of a non-Jewish relative, what should be done? Specifically, if the non-Jewish relative requested to be cremated after death, can or should a Jew ...
CommunityBot
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How do I know my unanswered questions will be revealed [to me] when I die?
Many times as a Jew I think in the back of my head that certain question’s answers I greatly ponder will be revealed to me when I die.
I’ll give an example. A few distant relatives of mine were ...
CommunityBot
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Do we circumcise a corpse?
We circumcise stillborn babies for many reasons (see e.g., here). Would the same apply for one who it was unhealthy for him to receive a brit milah?
For example, let's say person A's two brothers both ...
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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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What is the timeline of the connection of the soul to the body after death?
Speaking to the Rabbi who runs the chevra kadisha in my neighborhood recently, regarding the pending cremation of the mother of a friend, he mentioned several interesting concepts with respect to the ...
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what is the nature of future visions which never come to be?
In a number of places chazal describe someone, for our purposes we will dub the 'seer' as seeing the future descendants of certain people, such as Moshe before he killed the Egyptian or Elisha before ...
- 15.3k
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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 ...
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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 ...
- 17.9k
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Is there a need to to know the deceased's name when studying in his merit?
I have been asked many times by friends to study (usually Mishanyos) as a merit for their recently deceased relative. In most such occasions, I was given the deceased's name, in order to have them in ...
- 11.6k
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Is "You Shall Choose Life" ever interpreted literally?
Inspired by Did people ever place actual physical stumbling blocks before the blind?
In Devarim 30:19, we are told by G-d to "choose life":
This day, I call upon the heaven and the earth as ...
CommunityBot
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Are there any merits which delay the adulterer's explosion?
In mSotah 5:1 it states that the Sotah waters check the woman and her presumed consort. I assume this 'checking' leads to the consort suffering the same death as the woman. The talmud further states ...
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