Skip to main content

Unanswered Questions

136 questions with no upvoted or accepted answers
0 votes
0 answers
53 views

Isn’t ״צרות לבבי הרחיבו״ an oxymoron?

In Tehillim 25:17, David says: צָר֣וֹת לְבָבִ֣י הִרְחִ֑יבוּ מִ֝מְּצוּקוֹתַ֗י הוֹצִיאֵֽנִי׃ My deep distress increases; deliver me from my straits. The root ״צר״ literally translates as “narrow”. Its ...
2 votes
0 answers
59 views

What do Jews call the deuterocannonical books?

In theory, the Christian “Old Testament” is the same as the Jewish Bible, or at least the same texts in a different order, but in fact there are a few different versions of the Old Testament. The ...
2 votes
0 answers
49 views

Origins/Information sought for the words דּוֹק and חֶלֶד, which appear in אַדִּיר וְנָאוֹר - translated as "Heaven and Earth"? (RH/YK Machzor)

I've never seen דּוֹק וָחֶלֶד before except in this prayer. Looking them up hasn't been particularly useful - I can't find a second source that defines דּוֹק as heaven (and can't find any uses in ...
1 vote
0 answers
49 views

Are you allowed to make liquid nitrogen ice cream on Yom Tov

Liquid nitrogen is a liquid version of nitrogen gas and hence very cold. This ice cream involves sugar, chocolate syrup, milk --liquid nitrogen is poured in as one stirs vigorously. When all have ...
0 votes
0 answers
33 views

What is the criteria for doubling the verse "ויהי נועם" in the Tefila?

There are cases, usually after "יהי רצון" (May there be a desire), that double the verse "ויהי נעם ה' אלקינו עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננה עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננהו. ". On the other hand, ...
0 votes
0 answers
39 views

How would you explain/translate "the ways of Yisrael Saba"?

How would you explain/translate "the ways of Yisrael Saba"? Something like 'ancient traditional values or practices'? Is there a source for this phrase?
2 votes
0 answers
71 views

Meaning of יוֹצֵר בְּרֵאשִׁית

What is the meaning and kavana for יוֹצֵר בְּרֵאשִׁית - "Maker of Bereshit" - eg. in מודים דרבנן and עלינו לשבח ? Especially, in light of the point made by Ramban in Bereshit 1:1 where the ...
0 votes
0 answers
92 views

Blend words (Portmanteaus) in Torah

I came across a "portmanteau" in Midrash Tanchuma, Ki Tisa 5: בַּכּוֹשָׁרוֹת (from Tehillim 68:7) Which is a combination of בָּכֵי and שִׁירָה, as Hashem's matching of people, against ...
0 votes
0 answers
76 views

Why does Shulchan Aruch not use the term חלף

A knife that is used for Shechita is also called a חלף. Why doesn't the Smach and Shulchan Aruch use this word and instead use the regular term סכין שחיטה?
2 votes
0 answers
128 views

Why is a נשר - eagle considered שקץ - a detestable thing when its symbol is used on many holy things

The word "שקץ" is described by R. Samson Rafael Hirsch as follows, "...the prohibition against eating (an eagle, or other similar birds) is termed שקץ, such eating is antithetical to ...
2 votes
0 answers
74 views

Can you jinx someone?

Since I was a child it was common that when two people would say the same thing at the same time one would call out "jinx" (sometimes followed by, "you have to buy me a soda!"). ...
0 votes
0 answers
46 views

Smoke or incense

Genesis 19:28 "and he looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the surrounding area; and behold, he saw the smoke (קִיטֹ֣ר) of the land ascended like the smoke (...
2 votes
0 answers
115 views

What is אנדרלמוסיא

It is quite clear from context that it means a type of heavenly group punishment, like a flood or a plague* where both good and bad die, l'a. It seems mainly connected with the sin of זִּמָּה/זְנוּת i....
2 votes
0 answers
95 views

Jewish way to describe depleted batteries?

Is there any halachic or hashkafic issues with saying that a battery has "died"? It is a well known Torah tradition, halachically and hashkafically, for us to avoid words like this, and ...
3 votes
0 answers
78 views

Yaakov's thigh and the side of the altar

When Yaakov wrestled with the angel (Bereishis 32:25-26), the angel was losing the fight, and touched the hipsocket of Yaakov, making it go out of the socket. The word for hip/thigh used here is ...

15 30 50 per page
1
2 3 4 5
10