Welcome to the Judaism community on Codidact!
Will you help us build our community of learners? Drop into our study hall, ask questions, help others with answers to their questions, share a d'var torah if you're so inclined, invite your friends, and join us in building this community together. Not an ask-the-rabbi service, just people at all levels learning together.
General Q&A about Judaism, Jewish texts, and Jewish life. This site does not give personal advice.
Filters (None)
According to the work Perek Shirah, Yirmiyahu 22:13 is the verse associated with the fox (shual). What is the explanation for the link between the contents of that pasuk and the fox?
After reading some chapters of Tanakh I had found a relation between Abrahamic Religions (Islam, Judaism, Christianity). I don't know how many Abrahamic Religions are right there. I have found 4 n...
Usually, if someone accidentally misses a davening, he makes the shemoneh esrei up by saying it twice the next time (called tashlumin) [source needed]. If someone misses davening accidentally, but ...
There are instances when I cannot use my Oz Vehadar edition of tractate Menachos, and thus I am forced1 into using an older edition, i.e. the old-fashioned Vilna printings2, from, like, two-thousan...
In the Yalkut Shimoni on Nach 499.2, he writes: שנו רבותינו בשעה שמלך המשיח בא עומד על גג בית המקדש והוא משמיע להם לישראל ואומר ענוים הגיע זמן גאולתכם Our Rabbi's taught, at the time that the k...
Nun, the father of Yehoshua, is apparently named after a word for fish in Aramaic (for example, Beresheet Rabbah 97:3; Divrei Emet, Matot). His father Elishama (according to Divrei Hayamim 1:7:26-2...
Consider a cabin that has one large room with a loft extending over part of that room. A half-height wall at the front of the loft separates it from the rest of the cabin, so there is a single com...
When bringing first fruits we are commanded to say the following to the priest: וּבָאתָ֙ אֶל־הַכֹּהֵ֔ן אֲשֶׁ֥ר יִהְיֶ֖ה בַּיָּמִ֣ים הָהֵ֑ם וְאָמַרְתָּ֣ אֵלָ֗יו הִגַּ֤דְתִּי הַיּוֹם֙ לַיהוָ֣ה אֱלֹה...
I was talking with a US rabbi from a liberal movement who left a congregation after 30 years. He told me that he needed to disengage from his now-former congregants, out of deference to the new ra...
Chaye Adam 138:5 writes: וראוי לכל אדם לטבול במקוה או בנהר ולא יקדים לטבול עד שעה קודם חצות היום In my own translation: It's seemly for every man to immerse in a ritualarium or a river [on the d...
Which of the Asseres Hadibros is most important? I remember hearing that its jealousy, but any sources (either that its jealousy or any other one) would be greatly appreciated.
In the book of D'varim I've been noticing a lot more uses of אנכי instead of אני. Both words mean "I". I've heard that אנכי is more formal, and I know it begins the revelation at Sinai, though in...
Once upon a time, I was on a trip up in north Georgia and stumbled across this gem: a security service branding itself as "Adonai Security, LLC." The tagline proceeds to make a pun in the same vei...
What are the rules regarding a mamzer who is the child of a kohen (and a woman with whom the kohen could not enter into a proper marriage)? Could the child eat trumah? What aspects of the status of...
One of the songs commonly sung on Friday night, which begins Kol Mekadesh Shevi'i, follows an alphabetic acrostic. After the introductory stanza, each stanza contains four phrases: the first three ...
I believe it was Rav SZA who wrote/said that there are three "threes" (3 things that people do having to do with "3") that are made up. Does anyone know where this is written and/or what they are?
Although I can't seem to find it now, I recall a rule that says that no one under the age of twenty can sell real property that he's inherited. Why? Because people under the age of twenty are not t...
There is a somewhat famous minhag for a child to fast the three fasts preceding His/Her Bar/Bas Mitzvah. Is there any halachic source for doing this, or is it an unnecessary adopted custom?
Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chayim 587:3, cites a view that if someone heard half of a double-long t'ki'a (long shofar blast) in a way that was effective but the other half in an invalid way, then he's n...
In most siddurim by Ashrei, it says to touch the arm Teffilin at פּותֵחַ אֶת יָדֶךָ,and the head Teffilin at וּמַשבִּיעַ לְכָל חַי רָצון. What is the connection between Hashem sustaining us and the...
In Nitzavim, Devarim 29:23-27 it says: "all nations will ask, “Why did the LORD do thus to this land? Wherefore that awful wrath?” They will be told, “Because they forsook the covenant that the LO...
The Bavli in various places (e.g. Suka 42–43) explains that the rabbis did away with blowing shofar and taking lulav on Shabas lest one "take it to an expert to learn, and carry it four cubits in p...
Based on the gemara, the Shulḥan Aruch states (YD 344:16): אין אומרים בפני המת אלא דברים של מת כגון צרכי קבורתו והספד אבל שאר כל דבר אסור והני מילי בדברי תורה אבל במילי דעלמא לית לן בה Before a de...
I have often wondered about the meaning of David's name. I believe Da'at Mikra write that it may be a short form of Dodvahu (דודוהו), which also appears somewhere in Tanach and means Dod (friend) o...
On sidra vayero Why didnt avrohom himself give the water. What is the difference if hashem himself gives it or his servan in the desert Why should we save a bad city because they have 50 righteo...
In Shmuel 1:31:4 it says that Shaul committed suicide rather than be captured alive by the Plishtim. Later, in Shmuel 2:1:2-15 it says that the son of an Amalekite ger who was in the ranks of Shau...
Are there any sources that discuss how one can internalize the belief that their prayers have a real effect on the world?
Are there any vegans/vegetarians that we know of anywhere in Tanach? (Not someone that just took a neder)
The Mishnah in Ketubot 57a.10 says: נותנין לבתולה שנים עשר חודש משתבעה הבעל לפרנס את עצמה, וכשם שנותנין לאשה כך נותנין לאיש לפרנס את עצמו. ולאלמנה שלשים יום One gives a virgin twelve months f...
We know that God told the entire torah to Moshe (with Moshe writing it down the second time) at Har Sinai. This must include the book of D'varim, because I have learned somewhere that there is a d...
Upon learning of someone's passing, I have been taught, we immediately say baruch dayan ha-emet. I have also been taught that we don't say blessings (or learn torah) in inappropriate locations. M...
The theme of the "Adama mei-arer" Hoshana-prayer that we say on Hoshana Rabba appears to be asking God to protect our agriculture. With one possible exception, every element appears to be about the...
In my shul (and i'm sure in others as well), they turn half of the lights off on Tisha B'av night as a way of mourning. Am I allowed to intentionally sit under the lights that are on to help me see...
I noticed that Ezekiel 1:16, in describing his vision of something like a heavenly chariot (merkavah), says the words gleaned like tarshish, translated "beryl" by Sefaria and some others: מַרְאֵ...
I'm trying to figure something out about Channukah: When the victorious Jews cleaned the temple they found only enough oil to light the menorah for 1 day and it took another 7 days before they had...
I live in the diaspora and this doesn't affect me personally, but in thinking about the sh'mita cycle while tending my small garden, I found myself wondering about some details. Does the law to not...
The Rambam writes (Hilchot Teshuvah 2:10, Sefaria's translation): אָסוּר לָאָדָם לִהְיוֹת אַכְזָרִי וְלֹא יִתְפַּיֵּס אֶלָּא יְהֵא נוֹחַ לִרְצוֹת וְקָשֶׁה לִכְעֹס וּבְשָׁעָה שֶׁמְּבַקֵּשׁ מִמֶּנּו...
I was reading about driving a car on Chol Hamo'ed and the article stated that many see the melacha of driving as tied to havarah (which I assume to refer to the burning of gas via combustion). The ...
The final chapters of Yirmiyahu are dedicated to Yirmiyahu foreseeing the fall of several nations in and around the Land of Israel, nations such as Egypt, Kedar, Babylon, Edom, Moav and Ammon. For ...
Sanhedrin 101a.2 teaches: תנו רבנן הקורא פסוק של שיר השירים ועושה אותו כמין זמר והקורא פסוק בבית משתאות בלא זמנו מביא רעה לעולם מפני שהתורה חוגרת שק ועומדת לפני הקב"ה ואומרת לפניו רבונו של עולם עש...
It's been reported that the same non-Jew buys all of Israel's chametz before Pesach. Indeed, I've heard that all rabbis in the country who are authorized to sell chametz transfer that authority to ...
On Motzei Shabbos Chazon (the Shabbos before Tisha Ba'av which always falls out during the nine days), what should be done about drinking the wine/grape juice for Havdallah? If a child is available...
Must a Nazir explicitly break the terms of his Nezirut on the day that his term of Nezirut ends (or the day after the last day)? If he doesn't is there any notion of his implicitly accepting anothe...
According to Shemirat Shabbat Kehilchatah (12:19) it is allowed to use a water tap on Shabbat, even though the water will be precisely measured by a meter. This seems to be a psik reisha (an inevi...
The Nephilim are named only in two verses in the Bible, in Genesis 6:4 and Numbers 13:33. Numbers 13:33 says that the Anakim come from the Nephilim, but different translations render this in a vari...
I ask for the sake of discussion, and by no means a practical advice What would be the halactic viewpoint of natural organic reduction as a burial solution? from the site's FAQ: Natural organic re...
Does a woman fulfill the obligation to hear the shofar during Elul if she blows it for herself, or is this one of the mitzvot where a man (must? should?) perform the action on behalf of others? Fo...
When Rashi comments on a Mishna telling us that the gemara will explain, sometimes he uses the phrase בגמרא מפרש and sometimes he uses the phrase מפרש בגמרא. (see here) Why would Rashi use one ove...
This past Shabbat I was reminded (while watching the torah reader rolling the scroll) that all (or nearly all?) of parshat Balak is written as one long paragraph in the scroll -- three solid column...
Throughout Parshat B'reishit, Hashem (God) is referred to in the plural multiple times. This includes in B'reishit 1:26: ויאמר אל-קים נעשה אדם בצלמנו כדמותנו... And God said: We will make a man in...
