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I saw the following question, asked by David Ziants, on mail-jewish today: In Daf Yomi, have just started chapter 7 of Mesechet Pesachim, and the first Mishneh talks about on how the Korban Pesa...
Berachot 10b.5-7 teaches:1 מַאי ״וְהַטּוֹב בְּעֵינֶיךָ עָשִׂיתִי״? ... רַבִּי לֵוִי אָמַר: שֶׁגָּנַז סֵפֶר רְפוּאוֹת. תָּנוּ רַבָּנַן: שִׁשָּׁה דְבָרִים עָשָׂה חִזְקִיָּהוּ הַמֶּלֶךְ, עַל שְׁלֹשָׁ...
At the end of Rashb"i story of being in the cave (Shabbat 34:a), Rabbi Shimon causes the death of an elder that "misbehaved". I always read it like this: words in [] are added to the Gemara text A ...
When reviewing parashas Ki Sisa I noticed that 32:7 has הֶעֱלֵיתָ heelesa for "you lifted" whereas 33:1 has הֶעֱלִיתָ heelisa. Why?
I recently saw a piece of קלף that had these words on the back: Note: I'm talking about the words towards the bottom of the parchment, not Hashem's name. Notice how the words are written facing...
Each year my rabbi arranges the sale of chameitz for me (and anybody else who asks), and I know that I could also do this online. Either way, I provide some basic information, like the location of...
What is the shecheyanu for on Purim night? The one before the morning megillah reading is (according to the announcement in shul) for the mitzvos done in the daytime. But in the preceding night, w...
The Shlah says that when someone feels himself getting angry, he should hold the corner of his tzitzis and that will calm him down. Is there any similar advice for [most] women (as they don't wear ...
ותשא כל העדה ויתנו את קולם ויבכו העם בלילה ההוא (במדבר יד, א) אמר רבה א"ר יוחנן אותו ליל ט' באב היה אמר להן הקב"ה לישראל אתם בכיתם בכיה של חנם ואני אקבע לכם בכיה לדורות (סנהדרין קד:, תענית כט.) "...
If Yirmiyahu wrote Sefer Melachim (Bava Batra 15a), and "two prophets do not prophesy employing one and the same style of expression" (Sanhedrin 89a), does that mean that the prophecies of prophets...
When a family goes on vacation, does the wife have to bring her Ketubah with her, since she should have it available at all times?
I know that t'fillin are placed on the weaker arm, which for most people is the left, so that the stronger hand is the one doing the binding. I have heard, but don't remember where, that someone w...
There are certain categories of speech which are outright forbidden by the Torah (various forms of gossip, profanity, blasphemy, curse, etc.). Theoretically speaking, could the Sanhedrin legislate...
Why did the Ark rest on Ararat? It seems random. Why not have it rest in Eretz Yisrael, for example?
When Pesach starts on a Saturday night, I understand that we are forbidden to eat matzah on that Shabbat (because we don't want to diminish the experience at the seder), but that we also aren't all...
During Maggid during the Pesach Seder, there is one point where we say דם ואש ותימרות עשן Blood, fire, and columns of smoke (ArtScroll Machzor translation) This is a quote from Yoel 3:3. A...
I've heard from multiple people, that when wearing the tzitzis strings out, leaving the knots visible is a sign of haughtiness. Does anyone know of a source for this? How does doing this show haug...
I noticed that my (paper) calendar reports that 29 Cheshvan is "Sigd". Curious about this day (on the Jewish calendar; they style secular stuff like Election Day differently) that I'd never heard ...
I learned what I understand to be a S'fardi or maybe Israeli pronunciation of Hebrew. I'm aware of the differences between this and the usual Ashkenazi pronunciation. My question is about variati...
In Berachos 4b (11 paragraphs up in pop-up), The gemara gives a potential reson what makes the teffilah "Ashrei" אִילֵּימָא מִשּׁוּם דְּאָתְיָא בְּאָלֶף בֵּית, נֵימָא ״אַשְׁרֵי תְמִימֵי דָרֶךְ״ דּ...
The Gemara in Brachot says: It was also taught in a baraita: Nine hundred and three types of death were created in the world, as it is stated: “Issues [totzaot] of death,” and that, 903, is the ...
A mishna on Ketubot 59b lists the household tasks a husband may demand of his wife (grinding corn, baking bread, washing his clothes, etc). It then goes on to say that if she brought a bondwoman (...
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...
Suppose someone started reading a haftara for a different week, or according to a different custom for the same week, or a piece of navi that's not a haftara at all. What should the community do? ...
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...
Among the classic Jewish works I've seen, Tarshish is nearly unanimously identified with modern-day Tunisia (Ibn Ezra, Targum Yonasan1, Rashi1); the two early dissenters I've seen quoted are modern...
I'm somewhat competent in praying alone on weekdays and Shabbat, with the current pandemic providing a forcing function. I prefer to be part of a community and be able to rely on the sh'liach tzib...
Various halachic authorities (see e.g. Rabbi Tzvi Pesach Frank in Responsa Har Tzvi 1:9, and discussion here) exempt garments produced from sheets of synthetic materials (e.g. nylon) from Tzitzit, ...
Today I saw this question: History of Birkas haMinim, which got me thinking: Nowadays, that we don't have Tzdokim or little Judaic Temple-cults like the Essenes, whom is the Birkat Haminim directed...
Everywhere that the term חנם appears, as far as I can tell, it always means "without personal benefit": a שומר חנם (Bava Metzia 7:8) watches an object without receiving anything in return; a Jewish...
As a personal example, I completed learning all of Shas Mishnayot (with the Kehati commentary) for my thirteenth birthday. At the time, I made a siyum; with the Hadran Alach, the special Kaddish, t...
The weekday amida has thirteen request benedictions in the middle, according to the usual count. Some of these end, after their respective requests, with "כי אתה…", "for you are…". Here's the rund...
I understand there was a little fence in Bayit Sheni called "HaSoreg"/"The Grille" which was meant to warn away gentiles and tme'im from entering the Chayil part of Har Habayit (according to the mi...
Last night, as part of his weekly livestream COVID update, Rabbi Dr. Glatt quoted Rav Mordechai Willig that one should put a mask over the wide end of the Shofar while blowing to prevent spreading ...
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...
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...
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...
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...
Why does no one, not even the daveners at the most chareidi kollel, follow the halacha of not talking during pesukei d’zimra?
I bought a package of frozen salmon filet pieces in Israel; they'd been imported from Poland. The package reads, in part: מטעמי הכשרות חובה לשטוף את העור או להסירו לפני השימוש. In my own tra...
At my synagogue we're currently writing a sefer torah in honor of our retiring rabbi. I know that the 613th mitzvah is to write a sefer torah, and have been taught that participating in the writin...
Bechorot 8a discusses a species called dolfinim, which, in Rashi's understanding, are merpeople and can bear viable offspring with humans. Let's suppose that merpeople actually exist as Rashi descr...
The Gemara in Ketubot 54b.10-55a.2 gives a list of 14 practical differences.1 Are there any other places in Shas that list more than 14 practical differences? The context/background has nothing ...
The 4 letter name for Hashem is replaced with the word a/d-/nai (3 syllables). But my siddur doesn't put vowels under each instance, so I'm not sure how to say the word when it is preceded b a pref...
I've heard (but don't remember where) that the music that is prohibited during the three weeks is one or both of: music with instruments, recorded music. I've heard conflicting things about a cape...
The conquest of the land described in the book of Yehoshua took seven years (Arakhin 13a).1 It is only at the end of the conquest that Yehoshua dismisses the "shock troops". We know from Yehoshua 1...
As I am training to become a chazzan, a prayer leader, I'm constantly beset by critiques by the community, regarding "you should've done X differently." There's certainly many points which will var...
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...
If semen was extracted from a dead man, and then used to impregnate a woman, is the offspring a legal son (let's limit it to male) of the dead man? Or, more simply put, is a child born of ones seme...
The plain reading of Vayikra 23:43 says that Yisrael dwelt in sukkot while they were in the wilderness. Rashi on this verse says that the "sukkot" that Israel dwelt in were the divine clouds of gl...
