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.
Search
One may light Channukah candles ad shetichle regel min hashuk, until people stop walking through the market, because after that there would be no pirsumei nisa, advertisement of the miracle, outsid...
In the first paragraph of Krias Shema Al Hamita, we say that we forgive: ...לְכָל־מִי שֶׁהִכְעִיס וְהִקְנִיט אוֹתִי אוֹ שֶׁחָטָא כְנֶגְדִּי בֵּין בְּגוּפִי בֵּין בְּמָמוֹנִי... ...anyone who ha...
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...
The kal verb רדף, "chase", appears many times in Tanach. But the preposition that follows it, to mark the object of the verb, varies: Sometimes it's a direct object: it's marked either with no pre...
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...
Are there any printed or audio/visual collections of Shabbos Zemiros which didn't make it into the standard repertoire?
Toward the end of ברכת המזון (the prayer after a bread meal), we include a litany of short prayers that start "הרחמן" ("May the merciful one do such-and-such"). In the Ashkenazic version, one of th...
It is often clear when a portion of the gemarah is written as an aggadah (ie, non-legal), however there are times where it may be unclear if a statement is aggadic, halachic, or none of the above. ...
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...
Asking this question reminded me of another. As part of my (past) musical studies, I've studied historical compositions that set the "ordinary" of the Christian mass to music. The "ordinary" cons...
In a number of sources we find learning Aleph Beis associated with learning Torah: notably Shabbos 31a, with the convert who Hillel persuaded with reversing the Aleph Beis; Shabbos 103b-104a, with ...
Malbim on Beresheet 6:4 writes: "הנפלים. עתה יפרש מ"ש ויראו בני האלהים את בנות האדם, מי היו בני האלהים, הם אלה שאמרו שהם בני אלהים ונפלו משמים, והגדות כאלה היו בימים האלה וגם אחרי כן. כי נודע שבכל...
I've always assumed (but can't prove) that while Adam and Chava were in Gan Eden, and had they stayed, they lived out in nature -- they didn't require tents or other shelter. When they are expelle...
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...
Some members of my family are required to take a "smell test" in order to attend school each day. Are they required to make a bracha בורא מיני בשמים like when usually smelling nice things, or is th...
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 Bereisheet 9, Canaan was cursed and this curse was taken to be a statement on not just him, but his descendants (see the Haamek Davar on pasuk 24 for an example). Why would later generations be ...
I read the following statement on the Chabad.org website https://www.chabad.org/calendar/view/day.asp?tdate=12/9/2022 "The Talmud (Ketubot 103a) relates that even after his passing, for a time, Ra...
If one is in an open area in which more than one minyan is meeting, can he be counted for both minyanim simultaneously? If, at the kotel, one minyan has started and then someone leaves, and I am t...
Note -- I am creating the hypothetical carefully so I can focus on an underlying halachic concept. A Baal T'shuva learns to daven in a very eclectic minyan -- people from all over and with all sor...
When a string breaks off of one's tzitzit there are rules about its disposal. One may not treat it (according to opinions noted by the Rama) in a degrading fashion though they needn't be buried in ...
The Mah Tovu statement of Bil'am's, though intended as a curse was actually praise, and attested to (via Bava Batra 60a) the modesty of the children of Israel. They did not construct their tents in...
Numbers 20:13 (with my own, loose translation): הֵמָּה מֵי מְרִיבָה אֲשֶׁר רָבוּ בְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל אֶת ה׳ This was the Fight Water: the Jews fought God The word "רָבוּ" ("fought") has its str...
The torah records many places where God speaks to Moshe telling him to speak to others, generally to relay instructions. The common structure is: ... וידבר יי אל ... לאמר: ךבר But sometimes ...
Starting with what I think I understand, my doubtless oversimplified picture of the world was that processes set in motion before the Sabbath could be allowed to continue. For example, I thought it...