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The Septuagint's version of Jeremiah is one eighth shorter than the Masoretic Text's version. In the Dead Sea Scrolls is evidence of both versions. Did any ancient Jewish writers (such as in the M...
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...
If one had placed a bouquet of flowers in a vase prior to Shabbat, is it considered muktzah? In what scenario would it be permissible to move it on Shabbat?
The Gemara (Berachot 38a) cites a dispute whether the blessing on bread is המוציא or מוציא. The issue is that the blessing must reflect the past tense; while everyone agrees that מוציא is past tens...
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...
In Orach Chaim 607:1 it says: צריך להתודות במנחה קודם סעודה המפסקת One must say vidui at mincha prior to the final meal before the fast. The Mishnah Berurah explains: קודם סעודה המפסקת - שמא...
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...
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 Bereishis 4:1, the Pasuk describes the birth of Kayin: וְהָאָדָם יָדַע אֶת־חַוָּה אִשְׁתּוֹ וַתַּהַר וַתֵּלֶד אֶת־קַיִן וַתֹּאמֶר קָנִיתִי אִישׁ אֶת־יְהוָה Now the man knew his wife Chava, and ...
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...
I commonly see "החג" (or "חג"), literally "the holiday", explained as referring to the holiday of Sukos. I wonder whether it's correct or whether, as I suspect, it refers to the combined celebrati...
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...
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 ...
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 Vayetze, Genesis 30:25–43, Jacob and Laban come to and execute a strange agreement: Jacob agrees to tend Laban's sheep under a payment scheme as follows: First (as explained by Rashi to verse...
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...
I was thinking about t'rumah, which historically was designated for a kohein but today we destroy, and similarly taking challah, which we burn. Why isn't this a violation of bal tashchit, do not w...
Are there any printed or audio/visual collections of Shabbos Zemiros which didn't make it into the standard repertoire?
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...
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...
I'm trying to locate the source for a rabbinic saying quoted in a Christian commentary on the book of Job by the Hebraist Franz Delitzsch. Here's the relevant bit of the passage: The Talmud has ...
Exodus 21:28-29 (and onward) gives us laws concerning the ox that gores. If it happens once, they kill the ox but do not punish the owner. But if the ox has a pattern of goring and the owner has ...
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...
I have heard (but have no source) that, to fulfill the obligation of reading the megillah, one must either be physically present for a reading or, if listening by phone, follow along in a kosher sc...
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...
