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We need to work on defining our mission. There are a bunch of questions to resolve about particular scope boundaries. (The first is on language questions, and more should come.), and we also need t...
In Bereishis 22, the story of the עקידת יצחק (binding of Isaac) takes place. When Avraham sets up the altar in Bereishis 22:9, the Pasuk says: וַיָּבֹ֗אוּ אֶֽל־הַמָּקוֹם֮ אֲשֶׁ֣ר אָֽמַר־ל֣וֹ הָאֱל...
Chizkuni writes: Avraham built an altar;” Yitzchok did not participate in that activity; the reason that he did not do so was not that he would not have been willing to do so, but his father had h...
The site is doing well. It's growing. It's young, so it doesn't have tons of people and activity yet, but it's going in the right direction. I would rather grow slowly but steadily than have a bu...
I'm not widely traveled, but I've been to a bunch of different synagogues of all the major flavors, often as one-offs, including C and MO, so I'm answering on the basis of that experience. First v...
In Mishnah Ketubot 1:1, it says: בְּתוּלָה נִשֵּׂאת לַיּוֹם הָרְבִיעִי, וְאַלְמָנָה לַיּוֹם הַחֲמִישִׁי. A virgin is married on the fourth day [of the week] and a widow on the fifth day Why don't...
There are many possible reasons for downvotes. A single downvote really just means that someone didn't like the post; disagreed with it; felt (justified or not) that it was wrong; difficult to read...
We need to think carefully about editorial standards and process. We don't want to become a platform for people to post crackpot ideas to the internet without restriction. In Q&A, the structure...
In exactly three contexts, the Mishnah notes that there was an amah square marble slab with a ring, using exactly the same language each time. The first is in Sotah 2:2, regarding the Sotah procedu...
We've had some discussions about importing data from Mi Yodeya. The community hasn't yet decided what, if any, bulk imports to do, but we've had some requests to import specific questions and we'd...
In sifra it gives examples of each one of these (taken from sefaria): 1: א) מקל וחומר – כיצד? ויאמר יי' אל משה: ואביה ירק ירק בפניה הלא תכלם שבעת ימים? תסגר... 'שבעת ימים' – קל וחומר לשכינה ארב...
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 ...
According to the website of the National Library of Israel, indeed there used to be another stanza which appears in Machzor Vitri: קדשם במצותיך יטהרם כעצם השמים לטוהר. רוחך (תנחומו כבבהמה) [תנחמו ...
Judaism doesn't distinguish itself -- the other religions, as offshoots, differentiate themselves, Christianity by the abandoning of the laws and adopting Jesus, and Islam, by adopting Muhammed and...
This is a hypothetical question; it doesn't apply to anyone I know, but I heard an anecdote and it led me to wonder. Suppose someone discovers that her maternal grandmother was in fact Jewish, but...
Codidact's communities have a lot of great content that is helping people on the Internet. Our communities are small, though, and sustainable communities depend on having lots of active, engaged p...
Starting with your main question of what distinguishes Judaism and Islam: Judaism holds the Torah as part of its Biblical canon, also accepting the books of the Prophets and Writings (that’s the b...
Sh'miras Shabas K'hilchasah (5739 edition) 26:25 says it is not muktze and can be moved.
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? ...
Rabbi S. R. Hirsch comments on this (Bereishis 47:22), but really limits his observation only to noting that Moshe was not imitating the Egyptian law: "Only the land of the priests he did not bu...
One possible cause of confusion: In Israel, Muslim men do not have compulsory military service (and relatively few volunteer), but Jewish and Druze men do; most Druze men in Israel serve in the mi...
It's almost that time of year! Who's ready for some Purim Torah? Before we begin the season, we need to set some ground rules. In this thread, I'd like to discuss how exactly this will run. Below ...
If I write up a post on any other Codidact site, the auto-save feature isn't too bad; every time I click around in the text box, or pause for a moment, it briefly autosaves. If I write up a post o...
We can't learn from Mordechai not bowing to Haman, as that was a special case. Our Sages were bothered that it is permissible to bow to a human, so why didn't Mordechai bow? Indeed, we see that Yaa...
