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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...
I have heard there are some who refrain from referring to their children by nicknames. This was a very long time ago, and I cannot recall the reason nor the source. What could be the reason for th...
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...
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...
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...
Pesachim 68b teaches: רבי אליעזר אומר אין לו לאדם ביום טוב אלא או אוכל ושותה או יושב ושונה רבי יהושע אומר חלקהו חציו לאכילה ושתיה וחציו לבית המדרש R' Eliezer says, "A person on Yom Tov can either ...
If I am doing my ‘like-living’ in the Succah, is there any benefit to closing the door? Meaning, the open door is the only thing standing between the Succah becoming an entirely sealed structure. I...
There are multiple references to the "Satan" in Jewish texts, most notably in the book of Eyov (Job), where God allows the Satan to devastate Eyov's life, including killing his family. We also have...
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...
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 ...
I've read a lot about lashon hara from the perspective of (not) speaking it. My question is from the other side: what are one's obligations, both halacha and ethically (per Judaism), upon witnessin...
In Ki Tetzeh it says (Devarim 23:8-9): "You shall not abhor an Egyptian, for you were a stranger in his land. Children born to them may be admitted into the congregation of the LORD in the third g...
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...
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 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...
A dead body causes the room in which he lies to become ritually impure (Numbers 19:14). Additionally, Kohanim are forbidden to become ritually impure from those who are not immediate relatives (Lev...
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?
Related to this question. Someone told me today that the nascent Sanhedrin, at one point, held a trial for Achamadenijad for crimes against Israel. Is the Sanhedrin ever meant to serve as a kind of...
Can one bless Hatov Ve'Hametiv on wine that is not made of grapes (like pomegranates, figs etc) like he would on a grape wine?
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...
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.) "...
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 ...
In Shulchan Aruch Orach Chaim 2:4 it says: ואח"כ ינעול של שמאל ויקשרנו ויחזור ויקשור של ימין Then after that put on the left one and fasten it, and return and fasten the right one First you shoul...
This is a strange fact pattern that I thought of and I will explain my premises as I move through it, but the bottom line is whether a person can use suicide as a halachically acceptable behavior: ...
When Haman came home after leading Mordechai around, he complained to his wife, Zeresh. Her reaction was (from Sefaria) וַיְסַפֵּ֨ר הָמָ֜ן לְזֶ֤רֶשׁ אִשְׁתּוֹ֙ וּלְכׇל־אֹ֣הֲבָ֔יו אֵ֖ת כׇּל־אֲשֶׁ...
