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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...
From Pesach until Succos, we stop saying mashiv haruach umorid hageshem in shemoneh esrei. However, we would normally say it in the second blessing of the amidah, which is where we are only praisi...
In Rus 1:8, Naomi is telling her two daughters-in-law that they should return to their homes. וַתֹּ֤אמֶר נָעֳמִי֙ לִשְׁתֵּ֣י כַלֹּתֶ֔יהָ לֵ֣כְנָה שֹּׁ֔בְנָה אִשָּׁ֖ה לְבֵ֣ית אִמָּ֑הּ יעשה [יַ֣עַ...
In Brachot 61b:7 there is the famous parable of the fox trying to get the fish do go on the land. As part of the trick, the fox says: וְנָדוּר אֲנִי וְאַתֶּם, כְּשֵׁם שֶׁדָּרוּ אֲבוֹתַי עִם אֲב...
In the beginning of Parshat Sh'lach, when listing the spies from each tribe, the Torah gives Ephraim like every other tribe (Bamidbar 13:8): למטה אפרים הושע בן-נון From the tribe of Ephraim, Ho...
According to Shemirat Shabbat Kehilchatah (12:19) it is allowed to use a water tap on Shabbat, even though the water will be precisely measured by a meter. This seems to be a psik reisha (an inevi...
A few years ago, on the fall equinox, I noticed that the day was longer than 12 hours according to the (secular) sunrise/sunset times. Curious, I did some investigation. One reason for the differ...
I know that if one designates something for the temple (an offering or a donation), it can't be taken back -- it's committed. Is this a general principle of designating things, or is it specific t...
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 ...
This is a possible duplicate, I thought I had posted it but I'm not seeing it. I saw a touching opinion about the meaning of the phrase at https://www.quora.com/What-does-the-phrase-May-his-memory...
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 ...
Let's say a Jew is serving on a jury that is deciding the sentence for someone (even more powerfully, a Jew) convicted (under US law) of a capital offense. The judge instructs the jury that the two...
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...
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...
The child of a Jewish woman is a Jew. Is this status transmitted through birth or through parentage (genetics)? Specifically, if a Jewish woman acts as a surrogate for two non-Jews, what is the s...
Occasionally, I find myself using my phone as a siddur (prayer book), particularly when davening (praying) at a Sephardi shul as an Ashkenazi. (They don't always have Ashkenazi siddurim so it's mor...
I've been reading recent debates about Catholic communion wine, and which types of wine are or are not valid. One person suggested that kosher wine is always valid, someone else said that kosher wi...
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...
Mishneh Torah, Talmud Torah, 6:14 lists 24 reasons for excommunication. # 20 is: טַבָּח שֶׁלֹּא בָּדַק סַכִּינוֹ לִפְנֵי חָכָם A Shochet who does not have his knife checked by a wise man. (general...
Years ago, in a year when US Independence Day fell on Shabbat, I was away at a kallah, a week-long retreat for people from many communities with study, social activities, and, of course, davening. ...
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...
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. ...
Background: There is a requirement to honor Kohanim (Vayikra 21:8; Mishneh Torah, Positive Mitzvot, 32; Moed Katan 28b.27). Among the ways this commandment is fulfilled are allowing a Kohen to make...
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...
