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I live with my wife and one of my responsibilities is to do the food shopping. Often, she gives me a list and I go. If I come home with something not on the list, can I hand it to her on Purim and...
Nun, the father of Yehoshua, is apparently named after a word for fish in Aramaic (for example, Beresheet Rabbah 97:3; Divrei Emet, Matot). His father Elishama (according to Divrei Hayamim 1:7:26-2...
Some books in Tanach have a different kind of trop for the words. (see Psalms, e.g. under בַּעֲצַ֢ת and above רְשָׁ֫עִ֥ים) Why does this book and others have a different kind of trup? How is th...
Many kids I know (including past-me) think that Eliyahu drinks from the fifth cup at each seder. I've been to several where parents encouraged this belief, perhaps as a way of keeping the kids awa...
At megillah readings, I'm used to people making noise to blot out every mention of Haman's name. Tonight I was at a Chabad reading and they had a different custom: they blotted out the mentions th...
This d'var torah discusses kal vachomer arguments in torah: Rashi is bothered that these two arguments have some sort of flaw. He wants us to realize that this isn’t so difficult, as there are t...
Exodus 34:7 ("נֹצֵר חֶסֶד לָאֲלָפִים נֹשֵׂא עָוֺן וָפֶשַׁע וְחַטָּאָה") is written in Torah scrolls with a large initial letter nun. My kid wants to know why. (I checked several commentaries and fo...
In Eruvin 74b.2, the Gemara rejects a proof by saying: לְעוֹלָם אֵימָא לָךְ קַיבְּלַהּ מִינֵּהּ, וְהָכָא חַזָּנָא הוּא דַּהֲוָה אָכֵיל נַהֲמָא בְּבֵיתֵיהּ וְאָתֵי בָּיֵית בְּבֵי כְנִישְׁתָּא The G...
Sanhedrin 101a.2 teaches: תנו רבנן הקורא פסוק של שיר השירים ועושה אותו כמין זמר והקורא פסוק בבית משתאות בלא זמנו מביא רעה לעולם מפני שהתורה חוגרת שק ועומדת לפני הקב"ה ואומרת לפניו רבונו של עולם עש...
In my Simchas Torah experience, there's at least as many cycles of aliyos as there are Kohanim and Leviim, such that if anything a given Kohen or Levi may end up with multiple aliyos on a given Sim...
For "בִּשַּׂרְתִּי צֶדֶק בְּקָהָל רָב" (Psalms 40:10), a copy I have has instead "דִבַּרְתִּי צֶדֶק בְּקָהָל רָב". I assume this is just a transcription error, but wonder whether perhaps it is, rat...
Are there any sources that discuss how one can internalize the belief that their prayers have a real effect on the world?
The akeidah was a significant event for both Avraham and Yitzchak.[1] Immediately after they appear to go their separate ways -- Avraham leaves without his son, and we're not told where Yitzchak w...
In Nitzavim, Devarim 29:23-27 it says: "all nations will ask, “Why did the LORD do thus to this land? Wherefore that awful wrath?” They will be told, “Because they forsook the covenant that the LO...
I've heard from multiple people, that when wearing the tzitzis strings out, leaving the knots visible is a sign of haughtiness. Does anyone know of a source for this? How does doing this show haug...
Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chayim 587:3, cites a view that if someone heard half of a double-long t'ki'a (long shofar blast) in a way that was effective but the other half in an invalid way, then he's n...
I have often wondered about the meaning of David's name. I believe Da'at Mikra write that it may be a short form of Dodvahu (דודוהו), which also appears somewhere in Tanach and means Dod (friend) o...
I understand there was a little fence in Bayit Sheni called "HaSoreg"/"The Grille" which was meant to warn away gentiles and tme'im from entering the Chayil part of Har Habayit (according to the mi...
Today I saw this question: History of Birkas haMinim, which got me thinking: Nowadays, that we don't have Tzdokim or little Judaic Temple-cults like the Essenes, whom is the Birkat Haminim directed...
The last story in Maseches Shabbos 157b:2 brings the following story: עוּלָּא אִיקְּלַע לְבֵי רֵישׁ גָּלוּתָא. חַזְיֵיהּ לְרַבָּה בַּר רַב הוּנָא דְּיָתֵיב בְּאַוּוֹנָא דְמַיָּא וְקָא מָשַׁח לֵיהּ...
If Yirmiyahu wrote Sefer Melachim (Bava Batra 15a), and "two prophets do not prophesy employing one and the same style of expression" (Sanhedrin 89a), does that mean that the prophecies of prophets...
The final chapters of Yirmiyahu are dedicated to Yirmiyahu foreseeing the fall of several nations in and around the Land of Israel, nations such as Egypt, Kedar, Babylon, Edom, Moav and Ammon. For ...
I recall hearing of a medrash which explains that Adam harishon was supposed to live until 1000 years old but he saw that Dovid Hamelech would die as an infant so he "donated" 70 of his years to Da...
I'm not fully finished with this question as I haven't researched all of my premises, and if someone can point me in the direction of a resource which would stop my question before it starts, that ...
In Shemot 18:2-4, Yitro comes from Midian to join the Israelites after the exodus, bringing Moshe's wife Tzipporah and his sons Gershon and Eliezer. This appears to be the torah's last mention of ...
