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There is a list in Bamidbar 33 of the places and transitions (they set out from X and camped at Y, they set out from Y and camped at Z, etc). This list doesn't say how long they stayed at each. I...
When Yisrael spent 40 years in the wilderness, they sometimes camped for longer periods of times and sometimes for shorter ones, sometimes even just two days (Bamidbar 9:21 -22): וְיֵ֞שׁ אֲשֶׁר־...
Starting with what I think I understand, my doubtless oversimplified picture of the world was that processes set in motion before the Sabbath could be allowed to continue. For example, I thought it...
I have been taught that we count the omer at night with a b'racha. Counting at night makes sense; it's the first opportunity to fulfill the commandment each day and we should rush to fulfill a mit...
In Vayikra chapter 20 the torah gives a long list of forbidden relations. Almost all of them are of the form "if a man (lies with, takes)..." or, in one case, "if a woman..." (third person). In V...
Each day, we recite the 8 p'sukim from Bamidbar 28 (1-8) which detail the rules of the twice daily Tamid. The Tamid is an Olah but I'm not sure of the exact purpose of the sacrifice. On weekdays, ...
This doesn't strictly answer your question, but I think the background information and context will be helpful. The halacha (Jewish law) is that we can violate any torah law to save a human life e...
I've chatted with Monica about this. She agreed with my assessment of the place I first heard about it, which I don't consider good enough to link to. It's about a jurisdiction where COVID emergen...
Efrayim and Manashe both have different trope from the other ten, by the way. With Manashe there are extra words that the trope has to account for, but it's interesting that Efrayim, without that ...
At the beginning of Sh'lach L'cha the torah lists the twelve scouts and their tribes. In general these names follow the pattern "from the tribe of (tribe), (somebody) ben (somebody)", with (genera...
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 ...
In Devarim 3:27, when Moshe pleads with God to be allowed to go into the land, God says to him: עֲלֵ֣ה ׀ רֹ֣אשׁ הַפִּסְגָּ֗ה וְשָׂ֥א עֵינֶ֛יךָ יָ֧מָּה וְצָפֹ֛נָה וְתֵימָ֥נָה וּמִזְרָ֖חָה וּרְאֵ֣...
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...
Bottom line question is why is a Sukkah different from a Matzah in terms of (not) requiring (expressed) kavannah in its creation? A Sukkah (according to the ruling of Beit Hillel on Mas Sukkah 9a)...
Is searching for/burning chameitz a distinct obligation or just an adjunct – a way to prepare for pesach? If I kept my house striclty kosher for pesach all year round (not actually that tough as I...
I found myself wondering about this while clearing the table after the first seder this year (which was also Shabbat). Most of the time, both in my family and in the group of friends I sometimes s...
This question arose at my seder this year and nobody present knew of an answer: The haggadah designates the three matzot for specific purposes: We are to break the middle one (and save the larg...
While I am not Rabbi David Lau, and I can't speak exactly to the sources that he used to come to this conclusion, we do have some precedence for the halacha (Jewish law) being established according...
The Torah of course predates the development of vaccines, but someone who knows far more than I argues that it requires its followers to receive a COVID vaccine. What's quoted in the news article i...
Din Online, one of the many "ask a rabbi" services online, wrote in an answer that usage of this phrase is custom but there's no law that formalizes it. They add that it is usually used for someon...
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...
I'm trying to integrate things I (think I) know. Am I right that there's a general religious principle to follow most secular law? The Bible has more than one example of defying a law that contrad...
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 ...
I have read talmudic accounts and heard of medrashim reagrding the timeline of the 6th day of creation and the "birth" of Adam and Chava (especially as it relates to Erev Shabbat) but I'm wondering...
This d'var torah makes the argument that an orphan can still fulfill the obligation to honor parents, because the sages interpret it more broadly than just your two biological parents. (See the li...
