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Forgive my ignorance; I am not Jewish but interested in Judaism, and know a bit of Biblical Hebrew. I'm confused about the term Baal Shem. I'm assuming Shem refers to God's name, as in HaShem. But...
During p'sukei d'zimra on a week day which is Rosh Chodesh, we add in, during the recitation of Korbanot, a paragraph about the sacrifices of Rosh Chodesh. On Shabbat, add in an extra paragraph wi...
The first 2 verses of Parshat Vay'chi present me with a question, so I'm soliciting any help on this. Here they are, for convenience's sake (from Sefaria): וַיְחִ֤י יַעֲקֹב֙ בְּאֶ֣רֶץ מִצְרַ֔יִם ...
The gemara in Bava Metzia 59a make the statement that one should not "whiten his friend's face" (embarrass him). The section states ואל ילבין פני חבירו ברבים מנ"ל מדדרש רבא דדרש רבא מאי דכתיב (...
I am looking at the geneology of the 12 tribes and I found that Reuvein had son named Palu. Palu had a son named Eli'av and Eli'av had 3 sons, Datan, Aviram and Nemuel (Bamidbar 26:9) וּבְנֵ֣י אֱל...
I am looking for resources that go through the section (Vayikra 11:1-30) with a fine toothed comb and discuss and explain the inconsistencies in how animals are described/listed. I have assembled a...
At services that include it, we stand for Hallel. I've never learned about it but this makes sense; we're sanctifying God, like in Kedusha for which we also stand. But at every Pesach seder I've b...
The mishna (4:8) in Taanit reads אָמַר רַבָּן שִׁמְעוֹן בֶּן גַּמְלִיאֵל, לֹא הָיוּ יָמִים טוֹבִים לְיִשְׂרָאֵל כַּחֲמִשָּׁה עָשָׂר בְּאָב וּכְיוֹם הַכִּפּוּרִים, שֶׁבָּהֶן בְּנוֹת יְרוּשָׁלַיִם...
When giving matanot l'evyonim on Purim, I know that the mitzvah is fulfilled by giving money out on THAT day -- but must it be money that was set aside to be given on that day? If I have a box and...
What are the rules regarding a mamzer who is the child of a kohen (and a woman with whom the kohen could not enter into a proper marriage)? Could the child eat trumah? What aspects of the status of...
Usually, if someone accidentally misses a davening, he makes the shemoneh esrei up by saying it twice the next time (called tashlumin) [source needed]. If someone misses davening accidentally, but ...
In my shul (and i'm sure in others as well), they turn half of the lights off on Tisha B'av night as a way of mourning. Am I allowed to intentionally sit under the lights that are on to help me see...
Must a Nazir explicitly break the terms of his Nezirut on the day that his term of Nezirut ends (or the day after the last day)? If he doesn't is there any notion of his implicitly accepting anothe...
If someone b'mezid, intentionally, prayed shacharis without tefillin, would he have fulfilled his obligation? Or would he have to pray again with tefillin.
It seems that there is a similarity between the "Drakkon" figure , as the Gemmara describes it, and the Chinese worshiped, mythical beast Loong. Avoda Zara 43a.6: תנו רבנן איזהו צורת דרקון פירש רש...
While reading Megillat Ruth on Shavuot, I noticed that there were an unusually large number of words that were read differently than how they're written in the text. This includes outright omitting...
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...
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־...
I noticed that Pesach goes from being a holiday marked by עני to one, a month later, called שני, moving from ayin (eye) to shein (tooth). Yeah, I know that the words don't actually mean that (pover...
At what point did a sefer torah start to look like the sefer torah that we know? When Moshe wrote the torah, did he do so as a sofer, requiring kavanot and immersion and sirtutim and a particular ...
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...
I was reading about driving a car on Chol Hamo'ed and the article stated that many see the melacha of driving as tied to havarah (which I assume to refer to the burning of gas via combustion). The ...
Why did the Ark rest on Ararat? It seems random. Why not have it rest in Eretz Yisrael, for example?
I was paring a Hebrew word and left with a biconsonantal But on the answer key it had three Hebrew letters intead of two Hebrew letters. A III he, was added to the end of the biconsonantal. What am...
There are certain things that we do because we have been commanded to, and the bracha on these mitzvot includes the phrase "asher kidishanu" indicating that Hashem commanded us to perform these mit...
