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The Septuagint's version of Jeremiah is one eighth shorter than the Masoretic Text's version. In the Dead Sea Scrolls is evidence of both versions. Did any ancient Jewish writers (such as in the M...
Questions at all levels of background are welcome, and this community isn't only for Jews. Basic questions are fine. I'm not sure what you mean about "starting point". The torah, specifically th...
I have seen this a few times. Really quite simple. Just like the Gabbai will, unless he knows everyone, ask "Is there a Cohen?" or "Is there a Levi?" when it comes to Layning, he will do the same, ...
As far as I can tell, the talmud in Bava Kamma 92a is the earliest source for the statement, though its phrasing indicates the principle was known earlier: Rava said to Rabba bar Mari: From wher...
The Shoel Umeshiv was asked the question even stronger: according to Rashi (Suka there), the concern is that he'll take it to an expert to learn "its shaking process or the benediction" to recite; ...
The Gemara (Berachot 38a) cites a dispute whether the blessing on bread is המוציא or מוציא. The issue is that the blessing must reflect the past tense; while everyone agrees that מוציא is past tens...
Good choices! May God bless and keep the trolls far away from them. Amen.
As Isaac said, let's not think in terms of "better", as if there can be only one strong online community for rich knowledge-sharing and Q&A. Mi Yodeya is an important community and we should n...
One way in which I see this platform excelling for Judaism Q&A is through the platform team's responsiveness to feature requests to enhance the Judaism Q&A experience, in particular. As we'...
I'm trying to figure something out about Channukah: When the victorious Jews cleaned the temple they found only enough oil to light the menorah for 1 day and it took another 7 days before they had...
In Vayetze, Genesis 30:25–43, Jacob and Laban come to and execute a strange agreement: Jacob agrees to tend Laban's sheep under a payment scheme as follows: First (as explained by Rashi to verse...
Asking this question reminded me of another. As part of my (past) musical studies, I've studied historical compositions that set the "ordinary" of the Christian mass to music. The "ordinary" cons...
There are certain categories of speech which are outright forbidden by the Torah (various forms of gossip, profanity, blasphemy, curse, etc.). Theoretically speaking, could the Sanhedrin legislate...
Are there any printed or audio/visual collections of Shabbos Zemiros which didn't make it into the standard repertoire?
I was thinking about t'rumah, which historically was designated for a kohein but today we destroy, and similarly taking challah, which we burn. Why isn't this a violation of bal tashchit, do not w...
Onkelus to Genesis 36:15 says it means "great one". Rashi there says more specifically that it means "head of a family"; Sifse Chachamim clarifies that this is the leader or ruler but not necessari...
The tag can be removed server-side. I agree it's a pointless tag in that category. The Divrei Torah category shares tags with the Q&A and Challenges categories, so removing the tag would affec...
Toward the end of ברכת המזון (the prayer after a bread meal), we include a litany of short prayers that start "הרחמן" ("May the merciful one do such-and-such"). In the Ashkenazic version, one of th...
Yaakov didn't come up with the scheme on his own. If he had done so, it would have required relying on a miracle without any expectation of one - he would have been better off working for "normal" ...
As noted in this answer, even a sefer torah, if written by a heretic, does not have holy status and needn't be buried. Further, Rambam (Laws of Tefilin, Mezuzah, and Sefer Torah 1:13) writes: י...
In the first paragraph of Krias Shema Al Hamita, we say that we forgive: ...לְכָל־מִי שֶׁהִכְעִיס וְהִקְנִיט אוֹתִי אוֹ שֶׁחָטָא כְנֶגְדִּי בֵּין בְּגוּפִי בֵּין בְּמָמוֹנִי... ...anyone who ha...
The Malbim on that verse states: שהמלאך כשיתגלה להתראות לעין הנביא יתראה בלבוש מאויר הדק הנקרא תרשיש על שם מראהו, ואמרו תכלת דומה לים רצה לומר לים תרשיש, וים דומה לרקיע וכו The angel, when it b...
There were rishonim who held that things other than bread suffice, and they're cited in Shulchan Aruch (291:5, q.v.), who says that "the ruling is really like the first view that he must eat bread ...
You've misunderstood the announcement. All the blessings on the megilla reading are for the megilla reading. Each reading is a mitzva and gets blessings. Some communities view the daytime reading ...
