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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...
As I understand it, generally speaking: If you count the correct number of days (ideally also weeks, but days is the most important) in any way (e.g., "tonight we count...") after Tzeis Hacochav...
I remember from when I was in elementary school that we try very carefully NOT to count the omer before we count the omer. We refer to the current count by stating what yesterday's count was. But ...
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...
Rabbi Tz'vi Elimelech Spira of Dynów wrote a book called "בני יששכר" that is popular enough that he himself is sometimes called the "בני יששכר". But the phrase (whether referring to the book or to ...
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 ...
This is a strange fact pattern that I thought of and I will explain my premises as I move through it, but the bottom line is whether a person can use suicide as a halachically acceptable behavior: ...
As a Noachide wanting to convert to Judaism you are already on a journey. Such journeys are by their nature incremental, so even though your end goal isn't currently available to you, you might be...
If a Noahide wants to convert to Judaism and the nearest Orthodox community is hundreds of miles away, should he go with what's available in his area? Even if it's Reform? As I understand it, Juda...
During the plague of darkness, the Jews went around to scout out what the Egyptians had in their houses and then they "asked" for things before they left and the Egyptians gave them lots. No doubt...
Rosends pointed out a related question elsewhere with a variety of answers. Here is a compilation of what I learned there and by following links from there: Chabad says (without citing a sour...
After Yosef gave the brothers provisions, he kept Shimon (Bereisheet 42:24) there to guarantee that the brothers would return with Binyomin. They went home and didn't come back until they ran out o...
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...
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 ...
Ploni is the child of a Jewish mother and a non-Jewish father. The father is ill and Ploni would like to say Mi Sheberach for him in a minyan. How should Ploni form the name for a non-Jewish rela...
Ignoring the question of why, there is a practice of using different musical trop when laining the 10 commandments from when studying it. Are there other examples of different trop or pronunciatio...
As I understand it, the Tevilah requirement comes in when: A vessel for use with preparing or eating food is manufactured by a non-Jew A vessel for use with preparing or eating food is owned by...
Anecdotally, if people know you're a Baal Koreh, they will often let you - or ask you to - Layn your Aliyah. Many years ago I used to help a Sephardi Minyan (I am 100% Ashkenazi) with anything from...
Residue from such candles would be a problem for kashrus. However, as long as there is no connected 'liquid stream' from the source candle to the dishes, you can simple scrub off any residue and t...
One foundational point that might shed some clarity: The requirement for tevilas keilim is only for utensils that are owned and being used with food by a Jew, but were previously owned by a non-...
I recall asking someone about whether a Jew could work in a non-kosher restaurant. One of the opinions I heard was that a Jew shouldn't because "odds are" that the person, as a waiter, will end up ...
I was reading up on tevillas keilim and saw the following statements on this site: Utensils require tevila if they were given by a Jew to a Yehudi as a gift or if they were bought from a aino Ye...
Isn't this really two questions? What defines Judaism? How is Judaism different from other faiths?
This is directly addressed in the Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chayim 168:6: פת הבאה בכיסנין מברך עליו בורא מיני מזונות ולאחריו ברכה מעין שלש ואם אכל ממנו שיעור שאחרים רגילים לקבוע עליו אע"פ שהוא לא שב...
I was recently doing some baking, and it led to a household discussion: what makes bread bread, as opposed to mezunot? I wondered if it might be about ingredients. Bread, fundamentally, is made o...
