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Welcome to the Judaism community on Codidact!

Will you help us build our community of learners? Drop into our study hall, ask questions, help others with answers to their questions, share a d'var torah if you're so inclined, invite your friends, and join us in building this community together. Not an ask-the-rabbi service, just people at all levels learning together.

Activity for Harel13‭

Type On... Excerpt Status Date
Answer A: Purim Torah Discussion
I wanted to suggest, if possible, locking the downvotes on PT posts. I mean, if a PT is inappropriate, then like any other post, it should be removed. But other than that, I see no point in downvoting PTs. If you don't like it, it probably means that you have a different sense of humor from the OP. T...
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about 3 years ago
Question Suggestion: some sort of weekly roundup
I had an idea that might help evolve the Judaism Codidact somewhat: Every week, making a thread in which everyone can post something interesting they learned over the past week about Judaism and/or the Jewish people. That way, we can all learn a little about the interests of other members and share i...
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over 3 years ago
Question Edit suggestion not being approved and how to view what was changed
I received an edit suggestion yesterday. a. I am unable to tell what was changed. Is there a way to highlight the changes? b. I eventually assumed that the edit was of a minor spelling mistake, so I tried to click approve. It was rejected with a popup that told me that no more than five tags ca...
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over 3 years ago
Article Vayeshev calculation: Figuring out which "Yom Eidam" it was
Note: The following is a pilpulistic calculation I made based on a Rashi from the parsha, only to discover at the end that the question was more or less answered at the end of the midrash Rashi is quoting from...either way, I thought it was a fun exercise at the time. Rashi on the verse in Bereshe...
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over 3 years ago
Answer A: Topic Submission Thread (Q1 5781)
The Geonim.
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over 3 years ago
Article The wisdom of Elisha
It occurred to me recently that to the average bystander in the United Kingdom of Israel, days prior to the split during the time of Rechav'am and Yerov'am, it might seem as though a certain tribe had plotted out a coup to overthrow the House of David. Consider the following: Achiyah Hashiloni was...
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over 3 years ago
Answer A: Did any ancient Jewish writers address the differences in Jeremiah's source texts?
As I wrote in the comments of @user8078's answer, Rabbi Reuven Margaliyot wrote an essay called "חכמי התלמוד ותרגום השבעים" (The Talmudic Sages and The LXX). In it he brings eight examples of inexplicit references he found to the LXX in the Talmud and Midrashim. All are cases in which the sages asser...
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over 3 years ago
Question Shgagah with the killing of the son of the Amalekite ger?
In Shmuel 1:31:4 it says that Shaul committed suicide rather than be captured alive by the Plishtim. Later, in Shmuel 2:1:2-15 it says that the son of an Amalekite ger who was in the ranks of Shaul's army came to David and claimed that he had killed Shaul as an act of mercy. It's clear he wished t...
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over 3 years ago
Question Why did the Ark rest on Ararat?
Why did the Ark rest on Ararat? It seems random. Why not have it rest in Eretz Yisrael, for example?
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over 3 years ago
Article Lech-Lecha DT: Why is the king of Tzo'ar nameless?
Side note: I've been wanting to post this DT all week, but was trying to track down a certain source and unfortunately haven't managed to find it yet. If anyone has any idea and can point me to where it's located, I will very much appreciate it. Thanks! This is an idea that I thought of last year....
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over 3 years ago
Answer A: Where was Lot during the famine?
Rashi alludes to this in Beresheet 13:5: > "WHO WENT WITH ABRAM — What brought it about that he possessed all this? The fact that he was accompanying Abram (Genesis Rabbah 41:3; Pesikta Rabbati, שמיני)." And he expounds on this in Beresheet 19:29: >"GOD REMEMBERED ABRAHAM — What bearing has God’...
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over 3 years ago
Answer A: Topic Submission Thread (Q1 5781)
The life and character of Avraham Avinu.
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over 3 years ago
Question Resource section
After seeing this post in the Divrei Torah section, which in the opinion of some didn't quite fit the category of DT, and I agree, I thought of suggesting the creation of another section of the site: Resources. In Resources one could post charts and useful links and things like that that are related,...
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over 3 years ago
Article The seven liquids and the chagim
This dvar Torah is still, technically, in the works. It's meant to b"h span all of the chagim but only covers Rosh Hashanah, Sukkot and Chanukah for the moment. However, each part of the dvar Torah can be a standalone dvar Torah. Note: The basic idea of the opening and the addition at the beginning ...
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over 3 years ago
Question Hiding in a tree or hiding among the trees?
As I was reading Beresheet 3:8 today ("וַיִּתְחַבֵּא הָאָדָם וְאִשְׁתּוֹ מִפְּנֵי ה' אֱלֹוקים בְּתוֹךְ עֵץ הַגָּן"), it suddenly occurred to me that though I had never thought about the term "בתוך עץ הגן" (inside/among the tree(s) of the garden), my mind probably usually understood it like it's trans...
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over 3 years ago
Question Believing prayer works
Are there any sources that discuss how one can internalize the belief that their prayers have a real effect on the world?
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over 3 years ago
Answer A: Ancestry of the Mishmarot Kehunah
In Yerushalmi Taanit 20a it says: >ר' זעיר' בשם רב הונה להזיר י"ז שחזר המחזיר לאלעזר Translation: R' Zeir' in the name of Rav Hunah "to Hazir 17", that returned the cycle to Elazar. On which Rabbi Kanievsky writes: >שח' משמרות ראשונות לאלעזר וח' שאחר כך לאיתמר ומי"ז ואילך חזר המחזור לאלעזר ...
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over 3 years ago
Question Extra-Tanachic accounts for Nitzavim prophecy?
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 LORD, God of their fathers, made with them when He freed them from the land of Egypt; they turned to the ...
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over 3 years ago
Question Sources for the meaning of David's name
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) of God. I was wondering whether there were sources that state other views to the meaning of David's name?...
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over 3 years ago
Question Status of the descendants of Yarcha
In Ki Tetzeh it says (Devarim 23:8-9): >"You shall not abhor an Egyptian, for you were a stranger in his land. Children born to them may be admitted into the congregation of the LORD in the third generation." In Hilchot Issurei Biah 13:11-12 it says: >"Just as we circumcise and immerse converts;...
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over 3 years ago
Question Ancestry of the Mishmarot Kehunah
In 1 Divrei Hayamim 24:4 it says about the dividing of the Mishmarot Kehunah: >"The sons of Eleazar turned out to be more numerous by male heads than the sons of Ithamar, so they divided the sons of Eleazar into sixteen chiefs of clans and the sons of Ithamar into eight clans." And then it lists...
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over 3 years ago
Answer A: What happened to the end of the Aleph-Beis in Kol Mekadesh?
According to the website of the National Library of Israel, indeed there used to be another stanza which appears in Machzor Vitri: >קדשם במצותיך יטהרם כעצם השמים לטוהר. רוחך (תנחומו כבבהמה) [תנחמו כבהמה] תרד בבקעה מן ההר: שבתיהם תשכנם בנחלת הסהר. כנחלים נטיו. וכגנות עלי נהר: אחרת:&rlm; It is uncl...
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over 3 years ago
Answer A: Question on Ekev: in what way are good things hard?
My dad suggested that I had misunderstood the way the verses are supposed to be read. He said that Moshe says that Hashem brought upon the various hardships of traveling through the desert and in order to alleviate somewhat those hardships, Hashem sent the following miracles: manna, clothes that didn...
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over 3 years ago
Question Moving questions from MY to here
How can I move a question from MY to here? Should I just copy all of it here or do the mods (with their techno-magic ;D) do it? And if the latter, how do I request a move?
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over 3 years ago
Answer A: Why is "chinam" translated as "baseless"?
This is based on a class given by one of the rabbis at my yeshiva: Consider the story of Kamtza and Bar Kamtza, often brought as an example of Sinat Chinam. Arguably, the hatred there wasn't without benefit: The rich man didn't want to be associated with lowly riff-raff such as Bar Kamtza. Associa...
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over 3 years ago
Answer A: What's your favorite weekly Torah section, and why?
I don't have a particularly favorite parsha, but there are a few sections I like especially: """World-building""" (for lack of a better term at the moment, hence the triple quotation marks...) sections - sections such as the genealogies in Beresheet and the mifkadim in Bamidbar. I find that sectio...
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over 3 years ago
Question What happened to the fruit brought by the spies?
Kind of a weird question. Does anyone have any idea what happened to the fruit brought by the spies from Israel to the desert? Was it eaten by specific people? Buried? Left behind?
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over 3 years ago
Question Question on Ekev: in what way are good things hard?
In the beginning of Ekev, Moshe says that Hashem tested Bnei Yisrael in the desert to see if they would remain faithful - "Remember the long way that the LORD your God has made you travel in the wilderness these past forty years, that He might test you by hardships to learn what was in your hearts: w...
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over 3 years ago
Answer A: Are questions purely about the State/Land of Israel in-scope?
I think archaeology should be in scope, but I'm not sure that talking about every monastery that the Crusaders built, for example, is in scope. Similar to what I wrote in Jewish/history, I think that questions about Crusaders' impact on Jewish communities in Israel, perhaps even myths about connectio...
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over 3 years ago
Question Why does Nun have an Aramaic name?
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 1:7:26-27) had a Hebrew name. His son Yehoshua had a Hebrew name. Arguably, all of Ephraim's descendants (prior ...
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over 3 years ago
Question Is the Sanhedrin supposed to serve as an international court?
Related to this question. Someone told me today that the nascent Sanhedrin, at one point, held a trial for Achamadenijad for crimes against Israel. Is the Sanhedrin ever meant to serve as a kind of international court, Hague-style? I was under the impression (no sources at the moment) that its ...
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almost 4 years ago
Answer A: Does the nascent Sanhedrin in Israel sanctify the new moon with witnesses?
I was not even aware of this group (and I live in Israel...). Some digging brought the jackpot: The Israeli New Moon Society. Here's what they have to say on the matter: >On 7th May 2008 the Sanhedrin reenacted a reconstruction of receiving eyewitness testimony of the crescent Moon used for fixing t...
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almost 4 years ago
Answer A: Are questions purely about Jews and Jewish History in-scope?
> History questions about events which impacted Judaism without making direct reference to Jews themselves (ex. "What motivated the Khmelnitzky Massacres?") I think these types of historical questions are too much of a stretch. This is something that should go in a purely historical Codidact site ...
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almost 4 years ago
Answer A: Why didn't Yitzchak help his father?
Chizkuni writes: >Avraham built an altar;” Yitzchok did not participate in that activity; the reason that he did not do so was not that he would not have been willing to do so, but his father had hidden him so that Satan would not be able to tempt him, as he had tried to tempt Avraham not to carry o...
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almost 4 years ago
Question Creating New Tags
What is our stance on creating new tags? On MY it was preferable not to create new ones, but what about here?
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almost 4 years ago
Question Where is 'Khina'?
Malbim on Beresheet 6:4 writes: >"הנפלים. עתה יפרש מ"ש ויראו בני האלהים את בנות האדם, מי היו בני האלהים, הם אלה שאמרו שהם בני אלהים ונפלו משמים, והגדות כאלה היו בימים האלה וגם אחרי כן. כי נודע שבכל ספורי העמים הקדמונים יספרו שבימי קדם מלכו על מדינתם בני אלהים שבאו משמים אל הארץ ומלכו עליה ונשאו נשים...
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almost 4 years ago
Question Who was Yitzchaki?
In his commentary on Beresheet 36:31, Ibn Ezra writes: >"ואלה המלכים. יש אומרים כי בדרך נבואה נכתבה זאת הפרשה. ויצחקי אמר בספרו כי בימי יהושפט נכתבה זאת הפרשה. ופי' הדורות כרצונו הכי קרא שמו יצחק כל השומע יצחק לו. כי אמר כי הדד הוא הדד האדומי ואמר כי מהיטבאל אחות תחפנחם. וחלילה חלילה שהדבר כמו שדבר ...
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almost 4 years ago
Answer A: What did the Kotzker mean by "If I am I…"?
A few years ago, one of the rabbis in my yeshiva spoke about this and the explanation he gave was more philosophical than the options you presented. According to him, the statement is more about your inner identity, what makes you you. He brought by way of explaining one of Rabbi Nachman's stories...
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almost 4 years ago
Answer A: Custom Community Name?
How about: Codida'at Combination of Codidact and da'at (knowledge/wisdom/however you want to translate it).
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almost 4 years ago
Answer A: How will Judaism Codidact be better than Mi Yodeya?
Per @AA's suggestion, I'll attempt to put my thoughts into words about my hopes for the site: I'm with @manassekatz on MY's elitist feeling. Though I've only been on MY since the winter, for most of the time I've had that feeling. When people comment, it is often unclear if they're attacking you o...
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almost 4 years ago
Question Prophetic styles in Melachim?
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 such as Eliyahu and Achiyah Hashiloni, as they are written in Melachim, are in Yirmiyahu's prophetic st...
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almost 4 years ago
Answer A: Topic submission thread (Q4 5780)
Agadot Hachurban (Stories of the Destruction).
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almost 4 years ago
Question Asking questions that have answers on MY?
Out of interest of helping move Judaism Codidact forward, if I have a question and I see it already has answers in MY, should I still ask it here (bearing in mind that, a. from what I've heard, there are some new people around here. b. new interest may spark new answers)?
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almost 4 years ago
Question Why isn't Dagon mentioned in Yirmyahu's prophecy against the Plishtim?
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 Egypt, Babylon, Moav and Ammon, in their fall is included the failure of their national deities: > "...
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almost 4 years ago
Answer A: Categories - Divrei Torah, Purim Torah
I think Purim Torah should be open all time. As I previously wrote when we planned the build of the site: It's a method of developing Jewish thought and creativity while learning. As a more light-hearted feature, I think it would also make the site feel more welcoming. In the end, the goal is to furt...
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almost 4 years ago
Question Was there a Soreg in Bayit Rishon?
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 mishna in Kelim 1:8 and commentaries such as the Bartenura who mentions Shaar Nikanor which was only in Ba...
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about 4 years ago
Question Is there a list of the different types of deaths?
The Gemara in Brachot says: It was also taught in a baraita: Nine hundred and three types of death were created in the world, as it is stated: “Issues [totzaot] of death,” and that, 903, is the numerical value [gimatriya] of totzaot. The Gemara explains that the most difficult of all these typ...
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about 4 years ago
Question Nowadays, whom is Birkat Haminim directed at?
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 at? Just Christians? Or other religions? If the latter, then: all other religions or just some of them?...
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about 4 years ago