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Posts by rosends
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...
I read the following statement on the Chabad.org website https://www.chabad.org/calendar/view/day.asp?tdate=12/9/2022 "The Talmud (Ketubot 103a) relates that even after his passing, for a time, Ra...
If one is in an open area in which more than one minyan is meeting, can he be counted for both minyanim simultaneously? If, at the kotel, one minyan has started and then someone leaves, and I am t...
Let's say a Jew is serving on a jury that is deciding the sentence for someone (even more powerfully, a Jew) convicted (under US law) of a capital offense. The judge instructs the jury that the two...
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 ...
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...
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 ...
The understanding I have is that every word in the Torah (5 books) is important and what is related there is essential to building a Jewish world-view. Therefore, the stories and laws are to be por...
The Rav (Joseph B. Soloveitchik) understood the Rambam's discussion of the repetition to point to a separate mitzvah of the public prayer as said with the congregation, one that would be lost if th...
If I handle food that is patently unkosher, and it gets on my hands, do my hands have a status of "treif" that might impact my handling of certain things? Assuming I rinse them with water (whcih m...
There is a conept that there is a s'char mitzvah, a reward for doing a mitzvah, and an oneish/punishment for "sinning". But there is also an idea that a child, under the age of bar/bat mitzvah who ...
Simply put, why is Pesach in the singular while Shavu'ot and Sukkot are in the plural? Shavu'ot makes sense to me because the day celebrates the culmination of weekS. But I only made 1 Sukkah so w...
The Mah Tovu statement of Bil'am's, though intended as a curse was actually praise, and attested to (via Bava Batra 60a) the modesty of the children of Israel. They did not construct their tents in...
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 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...
I noticed that on Shabbos, the gabbai at shul makes the mishebeirach for cholim between the 6th and 7th aliyot. I have seen this at other shuls (though I don't know if it is a codified rule or a st...
Do food service products made from non-kosher sources create a kashrut problem when they are used with food (or even without)? There are spoons made from mother of pearl (from mollusk shells), use...
I will quote from the guidance put out LAST YEAR by the OU and I will put in bold some salient points (Orthodox Union alerts@ounetwork.org Mon, Mar 9, 2020 at 1:17 PM ) The clear majority of Hal...
What does this mean? (written about a rabbi of renown, often the author of a book, or the person buried, listed on a headstone) הבחור כמ“ר I have my guesses but I'd like a real answer, not my gut...
I know that there are parts of davening that one can only say, or be involved with saying, in the presence of a minyan, but I was wondering if there were pieces of davening that can only happen whe...
Points question -- I'm not sure how points work here. I'm not in it for the points but am curious. My point total went down 4 between yesterday and today and there is no notice or explanation for w...
I live with my wife and one of my responsibilities is to do the food shopping. Often, she gives me a list and I go. If I come home with something not on the list, can I hand it to her on Purim and...
If a man is required to father a boy and a girl (according to B"Hillel in Yevamos 61b), but is married to his late brother's wife (the brother died, childless) then do (all) the children who are bo...
