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Activity for Monica Cellio
| Type | On... | Excerpt | Status | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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A: Should a Noahide convert to Reform Judaism if no Orthodox community is accessible? 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 able to get some intermediate improvements. Community is central to Judaism and it sounds like that's ... (more) |
— | 3 months ago |
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A: How do you name a non-Jew for Mi Sheberach? 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 source): "When praying for a non-Jew, we mention the person's name along with his/her father's name." Anoth... (more) |
— | 4 months ago |
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Did Moshe's wife and sons remain with Yisrael during the time in the wilderness? 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 Moshe's family.[^1] Later, in Bamidbar 3:38 when the Levites are being given their assigned roles and e... (more) |
— | 5 months ago |
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How do you name a non-Jew for Mi Sheberach? 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 relative? "Christopher ben Lisa" would stand out (probably not what Ploni wants). Maybe Ploni should in... (more) |
— | 5 months ago |
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Halachically, what is bread? 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 of grain, water, salt, and a leavening agent (setting aside the special case of matzah). Bread can als... (more) |
— | 6 months ago |
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Should posting on Meta affect reputation? When we launched this community, we did not yet have the ability to set different reputation grants for different categories. We've had this for a while but we failed to follow up before now, sorry. Do you want us to change posts on Meta to not award rep for upvotes or subtract it for downvotes? ... (more) |
— | 10 months ago |
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Why two types of maror? Some seder plates (or layout instructions in haggadot) use two bitter herbs (I'm used to seeing horseradish and endive), one labelled maror and one labelled chazeret. Others have only a single space for maror. What is the second one for, and is this custom or something stronger? We eat maror twi... (more) |
— | about 1 year ago |
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Why was Shabbat given in a roundabout way? Someone at my seder asked about the ordering in Dayeinu, specifically that "had God not given us Shabbat..." comes before "had God not give us the Torah..." -- but wasn't Shabbat given at Sinai, as part of the revelation? We then checked to confirm our memories, and yes, Shabbat is introduced as a s... (more) |
— | about 1 year ago |
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A: How can we grow this community? Our community is small. More than "people in general", I think we need to reach people who want to help us build this community. People who, beyond looking for answers to specific questions, want to engage in Q&A and knowledge-sharing for its own sake -- or, as we say, for the sake of heaven. I ... (more) |
— | about 1 year ago |
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Does a surrogate mother affect the Jewish status of the child? The child of a Jewish woman is a Jew. Is this status transmitted through birth or through parentage (genetics)? Specifically, if a Jewish woman acts as a surrogate for two non-Jews, what is the status of the child? A surrogate provides a womb for a fertilized egg from another couple. Non-Jewish... (more) |
— | about 1 year ago |
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Does a Jew with a non-Jewish father have a tribe? Vayikra 24:10 and on tells of an episode with a blasphemer. The torah tells us that he was the son of an Israelite woman and an Egyptian man. From a Rashi comment there I found my way to Vayikra Rabbah 32, which gives some back-story apparently from Rabbi Chiya (quoted from Sefaria): > He had ... (more) |
— | about 1 year ago |
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A: Why was Rabbi Eliezer ostracized? To my reading, the discussion that follows makes it clear that the rabbis were wrong to excommunicate Rabbi Eliezer. Rabbi Eliezer's excommunication is followed by various disasters, including the death of Rabban Gamaliel (who headed the Sanhedrin that excommunicated him) at the hands of heaven. ... (more) |
— | over 1 year ago |
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Why don't we stand for Hallel at the seder? 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 been to, including Hillel and Chabad communal ones, we sat during the Hallel parts of the haggadah. Why... (more) |
— | over 1 year ago |
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A: Why is Pesach in the singular? I don't have a source for this beyond what you already said about the text saying Chag HaPesach, but I offer this reasoning: Shavu'ot is, as you said, about the weeks (plural). For Sukkot, while you probably have at most one (and could have zero, if you use someone else's), the festival is about ... (more) |
— | over 1 year ago |
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How do I look up commentaries on general patterns in torah as opposed to specific verses? This is a research-methods question with a concrete example. I'm interested in the answer to the concrete example, but what I really want to know is: how could I look this up myself? There are sometimes widespread patterns in torah. For example, I know about the reversing vav, which flips a verb... (more) |
— | over 1 year ago |
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Did Avraham really not know about his nephews while they were children? After the Akeidah, Avraham returns home and then the torah tells us, in Bereishit 22:20: "Avraham was told, 'Milkah too has borne sons to your brother Nachor (etc)'". The torah does not always record events in the order they occurred, but in this case it's not the torah telling us about Milkah's des... (more) |
— | over 1 year ago |
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Vaydaber vs vayomer when God instructs Moshe: what's the significance of the difference? The torah records many places where God speaks to Moshe telling him to speak to others, generally to relay instructions. The common structure is: > ... וידבר יי אל ... לאמר: ךבר But sometimes -- I noticed this case at the beginning of Parshat Emor -- the verb is not וידבר but instead ויאמר. ... (more) |
— | almost 2 years ago |
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A: The encampments in the midbar There is a list in Bamidbar 33 of the places and transitions (they set out from X and camped at Y, they set out from Y and camped at Z, etc). This list doesn't say how long they stayed at each. I once asked a question about the durations somewhere else, and received a partial answer that cites Se... (more) |
— | almost 2 years ago |
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How long did it take to set up the mishkan? 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־יִהְיֶ֤ה הֶֽעָנָן֙ מֵעֶ֣רֶב עַד־בֹּ֔קֶר וְנַעֲלָ֧ה הֶֽעָנָ֛ן בַּבֹּ֖קֶר וְנָסָ֑עוּ א֚וֹ יוֹמָ֣ם וָלַ֔י... (more) |
— | almost 2 years ago |
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Why must the omer be counted at night? 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 mitzvah. I've also been taught that if you forget until the next morning, you do still count but you don... (more) |
— | almost 2 years ago |
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What does the change from "a man shall not..." to "you shall not..." for one verse in Vayikra 20 signify? In Vayikra chapter 20 the torah gives a long list of forbidden relations. Almost all of them are of the form "if a man (lies with, takes)..." or, in one case, "if a woman..." (third person). In Vayikra 20:19 the voice changes to second-person imperative: "you shall not...". What does the change in... (more) |
— | almost 2 years ago |
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A: Worshipping outdoors in the COVID era, issues and options This doesn't strictly answer your question, but I think the background information and context will be helpful. The halacha (Jewish law) is that we can violate any torah law to save a human life except for three (murder, idolatry, sexual transgressions). If it were a matter of preserving life, th... (more) |
— | almost 2 years ago |
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A: Why does the Torah mention Yosef in relation to Menashe but not Ephraim in the story of the spies? Efrayim and Manashe both have different trope from the other ten, by the way. With Manashe there are extra words that the trope has to account for, but it's interesting that Efrayim, without that constraint, nonetheless has different trope too. I asked and answered a duplicate to this question be... (more) |
— | almost 2 years ago |
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In the list of spies, why is Yosef added to the listing for Manashe but not to the one for Efrayim? At the beginning of Sh'lach L'cha the torah lists the twelve scouts and their tribes. In general these names follow the pattern "from the tribe of (tribe), (somebody) ben (somebody)", with (generally) the same trope. However, the two tribes descended from Yosef are treated differently. The text for... (more) |
— | almost 2 years ago |
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Ha-Yarden ha-zeh -- what does the torah mean by this Jordan as opposed to the Jordan? 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 וּרְאֵ֣ה בְעֵינֶ֑יךָ כִּי־לֹ֥א תַעֲבֹ֖ר אֶת־הַיַּרְדֵּ֥ן הַזֶּֽה׃ > > Go up to the summit of Pisgah and gaz... (more) |
— | almost 2 years ago |
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Logistics: what do you do about dishes if you're hosting both seders? I found myself wondering about this while clearing the table after the first seder this year (which was also Shabbat). Most of the time, both in my family and in the group of friends I sometimes share holidays with, two different people host the two sedarim. But occasionally the same people host ... (more) |
— | about 2 years ago |
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Why do we designate specific matzot for seder rituals? This question arose at my seder this year and nobody present knew of an answer: The haggadah designates the three matzot for specific purposes: - We are to break the middle one (and save the larger piece for the afikoman). - We are to use the top and (remainder of the middle) ones when fulfill... (more) |
— | about 2 years ago |
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A: What does "May his memory be for a blessing" mean? Din Online, one of the many "ask a rabbi" services online, wrote in an answer that usage of this phrase is custom but there's no law that formalizes it. They add that it is usually used for someone you had some connection to -- close personal relationships for sure, but it can also be used for other... (more) |
— | about 2 years ago |
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Is an orphan obligated to honor parents? This d'var torah makes the argument that an orphan can still fulfill the obligation to honor parents, because the sages interpret it more broadly than just your two biological parents. (See the link for a good explanation of the reasoning.) If one without living biological parents can still fulfi... (more) |
— | about 2 years ago |
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If one designates a gift for another person, is it committed or can it be retracted? I know that if one designates something for the temple (an offering or a donation), it can't be taken back -- it's committed. Is this a general principle of designating things, or is it specific to the temple (because designating it for the temple raises its holiness and we do not lower holiness)? ... (more) |
— | over 2 years ago |
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A: Did the people hear the words of the revelation directly at Sinei? AA pointed out in a comment that this is addressed in Makkot 23b-24a. There the g'mara says that of the 613 mitzvot stated to Moshe, > The word Torah, in terms of its numerical value, is 611, the number of mitzvot that were received and taught by Moses our teacher. In addition, there are two mit... (more) |
— | over 2 years ago |
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Did the people hear the words of the revelation directly at Sinei? At the end of Shemot 19, Moshe has gone down from the mountain to speak to the people. Then Shemot 20 begins with the decalogue, with God speaking the commandments. We're then told (20:15) that all the people witnessed the thunder, lightning, blare, and smoke, but it doesn't mention words. The peo... (more) |
— | over 2 years ago |
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Is it better to not tell someone she's Jewish if she won't follow it? This is a hypothetical question; it doesn't apply to anyone I know, but I heard an anecdote and it led me to wonder. Suppose someone discovers that her maternal grandmother was in fact Jewish, but the person's mother never knew this and was raised as a Christian (and passed that on to her children... (more) |
— | over 2 years ago |
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How can we grow this community? Codidact's communities have a lot of great content that is helping people on the Internet. Our communities are small, though, and sustainable communities depend on having lots of active, engaged participants. The folks already here are doing good work; our challenge is to find more people like you ... (more) |
— | over 2 years ago |
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For starting Shabbat, is sunset astronomical or visible? A few years ago, on the fall equinox, I noticed that the day was longer than 12 hours according to the (secular) sunrise/sunset times. Curious, I did some investigation. One reason for the difference is how we measure -- the equinox is based on when the center of the sun is visible while sunrise/su... (more) |
— | over 2 years ago |
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A: How to import content from Stack Exchange? Sorry about the confusion! We imported a small number of questions and answers from Mi Yodeya. If any of those had been written by you, then they would have been assigned to a "holding" account on import. When you connected your accounts and claimed the content, those posts would have been changed... (more) |
— | over 2 years ago |
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Why do we dwell in booths every day during Sukkot, but we don't have to eat matzah every day during Pesach? In the instructions for festivals, Vayikra 23:6 says, of Pesach: > You shall eat unleavened bread for seven days. Devarim 16:3 is similar, and Devarim 16:8 starts: "After eating unleavened bread six days", which sure sounds like it's been a daily occurrence. I have been taught that we are on... (more) |
— | over 2 years ago |
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Sh'mita and the home garden: what if anything is permitted? I live in the diaspora and this doesn't affect me personally, but in thinking about the sh'mita cycle while tending my small garden, I found myself wondering about some details. Does the law to not plant and let fields lie fallow for the year apply only to "crops" (to be defined), or to anything you ... (more) |
— | over 2 years ago |
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A: Does God of Judaism permit to pray in any language? The general answer to your question is that Hebrew is preferable but you also need to understand what you're saying, so it's permitted to pray in other languages. (Ideally you are working to improve your Hebrew understanding along the way.) More specifically: the talmud on Sotah 33a (and vicinity... (more) |
— | over 2 years ago |
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How much of an interruption is permitted between a mitzvah blessing and the mitzvah? I was taught that we shouldn't make an interruption between saying a mitzvah b'racha and taking the action. I don't have a source for this other than that it makes sense; you don't want to risk making a blessing in vain if you interrupt with something else and never get back to it, and you should be... (more) |
— | over 2 years ago |
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Did the urim v'tummim require binary questions? The g'mara on Yoma 73a gives the following examples of questions asked of the urim v'tummim (Exodus 28:30) and their answers: - "Shall I pursue after this troop?" (I Samuel 30:8). Answer: "Thus says God: Go up and succeed." - "Will Saul come down?" Answer: "He will come down." (I Samuel 23:11)... (more) |
— | over 2 years ago |
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A: Alternative to Trope Trainer for printing large-print torah portions with trope and vowels? I've learned two things since asking this question: 1. Trope Trainer still works if disconnected from the Internet at launch time (a bit of a hassle, but it's a workaround -- h/t Power Users). 2. The rendering problem I'm having with the pasted text is some problem in Pages, but Google Docs wor... (more) |
— | over 2 years ago |
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Alternative to Trope Trainer for printing large-print torah portions with trope and vowels? I sometimes help other people in my synagogue learn to read torah. While I have a tikkun, I have some vision problems and find it much easier to print a portion from Trope Trainer, which offers a large-print option. (I'm usually working with one Shabbat aliyah at a time.) Well, I did. Unfortuna... (more) |
— | over 2 years ago |
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A: dikduk question. According to Ibn Ezra on Devarim 21:15, שניאה is an adjective while שנואה is a noun. When the verse says: > If a man has two wives, one a loved one and the other a hated one Ibn Ezra is saying that "loved one" and "hated one" here are nouns -- that's the woman's "title", so to speak. It's a s... (more) |
— | over 2 years ago |
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A: Sefaria linker doesn't work on comments. Reproduced: In the comment thread on this post, the reference to Devarim 21:15 does not show as a link when you open the thread on the post page, but if you go to the full thread page it does. I wonder if the Sefaria linker runs once at page-load time, and because the comment thread is not expan... (more) |
— | over 2 years ago |
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If someone has fulfilled an obligation (like kiddush), can he then do it for others? I had been under the impression that somebody who is not personally obligated in a mitzvah (or maybe specifically a b'racha?) cannot do it on behalf of someone else. This is one of the usual explanations for why a woman can't lead (most) prayer in mixed groups, for example -- she's not obligated so ... (more) |
— | almost 3 years ago |
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Which haftarah when Rosh Chodesh Av is on Shabbat? This Shabbat is Rosh Chodesh Av. During the three weeks (which we're in the midst of) we read three special haftarot. On Rosh Chodesh normally we read a special haftarah. When they coincide, do we read both or does one take precedence over the other? I suppose I can wait a few days and find out... (more) |
— | almost 3 years ago |
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Is a loft a room for purposes of mezuzah? Consider a cabin that has one large room with a loft extending over part of that room. A half-height wall at the front of the loft separates it from the rest of the cabin, so there is a single common ceiling over all. (Someone standing in the loft can see someone standing in the main room.) Does t... (more) |
— | almost 3 years ago |
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Why is parshat Balak written without breaks in the torah scroll? This past Shabbat I was reminded (while watching the torah reader rolling the scroll) that all (or nearly all?) of parshat Balak is written as one long paragraph in the scroll -- three solid columns with no short or long breaks. Why is this? I could imagine that it being about a gentile prophet b... (more) |
— | almost 3 years ago |
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A: Is starting of Judaism on-topic? 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 the five books of Moses, records some history that traditional Judaism understands to be true, so if you... (more) |
— | almost 3 years ago |