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.
Posts by Monica Cellio
Last week I took a class on priorities in triage -- one ventilator, two people who will die without it, who gets it? We reviewed sources in talmud and later commentaries, some of which I remember ...
We've now created a place to request import of specific questions. Please follow the instructions there. Right now this is a manual process so it won't be immediate, but if you make requests ther...
In Bereishit 2:19 God brings all the animals to Adam to see what he will name them. This has long puzzled me, because: God created them and already knows their functions (He doesn't need Adam to ...
I noticed that my (paper) calendar reports that 29 Cheshvan is "Sigd". Curious about this day (on the Jewish calendar; they style secular stuff like Election Day differently) that I'd never heard ...
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...
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...
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...
Sorry for the confusion! We should adjust that wording, beyond correcting the typo. What's going on is that normally you have to earn that ability as described, but we have a "young site" mode (o...
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 s...
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 e...
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 someon...
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 t...
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 differ...
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 o...
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 impro...
I have heard (but have no source) that, to fulfill the obligation of reading the megillah, one must either be physically present for a reading or, if listening by phone, follow along in a kosher sc...
Exodus 21:28-29 (and onward) gives us laws concerning the ox that gores. If it happens once, they kill the ox but do not punish the owner. But if the ox has a pattern of goring and the owner has ...
I saw the following question, asked by David Ziants, on mail-jewish today: In Daf Yomi, have just started chapter 7 of Mesechet Pesachim, and the first Mishneh talks about on how the Korban Pesa...
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...
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...
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...
I've always assumed (but can't prove) that while Adam and Chava were in Gan Eden, and had they stayed, they lived out in nature -- they didn't require tents or other shelter. When they are expelle...
The plain reading of Vayikra 23:43 says that Yisrael dwelt in sukkot while they were in the wilderness. Rashi on this verse says that the "sukkot" that Israel dwelt in were the divine clouds of gl...
I like the idea of divrei torah prompting "response" divrei torah. If we make the original d'var torah a question and use answers for the responses, though, then where would responses to those res...
When bringing first fruits we are commanded to say the following to the priest: וּבָאתָ֙ אֶל־הַכֹּהֵ֔ן אֲשֶׁ֥ר יִהְיֶ֖ה בַּיָּמִ֣ים הָהֵ֑ם וְאָמַרְתָּ֣ אֵלָ֗יו הִגַּ֤דְתִּי הַיּוֹם֙ לַיהוָ֣ה אֱלֹה...
