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Posts by msh210
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 ...
For various of the ten plagues, God tells Moses or Aaron to do something to bring the plague on Egypt: Take your wand and tip your hand over the waters of Egypt… and they will be blood. Blood wi...
Haamek Davar to 12:1 ("Go you [=Abram] from your land, your birthplace, and your father's home"), in loose translation: It should've been written in reverse, as he'll first leave his father's ho...
https://vocaroo.com/1L5y4gbqDCvZ has a tune that I've heard many times, always in a Jewish (usually liturgical) context. What is its origin? Who wrote it, when, where, etc., and what (if any) were ...
Numbers 20:13 (with my own, loose translation): הֵמָּה מֵי מְרִיבָה אֲשֶׁר רָבוּ בְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל אֶת ה׳ This was the Fight Water: the Jews fought God The word "רָבוּ" ("fought") has its str...
Shulchan Aruch, Choshen Mishpat 241:1, in my own, free translation: If someone gives a gift… the recipient acquires it only by one of the standard ways of acquiring property.… But by a verbal ag...
Jacob and his sons, when speaking to Egyptians, consistently refer to God as (ה)אלקים, "the god", and not by his name, יקוק, that distinguishes him from other supposed gods, or other names of his....
Mishna B'rura 128:22 says that if no Levi is around to wash a kohen's hands for the latter's blessing, a firstborn-to-his-mother should do so. Although Kaf Hachayim :40 notes that he hasn't seen th...
In general, whatever applies to crop farming applies to the home garden. Exceptions (like planting indoors, or not attached to soil, or on non-Jewish-owned land, or others) apply to both equally. T...
The Rama (to OC 425:1) cites both customs: the usual rosh chodesh reading, and the usual weekly ("punishment") reading. He says "in a place with no established practice" read the rosh chodesh read...
Ramban (to 1:32) suggests (in my own translation) that because of the tales Joseph bore about his brothers [Gen. 37:2], He genealogically attributed the talebearer to him; or, that He honored bo...
Genesis 18 describes "אנשים [=men]" who came to visit Abraham. Chapter 19 starts "And the two מלאכים [=messengers, or angels] arrived at Sodom…" and proceeds to call them, too, "אנשים". Rashi and ...
The Shoel Umeshiv was asked the question even stronger: according to Rashi (Suka there), the concern is that he'll take it to an expert to learn "its shaking process or the benediction" to recite; ...
The Bavli in various places (e.g. Suka 42–43) explains that the rabbis did away with blowing shofar and taking lulav on Shabas lest one "take it to an expert to learn, and carry it four cubits in p...
No. The list of useful links — even of very useful ones — is far too long to fit comfortably in the sidebar.
The Bavli (P'sachim 120) figures out from p'sukim that there's no requirement to eat matza after the first day. (Specifically, since the seventh day is listed as an "add-on" when work is forbidden ...
It's been reported that the same non-Jew buys all of Israel's chametz before Pesach. Indeed, I've heard that all rabbis in the country who are authorized to sell chametz transfer that authority to ...
There were rishonim who held that things other than bread suffice, and they're cited in Shulchan Aruch (291:5, q.v.), who says that "the ruling is really like the first view that he must eat bread ...
When reviewing parashas Ki Sisa I noticed that 32:7 has הֶעֱלֵיתָ heelesa for "you lifted" whereas 33:1 has הֶעֱלִיתָ heelisa. Why?
The Bavli, M'gila 10, clarifies that once the temple in Jerusalem was built there is no longer anywhere else we can offer sacrificial offerings. Its holiness is forever and precludes other sites. R...
Although I can't seem to find it now, I recall a rule that says that no one under the age of twenty can sell real property that he's inherited. Why? Because people under the age of twenty are not t...
The Purim Torah category is scheduled to disappear at the end of Adar. All its posts will disappear also: not even their respective authors will be able to see them. (Moderators will.) I recommend...
D'varim 25:6 says "the firstborn that she'll give birth to, he will stand on his dead brother's name". There are a few interpretations: Rashi says the eldest brother of the deceased should do yi...
Onkelus to Genesis 36:15 says it means "great one". Rashi there says more specifically that it means "head of a family"; Sifse Chachamim clarifies that this is the leader or ruler but not necessari...
Sh'miras Shabas K'hilchasah (5739 edition) 26:25 says it is not muktze and can be moved.
