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1500 questions
21
votes
5 answers
Getting body piercings
The Torah prohibits, generally, the infliction of a wound on yourself or someone else. See Lev. 19:28. The obvious exception is the commandment to perform a bris millah (circumcision) on a male convert or eight-day-old Jewish male. But from where…
Bruce James
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21
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8 answers
Is the observance of Jewish law/tradition "all or nothing"?
Sometimes my job gets in the way of my observance of Jewish holidays. I often need to work on Saturdays or late on Fridays, inhibiting my ability to attend synagogue on Shabbat. Sometimes I am required to work on other holidays as well.
I have heard…
JSW189
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21
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3 answers
Why don't islands read the m'gila two days?
Bavli, M'gila 5 amud 2, cites a doubt as to when the m'gila is read in T'verya: on the fourteenth of Adar, as in most places, or on the fifteenth, as in a city walled since the time of Y'hoshua. The doubt arises because T'verya is walled except for…
msh210
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21
votes
2 answers
What are the consequences of Vashti’s dual nature?
In Esther 1:9 we read,
“ושתי המלכה עשתה משתי נשים”
Vashti the queen was made of two women.
Aside from being biologically surprising, what are the consequences of this in our understanding of the Megilla?
This question is Purim Torah and is not…
J. C. Salomon
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21
votes
2 answers
Different traditions in Hebrew pronunciation
The theme of Hebrew pronunciation is one that facinates me and, as such, I want to get some feedback on some issues I've been thinking about for years. I have already discussed some of these issues with other people, some of whom are rabbis with…
Seth J
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21
votes
3 answers
Why isn't Peru URvu one of the 7 Noahide Laws?
The commandment to "Be fruitful and multiply" was given to Adam HaRishon. Why, then, is this not included in the Sheva' Mitzvoth Bnei Noaḥ?
Seth J
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21
votes
2 answers
Are you allowed to recite the Pledge of Allegiance?
Is the US Pledge of Allegiance a form of oath or vow, and if so may one recite it? If one has recited it has one incurred any new halachic obligations?
user1668
21
votes
1 answer
Non-Jews Tending to Abandoned Cemeteries
Those of you who may have read my profile know that I have been reading and transcribing information on tombstones in towns in the Spis Region of Slovakia, in which no Jews remain. My colleague is a very devout Evangelical Christian with great…
Madeleine
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21
votes
4 answers
Is it heresy to follow secular dating on the destruction of the first Temple?
There is a discrepancy between rabbinic and secular sources regarding when the first Temple was destroyed -- a difference of some 165 years or so, which are called the "Missing Years."
My question is not about how to account for those years or even…
Premundane
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21
votes
2 answers
What was wrong with the word Talmud?
The Wikipedia article on The Talmud says:
and Pope Pius IV commanded, in 1565, that the Talmud be deprived of its very name. The convention of referring to the work as "Shas" (shishah sidre Mishnah) instead of "Talmud" dates from this time.…
Menachem
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21
votes
1 answer
Why so many vocalized shvas in Siddur Tehillat Hashem?
I prayed using a Siddur Tehillat Hashem the other day, and I noticed that many more shvas were marked with an asterisk above, indicating that they should be vocalized, than I'd expect. In particular, there were many cases in which a shva following…
Isaac Moses
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21
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1 answer
Is a convert obliged to honor his parents?
Is a convert obliged to honor his parents? I understand that a convert loses all halakhic relationship to his parents upon being "reborn." Therefore, does the mitzvah of kibud av va'eim still apply?
SAH
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21
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2 answers
Meaning of "bidi-bidi-bum"
In Fiddler on the Roof, in Tevye's song "If I Were a Rich Man," there is a line "all day long I'd bidi-bidi-bum." According to Wikipedia this is a reference to prayer.
A repeated phrase throughout the song, "all day long I'd
bidi-bidi-bum," is…
John D. Cook
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21
votes
6 answers
Making seltzer/soda water on Shabbat or Yom Tov
Can a person make seltzer on shobbos or yom tov with something like sodastream?
shlomo
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21
votes
1 answer
How should we respond to objectionable content in a public forum?
The blessing and curse of sites like StackExchange is that everything happens in public. Sometimes someone will post something objectionable and it isn't possible to take the person aside for a private conversation the way it would be if we were…
Monica Cellio
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