Avodah
- [Avodah] cruelty to Bilams Donkey July 27, 2025R Danny Schoemann suggested the only concrete complaint the angel had against Bilam was "how dare you hit your animal". Proving that cruelty to animals is a Torah prohibition. Not sure this perspective is legitimate I suspect that the word 'DARE' - how dare you hit is misleading, it is inaccurate The observation was how […]
- [Avodah] My Current Futile Life Project July 20, 2025. Y'all had some pretty good ideas, but MY Current Futile Life Project is to find a Chumash publisher who will give reasonable instructions for unusual haftaras. I'm just a guy in shul. I might remember whether this is a leap year or not, but without a luach in my hand, I have no idea […]
- [Avodah] mutav sheyihiyu shoggim July 20, 2025. R' Joel Rich asked: > If a rav says there must be a heter because everyone does it (eg > reading Jewish newspapers with ads on Shabbos and not worrying > about shtarei hedyotot) may one rely on that and read the newspaper > or is it another way of saying mutav sheyihiyu shoggim? […]
- [Avodah] Cruelty to animals July 20, 2025You could add Eglo Arufo to the list. Somebody pointed out that the only concrete complaint the angel had against Bilam was "how dare you hit your animal". Proving that cruelty to animals is a Torah prohibition. To your point, it seems to be one more example to show that the Torah is Gcd-given by […]
- [Avodah] mutav sheyihiyu shoggim July 16, 2025If a rav says there must be a heter because everyone does it (eg reading Jewish newspapers with ads on Shabbos and not worrying about shtarei hedyotot) may one rely on that and read the newspaper or is it another way of saying mutav sheyihiyu shoggim? if the latter should one avoid it or would […]
- [Avodah] Cruelty to animals July 15, 2025. When Torah is accused of cruelty to animals, I often see people respond that shechita is totally painless to the animal. They say that the knife is so sharp as to be no worse than a paper cut, and that the loss of blood is so fast that unconsciousness follows immediately. Without expressing any […]
- [Avodah] name calling July 13, 2025On Wed, Jun 25, 2025 at 06:18:31AM +0300, R Joel Rich wrote: >> as it is taught in a baraita: One who calls another a slave shall be >> ostracized. One who calls another a mamzer incurs the punishment of forty >> lashes. If one calls another a wicked person then the insulted person may […]
- [Avodah] (1) Re: The Census Numbers In Bmidbar,
and (2) Half-Truths July 10, 2025On Wed, Jul 09, 2025 at 04:32:04PM +0000, Joseph Kaplan via Avodah wrote: > Saying "Hashem is lemaalah min hazeman" doesn't really answer any > questions or give explanations because we humans don't understand what > lemaalah min hazeman means... Fortunately, we can reason with ideas we barely understand. For example, I am writing this […]
- [Avodah] New Year for Trees July 9, 2025. In Kitzur Shulchan Aruch Yomi, today begins Siman 173, Hilchos Orlah. I was surprised to find that - according to the Kitzur - the critical dates for establishing the age of a tree are 16 Av and 1 Tishre. Tu B'Shvat is not mentioned at all by the Kitzur in this siman! ArtScroll's footnote […]
- [Avodah] (1) Re: The Census Numbers In Bmidbar,
and (2) Half-Truths July 9, 2025Saying ?Hashem is lemaalah min hazeman? doesn?t really answer any questions or give explanations because we humans don?t understand what lemaalah min hazeman means. While I understand what each word means, I have no idea how such a concept can possibly work. So I interpret Hashem being lemaalah min baseman as simply saying that we […]