R Prof Joshue Berman recently blogged a review of Proc Aaron Kornkohl's work: https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/biblical-grammar-enters-the-culture-wars I was interested. When I was a bachur, RSM zt"l pointed out to me the evolution of only using "asher" - not having a prefix version in Chumash to "sha-" as a prefix in Shofetim or Rus, to "she-" as you […]
The mishna often provides a number of specific case examples and then says zeh haklal. Is the assumption that these were all included in the original mishna? Anyone posit that the klalim were added later? Why sometimes are there no klalim and it''s left to the gemara to figure out what the issue at hand […]
Any historical sources concerning when (and why) the change in how the torah scroll was housed (what most people would call ashkenazi vs sfardi) and how and when hagba/glila was done? bsorot tovot joel rich
If I understand correctly, R?EW in the Kovetz Maamarim makes the watchmaker argument to prove God?s existence. He then goes on to say that this is so obvious that anybody who denies it is doing so because of his wish to willfully throw off the yoke of Heaven. How does this square with your experience? […]
Comment on a shiur: I found your medical ethics class regarding CRISPR and IVF et al very interesting. There?s no doubt in my mind that the micro-halachic issues you discussed (eg the physical risks from certain interventions) are particularly important for individual psak today (even retired actuaries love risk/reward analysis). However, I think the really […]
(Sorry for the misleading title. It was just too fun for me to pass up.) In his column this week (see below), R Daniel Mann addresses the question as to whether the berakhah should be "shehakol nihyeh" or "nihyah". The reason this is a machloqes acharonim has to do with Chazal's non-simple position about the […]
In Avodah V43n1, R' Micha noted: > At the end of Bereishis, the brothers tell Yoseif an outright fabrication. (Given Chazal's assumption that Yaaqov didn't actually say such a thing in an incident that isn't in the chumash.) < We seemingly had a[nother] fabrication in last week's *sedra*: compare what the brothers say in 44:8 […]
On Wed, Jan 01, 2025 at 04:35:09AM +0200, Joel Rich via Avodah wrote: >> >From R' A Zivotofsky: >> Claim: There is a mesorah on turkey. Ask almost anyone from the older >> generation and they will confirm that they and their family and their >> community ate turkey without hesitation. ... > Can you […]
On Wed, Jan 01, 2025 at 04:38:09AM +0200, Joel Rich via Avodah wrote: > An example of various levels of what chazal may have thought of levels of > effort needed above pure din. I'd love to better understand the threshold > calculations and what they mean in shamayim... BTW, RJR's quote, for those who […]