Rabbi Azriel Schreiber
855 answers
Whenever possible, JewishAnswers.org tries to include the name of the author on every post. However, at certain times, we make significant changes to the answers posted. In that case, we will often sign the post with our generic “pen name” – Rabbi Azriel Schreiber. This “pen name” may also be used when a writer declines to have his name published.
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Masturbation and Wasting Seed
Where does the Torah forbid “wasting seed”? The most authoritative work of Jewish law, the Shulchan Aruch (Even Ha’ezer ch. 23), states categorically that “it is forbidden to release semen for no purpose and this is as serious a sin…
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Homosexuality
Does the Torah forbid both male and female homosexuality? Male homosexuality is explicitly forbidden in Lev. 18:22. The sources that forbid sexual intimacy between women are Talmud Yevamos 76a and the Midrashim on Lev. 18:3 (which forbids “the deeds of…
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Adultery
The Torah requires a test for a wife who is suspected of unfaithfulness (Sotah; Num. 5:12-31). Is something similar required for an unfaithful husband? When the Sotah ceremony was performed for a suspected woman, her drinking the “bitter water” was…
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The Torah Readings on Pesach and Sukkos
What is the reason for the sequence of the Torah readings on Pesach and Sukkos? On the second day of Pesach and the first two days of Sukkos, we read from Emor; on the eighth day of Pesach and on…
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Reading Koheles
Why do we read Koheles on Sukkos? The custom of reading Koheles on Shabbos Chol Ha-Moed Sukkos is mentioned by the Rema (Orach Chayim 490:9). A possible allusion to Sukkos in Koheles is 11:2, “Give a portion to seven and…
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The Sixth Day
What happened on the sixth day of Creation? An hour-by-hour chronology of the events on the sixth day is given in Sanhedrin 38b; it includes the creation of Adam and Eve, the births of their first two children, their sin,…
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Creation of only One Man
Why did G-d create only one man? Only a single man was created so no one could say “my ancestors were greater than yours” (Talmud Sanhedrin 38a).
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The Earth from which Adam was Made
Where did G-d get the earth from which He made Adam? The Talmud has two views about the source of the earth from which Adam was made: (1) It was taken from many places (Sanhedrin 38a-b), probably so no place…
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Enoch
What happened to Enoch? Answer: The Torah (Gen.5:24) says that “Enoch walked with G-d, and he was not (i.e., he vanished from this world), because G-d took him”. According to the Midrash Agadah, Enoch visited heaven and studied with the…