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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Women Covering their Hair
What is the origin of the requirement that married women must cover their hair? Married women have covered their hair since Biblical times. In Num.5:18, when a woman suspected of adultery comes to the Temple to drink the “bitter waters”,…
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Women and Halacha
Can women issue rulings on halachic questions? There’s no reason why a qualified woman can’t express her opinions on halachic matters. She can’t serve as a judge in matters that require a court, but there’s no reason why she can’t…
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Remarrying a Divorced Wife
Can a man re-marry his divorced wife? A man can’t re-marry his divorced wife if she married anyone else after he divorced her, and that person either died or divorced her too; see Deut.24:1-4.
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TZITZIS and the Commandments
How do the TZITZIS remind us of the Commandments? Each of the TZITZIS is composed of eight threads which are tied with five double knots. The numerical value of TZITZIS is 600; adding 8 (threads) and 5 (knots) gives 613,…
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TECHELES
What color is TECHELES? The Talmud (Chulin 89a) says that TECHELES resembles the color of the sky. This must mean the sky before sunrise or after sunset, because TECHELES is a dark shade of blue, not a light one like…
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Facing Jerusalem
Why do we face east when we pray? What is special about that direction? Jews face toward Jerusalem when they pray; for Jews in Europe and the Americas this means that they face east, but Jews in the far east…
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The Torah Reading
When was the Torah reading divided into parshiyos and aliyahs? Moses ordained that the Torah be read every Sabbath (Talmud Yerushalmi, Megillah 3:1), but he didn’t specify how much should be read each week. The custom in Babylonia was to…
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The Synagogue
What is the history of the synagogue? The Targum and Midrash on Ex.18:20 (and the new Testament: Acts 15:21) attribute the first establishment of a synagague to Moses. The terms “House of the people” (Jeremiah 39:8) and “Meeting places of…
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Changes in the Prayers
How do changes in the prayers come about? The post-Talmudic evolution of the Siddur (and the Torah Readings) resulted almost entirely from developments and divergences in custom, not from Rabbinic decisions or “decrees”. Orthodox Rabbis occasionally try to add things…