The Chumash (Five Books of Moses)
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Genesis
Do the Jewish accept Genesis as actual fact or parable? When was Genesis written? It is fact that must, like the entire Torah, be interpreted. We believe that the world was created in six days, but what is the meaning…
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[name] the son of [father’s name]
When the bible speaks of a person, often the person is named as the Son of… What is the significance of the phrase. How important is this relationship; Father to the Son or visa vesa As you can see, lineage…
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Torah Portions
Deuteronomy (31:10-13) tells us to read the Torah once every seven years during the festival of booths. I also know that about a thousand years ago, a Rabbi decided that the people were forgetting what the Torah said so he…
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What is “before” G-d?
In Genesis 6:11 it says “The land became corrupted before G-d” How can it be before G-d if he is the creator? I suspect, as someone recently asked me a similar question, that you are understanding the word “before” as…
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Let US make man
What did G-D mean when he said in Genesis 1:26 “let US make man in our image. Who is the US? Answer: That’s an excellent question. How can the Torah say US if there’s only one G-d? The answer is…
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Toras Kohanim
Rashi continually refers to “Toras Kohanim” as a source. This obviously is not Leviticus itself, nor is it Sifra. Where would I find this Toras kohanim? Actually, your Sifra and Toras Kohanim are one in the same; Toras Kohanim (meaning…
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Manna
How did the Manna feed 600,000 people? Answer: Your question was short and to the point, so I’ll make my answer short as well. The manna fed about 3,000,000 people. 600,000 Men between 20 & 60. The rest were women…
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10 commandments, 10 utterences
What is the connection between the 10 commandments and the 10 utterences ? I suppose your question is if there is a connection between the ten commandments and the ten utterances that G-d used to create the world. Perhaps one…
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Levirate Marriage Today
If Levirate marriage conflicts with the law of the land, eg laws of prohibited affinities for marriage, do (Orthodox) rabbis still solemnise Levirate marriages? If not, when did they stop doing so, and under whose decision? To my knowledge, Levirate…