Torah Q&A
3130 answered questions with cited sources from the Sefaria library.
Can you give me a motivating Torah story or verse that would give me motivation to create order out of chaos ? and a seder how to create order out of chaos ?
What a beautiful and profound question! The Torah itself opens with precisely this theme — God creating order out of chaos — making it one of the most foundatio
What are all of the sources that one can wear glasses on Shabbat without an eruv?
The question of wearing glasses on Shabbat without an eruv (a halachic boundary enabling carrying) touches on whether glasses constitute a "burden" (masa) or a
The Evolution of Jewish Prayer
The Evolution of Jewish Prayer: From Abraham's Spontaneous Cry to the Shemoneh Esreh You are touching on one of the most fascinating tensions in Jewish religiou
Addiction in Jewish Thought and Halacha
Addiction in Jewish Thought and Halacha Addiction is a profound human struggle that Torah tradition addresses through multiple lenses — the nature of free will,
Shalom chèr ami d'étude. Peux tu me parler de סֶרַח בַּת אָשֵׁ ? Qui était cet femme ? Connaissait elle Moshé ?
סֶרַח בַּת אָשֵׁר — Sérah, fille d'Asher Sérah bat Asher est l'une des figures les plus mystérieuses et fascinantes de toute la Torah. Elle apparaît brièvement
Snakes and scorpions are related to a lack of water in two places in the Pentateuch: Joseph in the pit, and Deuteronomy 8:15. Are there any sources that link these two?
Excellent observation! This is a genuinely subtle textual connection. The link between Joseph's pit and the snakes/scorpions of Deuteronomy 8:15 is made explici
I come from a christian background and I was thinking of sin as a category of sever mistakes like murder and other types of sever physical agression. I thought of myself as a fairly decent person, but I am becoming more and more aware of more subtle forms of sins. In fact, I don't work outside the house, I am a woman without a boss, nobody sees what I am doing, but oftentimes I am lazy and I scroll on the internet, not doing my household chores. Now I am feeling very lowly about myself, because I didn't achieve anything over all those years that I stayed at home. In the first years, I did my household chores more strictly, but over the last few years, I started becoming less and less punctual and less demanding. Now the chaos and disorder are becoming obvious and it feels like a sin that I am not productive. My mom and mother in law were very organised, but also a bit robotic with very very little time for themselves. My mother became bitter because she neglected herhelf and her own needs. That's why I became more lazy and less stringent too towareds myself, but it feels unhealthy. It feels like a sin. My mother in law was also very very well organised and in fact she is like an example to me, but she is much more disciplined than me. It seems to me she sets the bar really high and I cannot achieve that level. It feels to me like I am not doing well. I want to learn from her, but I don't succeed to emulate her ways. What can you teach me to become more disciplined, more organised, more balanced ?
What a beautiful and honest question — and what courage it takes to look inward this way. Torah tradition would actually reframe much of what you're describing:
Jeremiah and the Paradox of Faith Without Community
Jeremiah: The Solitary Prophet and the Paradox of Faith Without Community You have identified one of the most profound and painful paradoxes in all of Tanakh. J
Why in Akeda story Avraham returned to naarim without Itzhak?
The end of the Akeidah (the Binding of Isaac) narrative in Genesis 22 records that "Abraham returned to his young men" [Genesis 22:19] — with no explicit mentio
The Nefesh and Its Relationship to the Body
The Nefesh and Its Relationship to the Body The nefesh (נֶפֶשׁ) is indeed the most "earthbound" dimension of the soul — the level directly interfacing with the
Remind me clearly what are the restrictions on Tisha Baav for adults and anyone under males under 13 though my son's English birthday is on Tisha baav and hebrew next week
Restrictions on Tisha B'Av Tisha B'Av carries five major prohibitions for halachically obligated adults, paralleling Yom Kippur. Children under bar/bat mitzvah
If there are fewer than ten men, what changes in the shacharit service on Monday and Thursday?
When a minyan (quorum of ten Jewish men) is not present, the Torah cannot be read publicly. This means that on Monday and Thursday mornings — days when the Tora
Segun el movimiento masorti es permitido viajar en shabat
El Movimiento Masortí (Conservador) permite el viaje en automóvil el Shabat bajo ciertas condiciones muy específicas — principalmente para asistir a la sinagoga
What does the Baal Shem Tov say about divine unity
The Baal Shem Tov on Divine Unity and "Everything is One" The Baal Shem Tov (Rav Yisrael ben Eliezer, founder of Chassidus, 1698–1760) taught that the fundament
What does the egg on ashes eaten eruv tisha b’av represent
The egg eaten on ashes during the Seudah Hamafseket (the final meal before Tisha B'Av) is a powerful symbol of mourning and the cyclical nature of tragedy in Je
Is a bracha required if changing to a different tallit katan for sleep at night
The question of whether a new bracha (blessing) is required when switching to a different tallit katan (small four-cornered garment) for sleep is a practical ha
Dit moi, dans le passage de Moshé qui fait paitre les brebis , il y a ces deux expressions; y a il un rapport avec les 22 lètres de l'alphabet ? אֶת-צֹאן et אֶת-הַצֹּאן
Le Sod des Deux Expressions — "Et-Tzon" et "Et-HaTzon" Réponse Directe Oui, il existe un rapport profond et délibéré entre ces deux expressions et les 22 lettre
What’s the shortest Perek in shas mishna
The shortest perek (chapter) in all of Shas Mishnah is Perek 3 of Masekhot Makkot — sometimes noted as a candidate — but the most commonly cited answer is Chapt
Messianic prophecies in the Torah
Messianic Prophecies in the Torah The Torah contains several foundational prophecies that Jewish tradition understands as pointing toward the ultimate redemptio
If I have shmatas/Kitchen towels that get dirty right away and will smell and get moldy if I leave them for the 9 days, can I wash them
Washing Kitchen Towels During the Nine Days Washing kitchen towels (shmatas) that will become moldy or smelly if left unwashed is generally permitted during the
Is there any source that would encourage preparing a dish or food for shabbos that we should refrain from eating on weekdays?
Yes, there is a direct Talmudic and halachic basis for this practice. The principle of Shammai the Elder — saving the best food specifically for Shabbat — is we
What is a good systematic way to learn mishnaic and or Talmudic aramaic as a language, not as the collection of words.?
Learning Mishnaic Hebrew and Talmudic Aramaic as Living Languages Your framing of this question is exactly right and reflects genuine linguistic sophistication.
The Demut Adam in Ezekiel and Adam Kadmon
The Demut Adam in Ezekiel and Adam Kadmon — Vision, Throne, and the Limits of Understanding You have touched upon one of the most sacred, debated, and carefully
Is one allowed according to Jewish law to do in vitro fertilization of an egg so that one will have a boy?
IVF for the purpose of selecting a male child touches on several intersecting halachic issues — the mitzvah of pru u'rvu (procreation), the permissibility of IV
Is targum unkelus from har sinai
The tradition holds that Targum Onkelos has its ultimate origins in the revelation at Har Sinai (Mount Sinai), though it was later forgotten and subsequently re
Tefillin that is Almost black
It seems your question may be incomplete — could you clarify what you'd like to know? For example, are you asking: Whether tefillin that has faded to "almost bl
Can you give me a short shot based describing how a lasting spiritual realities is created when learning Torah or doing mitzvos something in this world, something that a sadly good sense beyond the actual time that were involved in the mitzvah
A lasting spiritual reality is created through Torah and mitzvot because these acts forge an eternal bond between the person and Hashem that transcends the...
Touching the leaves of a small estrog tree on Shabbat
Touching the leaves of an etrog (citron) tree on Shabbat is primarily governed by the laws of muktzeh (items set aside/forbidden to handle on Shabbat) as they a
Did the laws of Yovel accommodate and adjust for the possible different population growth rates of the different tribes? Or was the land allocation to the tribes fixed regardless of changes in population sizes of the different tribes?
The land allocation to the tribes was fixed and did not adjust for population changes — each tribe's portion was permanently assigned and returned to that fixed
If you’re not fasting on tisha bav do you still need to do סעודת המפסקת?
The seudah hamafseket (the final meal before the fast) is specifically preparatory to the fast itself — if a person is halachically exempt from fasting on Tisha