Search results for: ""Tora""
Returning Lost Objects (Hashavat Aveida)
You are required to return a lost object (hashavat aveida) to its Jewish owner if you can. This is a Torah commandment.
Note It is saintly behavior to return lost objects to non-Jews, too, if it will be a kiddush Hashem.
Note You should tell a person if his or her cigarettes fall out of a pocket, even though the cigarettes are dangerous to the smoker's health.
Note You should tell a person if his or her cigarettes fall out of a pocket, even though the cigarettes are dangerous to the smoker's health.
Dayenu
In dayenu, we say that at each level of what God did for us, it would have been enough. Since we didn't get the Torah until one of the last stages, this seems incorrect, since of what value is money, wandering in the desert, and all of the other details if we don't have the Torah?
The answer is that we need to be grateful to God for each miracle that we received, and that at each stage, we owe praise and thanks to God.
Also, in one sense, we already had the Torah (in some version, even though not in the form in which Moses/Moshe wrote it later).
The answer is that we need to be grateful to God for each miracle that we received, and that at each stage, we owe praise and thanks to God.
Also, in one sense, we already had the Torah (in some version, even though not in the form in which Moses/Moshe wrote it later).
When You May Eat Before Your Pet Eats
You must be very careful to feed your animals every day before you eat (otherwise you are violating a Torah commandment). If your animal only eats late in the day, you may eat before that.
Wasting People's Time (Tircha d'tzibura)
You may not waste people's time or upset them (tircha d'tzibura).
Example A prayer leader should not:
- Roll a Torah scroll during the minyan in order to get to the correct place for reading (it should have been done previously) unless necessary;
- Roll up his tefilin after taking them off for musaf on Rosh Chodesh, before hallel on chol ha'moed of Sukkot, or after hallel on chol ha'moed Passover. (Instead, he should take them off and leave them on the bima until the prayer service is finished, or roll them up during Torah reading).
Tum'a: Leather Shoes and Washing
After touching leather shoes, you must wash your hands using the One-Time Method before saying blessings or prayers or before learning Torah.
Note If you do not have any water with which to wash your hands, say the blessing or prayer anyway but wipe your hands off on something before saying the blessing.
Note If you do not have any water with which to wash your hands, say the blessing or prayer anyway but wipe your hands off on something before saying the blessing.
Woman Blowing Shofar
A woman who knows how, may blow the shofar for herself but not for men.
Reason This is because women, who are not required by the Torah to hear shofar but who have universally accepted that custom, may not fulfill the obligation for men, who are required by the Torah to hear the shofar.
Reason This is because women, who are not required by the Torah to hear shofar but who have universally accepted that custom, may not fulfill the obligation for men, who are required by the Torah to hear the shofar.
Calculating the End (of Slavery)
God told Avraham (Abraham) that his children would be living in “lands not their own” and would be enslaved for 400 years, Yet the Torah states that the Israelites were in Egypt for 210 years. So we say God “calculated the end” (chisheiv et ha'keitz) of the enslavement: He started the counting from the birth of Avraham's son, Yitzchak (Isaac), until the Exodus (a total of 400 years), as follows:
Time from Birth of Avraham's Son to Going Down to Egypt
Time in Egypt
210 years in Egypt
Time from Birth of Avraham's Son to Exodus
190 Before going down to Egypt
+ 210 In Egypt
= 400 years from Yitzchak's birth to the Exodus.
Time from Birth of Avraham's Son to Going Down to Egypt
- Yaakov (Jacob) was born when Yitzchak was 60 years old.
- Yaakov told Par'o (Pharoah) (when he and the rest of his family entered Egypt) that he was 130 years old.
- 60 + 130= 190 years before going down to Egypt
Time in Egypt
210 years in Egypt
Time from Birth of Avraham's Son to Exodus
190 Before going down to Egypt
+ 210 In Egypt
= 400 years from Yitzchak's birth to the Exodus.
Note Yitzchak and Yaakov did not yet “own” Eretz Yisrael. Since the Israelites were not given Eretz Yisrael until after the Exodus, Avraham's offspring were living in “lands not their own” for 400 years.
Blessings and Using God's Name in Vain
You may not use God's name unless there is a positive purpose. Anyone may say any of God's names anytime when studying Torah, even a girl or woman who is reading the Torah with cantillation/trop where she might need to repeat God's name or other words in a line/pasuk and thereby not say the entire pasuk as it is written.
It is permissible to use God's name (and not an altered name such as “Keil” or “Elokim”) in these cases:
It is permissible to use God's name (and not an altered name such as “Keil” or “Elokim”) in these cases:
- When reciting a sentence or phrase from the Torah.
- For any type of teaching of Torah, blessings, and prayers to children up to bar/bat mitzva age.
- In Shabbat songs/zmirot.
Note When singing zmirot on Shabbat, you should use God's correct name, since zmirot are a form of prayer.
Lulav: If First Day of Sukkot Is Shabbat
You do not need to buy a fancy or expensive lulav and etrog if the first day of Sukkot is Shabbat, since the Torah requirement for the etrog to be beautiful is only on the first day of Sukkot.
Shabbat: Marking Pages in Books
You may mark pages in a book, whether secular or holy, on Shabbat by:
- Putting slips of paper in the book (but only if the slips were torn before Shabbat began).
- Bending the page corners, whether the books are secular or Jewish holy books.
Announcing the New Month
Each month (except before Rosh Hashana), we say the blessing over the new month (birkat ha'chodesh). On Shabbat morning preceding the new moon, at the end of Torah reading, we announce the coming of the new month (Rosh Chodesh), including:
- The name of the month.
- The day and time the new moon will appear in Jerusalem.
- The day of the week that begins the new month (and sometimes the last day of the previous month).
Attire: Man's Head Covering Indoors
It is customary for men to wear a head covering always, even indoors. This is a custom, not a halacha. When praying or saying blessings or studying Torah or when in a synagogue or bet midrash, men must wear a head covering.
Attire: Woman Wearing Talit for Warmth
A woman should not use a talit to keep warm, even
- if there is no other garment in the synagogue and
- if she is listening to a Torah class.
Shabbat: Feeding Animals before Yourself
If you do own an animal, you must generally feed it before you are permitted to eat your own food. If you eat first, you have violated a Torah commandment.
Woman Blowing Shofar
A woman who knows how, may blow the shofar for herself and for other women but not for men.
Reason This is because women, who are not required by the Torah to hear shofar but who have universally accepted that custom, may not fulfill the obligation for men, who are required by the Torah to hear the shofar.
Reason This is because women, who are not required by the Torah to hear shofar but who have universally accepted that custom, may not fulfill the obligation for men, who are required by the Torah to hear the shofar.