A. I don’t know of an algorithm, but Chabad.org has a date converter tool to figure these type of things out. I’m not sure how they do it. Back in our yeshiva days we had a classmate who had a … Read the rest
...A. No doubt, the horrifying horrors of the Holocaust and the magnitude of its devastation leaves much questioning about why bad things happen to good people, and where was G-d, among other such legitimate and oft-asked questions.
But here’s something … Read the rest
...A. The title means preacher. It’s rarely used nowadays, but was more common in Eastern Europe in the 200 years leading up to the Holocaust. It can go either way.
Rebbe Dov Ber, the successor to the Baal Shem Tov … Read the rest
...A. No. The Rebbe and his wife shared a last name before they got married in 1929. They were actually cousins, sharing a common great-great grandfather, the 3rd Rebbe of Lubavitch (also named Menachem Mendel) also known as the Tzemach … Read the rest
...A. Mixed feelings. He surely was not a descendent of the House of David and therefore traditionally unworthy of kingship, and the beginning of his reign saw much bloodshed when he killed much of the Rabbinic leadership. But later on, … Read the rest
...A. The Egyptian Bondage didn’t happen all at once. The Jews were not enslaved overnight. It was a gradual process that started off with lots of carrot and ended up with all stick. Romaine Lettuce (or endive) represents that – … Read the rest
...A. Talmud Rosh Hashanah 2b learns it from a juxtaposition of Shlomo’s royal reckoning and the reckoning from the Exodus. Rabbeynu Nissim explains this is because there would never be a Jewish King if we hadn’t left Egypt. In the … Read the rest
...A. The Talmud asks the same question. He’s a complex character and different Rabbis of the Talmud read him differently.… Read the rest
... A. No. Adam died in the Jewish year 930 (or 2831 BCE) and the Flood happened in the Jewish year 1656 (or 2105 BCE).
BTW – BCE stands for Before the Common Era, which is how we designate secular dates … Read the rest
A. Sholom Aleichem was a pen-name for Sholom Rabinowitz (1859-1916), the traditional greeting long predates the celebrated Yiddish author.… Read the rest
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