@Srivatsan Officially, it's the site chat room for Jewish Life and Learning, and a good deal of the chat is actually about that. Otherwise, this and that.
@ShmuelBrill hi
Any of the Lubavitchers here happen to know what Rosh Hashana / Yom Kipur poem I've heard youtube.com/watch?v=I4mDRQgR3EE put to? I can't think what it was....
@HodofHod I have no objection. Are considering its use for any questions about (e.g.) sisters, or only for those that have to do with a sister's status as a k'rova (e.g. for tum'a of a kohen or avelus)?
@HodofHod beats me. It's not like I named that tag. Oh, wait, I did. Well, beats me anyway. I think I wanted to include family and didn't want people to think it was for questions about entire families only, and "family-member" was too long.... or something
@HodofHod It's Yaale tachanunenu meerev I was thinking of. Thanks, though.
It is my understanding that when a person converts to Judaism, certain halachic relationships are severed.
So I have a couple questions about this.
Which relationships are severed?
Is a convert still related to their Jewish (from birth) father?
If a person and their close relative convert tog...
@HodofHod That, plus in Vayishlach it says that he came back to Chevron "where Avraham and Yitzchak had lived," and it doesn't say anything about him moving away from there
@IsaacMoses They did for a time - evidently they were living there when Yaakov left for Charan (Gen. 28:10, "Yaakov left Be'er Sheva"). They seem to have moved around a lot between there and Chevron, though.
Look at Avraham (Rashi to Gen. 21:34): in Chevron from age 75 to 100, then in Be'er Sheva from then to age 126, and then back to Chevron.
@HodofHod I'm fairly certain R. Hirsch says something on the subject, but I don't recall it.
@IsaacMoses On a simple level: maybe because the pastures for the animals were getting depleted in one place? Though I'm sure there are deeper reasons too.
@Alex R' Hirsch does assign different symbolism and psychological import to different locations. I recall that he has Shechem as a gathering place for resistance against tyranny (Yosef's brothers and then again later in Nach)
@IsaacMoses Interesting, because the Gemara (Rashi quotes it to 37:14) says that Shechem is מקום מזומן לפורענות! Maybe that tells us something about the different views in Judaism about whether revolution is good or bad.
@Alex That actually makes a lot of sense, b/c in the next pasuk, G-d appears to Yaakov and tells him not to worry. Rashi says yaakov was worried about leaving the Holy Land. So we might be able to say that Yaakov traveled to the place where G-d had most recently iterated his promises, to (so to speak) remind G-d of them and ask for guidance and protection before heading to egypt.
@Alex and then Yaakov goes there and God tells him to go to Egypt. Yitzchak never left Cana'an; I wonder if Yaakov thought (once he was back) that he shouldn't leave again and needed to be told? Just thinking out loud, not sourced.
Whenever we have a scheduled chat event that's about to start within the next half hour (I think), we get a auto-generated banner on the main and meta sites saying, e.g.:
Visit our Parashat Hashavu'a Chat, going on right now.
Because this comes up early and says "right now," people invaria...
I was wondering about the shepherds. Yosef tells his family to say they're shepherds because that's abhorrant to Egypt (so they'll get sent off on their own), but when Yosef is managing the famine later the Egyptians pledge their livestock (sheep are specifically mentioned). ?
@MonicaCellio Cool. You might as well include the line of speculation we're developing here. Maybe we'll get an answer from an expert on ancient shepherding practices
@IsaacMoses I think you pretty much nailed it. It would be the same way as with the Roman emperors who considered themselves gods, who nevertheless sought the blessings of other gods in their pantheon.
And here even more so, maybe, since Pharaoh (and lots of the ancient pagans in general) did accept that Hashem is "the G-d of gods," just that He doesn't involve Himself with our material world.
@IsaacMoses Did the other nations (like Egypt) perhaps see blessings from others as acknowledgement of their divine status? (Presumably Yisrael didn't or he wouldn't have given it.)
@HGabriel But the Pope thinks that his G-d is the same as ours (which is true to a limited extent - his involves shituf); Pharaoh didn't equate himself, or any of his other gods, with Yaakov's G-d. Anyway, though, where do we see that Pharaoh asked Yaakov for a blessing? Yaakov seems to have given it on his own, unprompted.
@IsaacMoses hypothetical @Alex Wouldn't this be the same idea that he wouldn't go to the bathroom in front of them? He was afraid to show any signs that he was human.
@Alex There's also the question of whether they were speaking directly. If Paro didn't speak Hebrew and Yaakov didn't speak Egyptian there would have been translators; in modern diplomacy they sometimes advise people of what to say. So a courtier could have suggested the blessing.
@HGabriel I kind of wonder whether that was true of the Pharaoh of Yosef's time. If so, then that would open up a different problem: how could Yosef swear by his life (in last week's parsha)? You're not allowed to swear by the name of an idol.
@Alex Interesting. In that case, in the former case, he may have only been acknowledging God as "a god" (chas veshalom) but still wouldn't have been cool with the universal YKVK concept.
@HGabriel Good question -- it's only a few generations and the new Paro doesn't know Yosef? On the other hand, maybe something happened during that time to prompt revisionist history?
@MonicaCellio that's like saying that a 30-50 year old American man not know who George Bush is. How did he not know him? "Asher Lo Yada Et Yosef- That didn't know Yosef." Maybe it means it literally- he didn't personally know him, meaning he was a new king.
@Alex And in a society that considers its rulers gods, they would want to credit the ruler, not one of his subordinates, with the great feat of managing the famine.
@HGabriel Historically, he might indeed not have known him. Yosef died in 2309 and the enslavement of the Jews began in 2361; with the low life expectancy of those days, his grandfather might have been the last Pharaoh to know Yosef personally.
There are also historians who claim that the era of Yosef coincides with the period when the Hyksos (invaders from Asia) ruled Egypt. If so, then when the native Egyptians came back to power (the 18th dynasty), they would indeed have had good reason to try to erase the memory of Yosef and of all of that line of pharaohs.
@Alex the Torah won't lie- it wouldn't say "that didn't know Yosef" it would have said "he said he didn't know Yosef." @ShmuelBrill I don't follow @Monica I hear that
@Alex We know the timeline (when Yosef was; even if archaeologists/historians don't agree). Are historians/archaeologists clear on the Egyptian-history timeline? if so, we can match 'em up easily.
@HGabriel Right, but it might be meant in more than one sense: he actually never knew Yosef personally (having been born long after Yosef died), but more to the point, he didn't care to look up what actually happened.
@HGabriel (To show what you're replying to, point your mouse at the right edge of the message you're replying to, then click on the little arrow that appears, then type your reply.)
@msh210 It ain't so simple. Various historians reconstruct the dates of Egyptian history a little differently, for one thing. R' Aryeh Kaplan (in his notes to Me'am Loez) tries to put together some such equations, but some of them are a little forced.
Before more people leave, anyone else want to volunteer (beli neder) to have a particular commentary on hand in future chats? I've already called R' Hirsch.
@HGabriel Remember that ידע can also mean "have a close connection with" (as in והאדם ידע את חוה, or רק אתכם ידעתי מכל משפחות האדמה). So it might be meant in that sense too.
@msh210 Actually, I'd think that he'd want to keep at least one of Yosef's gezeiros: that all land in the country belongs to the king, and he's entitled to 20% of the crops!
... but, seeing as I ought to return to work, and others probably do too, and without chas veshalom suggesting that people should actually stop chatting if they want to keep going ...
@IsaacMoses is it east-coast-centric? I can't think of a better time that works for Israel, the US west coast, and everything in between (if we get any Australians it'll be impossible)
It would be nice if each bookmarked chat conversation would indicate, in the sidebar (where it lists the participants),
the number of posts and
the length of time from start to end.
The former is useful specifically in comparing periodically repeated chats (like our Parashat Hashavu'a Chat), ...
It would be nice if each bookmarked chat conversation would indicate, in the sidebar (where it lists the participants),
the number of posts and
the length of time from start to end.
The former is useful specifically in comparing periodically repeated chats (like our Parashat Hashavu'a Chat), ...
@IsaacMoses, Sorry I missed the Parshat Hashavua chat today. I had the opportunity to do some real chavrusa-style learning in an actual, physical Beis Midrash.
I should be around in future weeks, though. In which case, I would be glad to have my Abarbanel handy. Glad you all know me well enough to assume so. (I read the chat transcript.)
@NeilFein See the comments here. Ads are generally meant to be static over the half-year period (or in this case, the two months for which we temporarily have this tool).
@NeilFein Sorry about that. I added a translation near the top of the announcement.
Granted, in the chat itself, concepts fly fast and furious, and people are probably less likely to write accessibly than they are on the main site. However, I'm pretty sure that if it was clear that there was someone present who needed terms translated, people would adjust their style accordingly.
@Neal I've announced it to crowds a couple of times here, but no more votes. If people would like to see improvements to it, I hope they'll post comments to that effect.
@Neal I think you did a fine job. I don't know why people aren't voting it up. But if there's a specific reason, I hope people will say so or post an alternative.
@msh210 That doesn't make sense. The latency is much shorter, and the communication style in play varies much more.
@msh210 Electrical Engineer? The people who wrote about computers before computers became their own specialty? That would explain the archaic convention.
This ones been bugging me for a while.
Many times, people will vote on my answers, and then I'll edit it afterwards.
They should be notified when I edit it, so that they can choose to see if they still agree with their vote, in light of the changes made to the answer (or question).
Unless I'm ...
@Neal @IsaacMoses - I already left a comment about the ad. Others may disagree, but I think the calendar grid makes the text hard to read. With an ad, people look at it for maybe half a second if you're lucky.
It is my understanding that when a person converts to Judaism, certain halachic relationships are severed.
So I have a couple questions about this.
Which relationships are severed?
Is a convert still related to their Jewish (from birth) father?
If a person and their close relative convert tog...
Whenever we have a scheduled chat event that's about to start within the next half hour (I think), we get a auto-generated banner on the main and meta sites saying, e.g.:
Visit our Parashat Hashavu'a Chat, going on right now.
Because this comes up early and says "right now," people invaria...
It would be nice if each bookmarked chat conversation would indicate, in the sidebar (where it lists the participants),
the number of posts and
the length of time from start to end.
The former is useful specifically in comparing periodically repeated chats (like our Parashat Hashavu'a Chat), ...
This ones been bugging me for a while.
Many times, people will vote on my answers, and then I'll edit it afterwards.
They should be notified when I edit it, so that they can choose to see if they still agree with their vote, in light of the changes made to the answer (or question).
Unless I'm ...
