V'dibarta Bam

2:26 PM

@Mr.Bultitude Makos 7a. The Mishna says "... A Sanhedrin that executes one person in 7 years is called a 'bloody court'. Rabbi Eliezer ben Azaria says once in 70 years. Rabbi Tarfon and Rabbi Akiva say, 'if we had been on the Sanhedrin, nobody would ever have been executed.' Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel answerd, 'and they would also have increased bloodshed in Israel.'"

1 hour later…

Mr. Bultitude

3:30 PM

@Daniel Thank you.

4:06 PM

Related, and interesting: marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2016/01/…

@IsaacMoses That is interesting. It's the kind of analysis that shows (at least to me) that Chazal weren't just making up rules just to make it seem like they were smarter than conventional wisdom. There was real analysis there.

(Unless they got really lucky)

@Daniel There's a lot of wisdom about human nature (also medicine, for that matter) that existed in various groups or traditions qualitatively for generations before anyone confirmed it quantitatively using modern scientific methods. It shouldn't be too surprising that Chazal employed and codified such wisdom, especially, but not only, if you believe that they had access to an Oral Tradition of Divine origin and/or to some form of Divine inspiration themselves.

@Daniel Note that there are also halachot (and plenty of medical wisdom in the Talmud) that are much harder to justify scientifically.

Q: Etymology/connection between Ari, Aryeh, Yehudah, Leib, and Leibel

4:33 PM

@NoachmiFrankfurt (Just catching up in chat here, and I haven't yet seen what others have responded to you.) In some old Bam conversation about what's on topic and what's not, I deliberately avoided discussing names. Unclear to me whether a question about Jewish names is on-topic as about Judaism or off- as about Jews.

@IsaacMoses goo.gl ?

What is the relationship between the following names that often go together is some combination? Ari/Aryeh Yehudah Leib/Leibel I've encountered many men, young and old, with the following first and middle name combinations: Aryeh Leib, Yehudah Leib, and Yehudah Aryeh; and I know one person wh...

Not an answer, but of interest (h/t Isaac Moses). — msh210 ♦ 21 secs ago

4:55 PM

@msh210 Not sure if the bot would be OK with that kind of indirection. Worth a try.

We had been using messiah for questions about mashiach the man and for questions about the messianic redemption. Recenly someone started using messianic-redemption also. Just FYI, all.

5:15 PM

The latest thing (as in, launched today) in amateur podcasting is from a Jewish company: theverge.com/2016/1/21/10801098/…

@IsaacMoses I think I've heard/seen that name before.

Hillel Fuld, I mean, not Zula.

@msh210 I don't know him, but he and I share several Facebook "friends"

@IsaacMoses PTIJ... if you use scare quotes, does your acceptance of friendship count toward the requirement?

@msh210 Probably not, like if you say "sell" when referring to what you do with your Chamtez before Pesach.

@msh210 It's fine b'diavad since you clicked the "accept" button. Even l'chatchila it's ok according to some opinions, although all agree that it's a hiddur mitzvah to not use scare quotes (orach chaverim 35:6)

Q: If I sign a contract without reading it (such as a website's Terms and Conditions), is it halachically binding?

5:26 PM

Many websites and computer applications require users to agree to "Terms and Conditions". However, few users actually read them. Are such conditions halachically binding? Does it depend on whether such conditions are reasonable in some way?

halacha legal-documents

> went through the roof (literally)

@msh210 I don't get it.

BTW, how does a question like that have net +12 on a science Q&A site?

Noach mi Frankfurt

@msh210 There are also similar questions about Feivisch/Phœbus IIRC. I think I'll hold back until I hear from @DoubleAA.

@IsaacMoses, I'm also curious of your opinion

@IsaacMoses I think he's referencing chimneys in factories (?)

@Daniel OK. cute.

@IsaacMoses For once a joke that I had to explain to you

5:34 PM

@IsaacMoses I assumed he was using "literally" nonliterally, and I was just pointing it out.

@NoachmiFrankfurt I'm not sure why you singled us and...

@NoachmiFrankfurt ...Isaac out.

... But I'm honored to be a part of that select group.

@Daniel You may be right.

@msh210 Especially given the sentence, "The amount of industry went through the roof (literally) between 1870 to 1960..."

although it still does use the word "literally" non-literally

but it's a play on words

@Daniel For sure.

Meta-Man

5:58 PM

Q: Is this really off-topic?

Earlier today I asked a question about the background and history of a well-known Jewish folksong (What is the background/history of the Hebrew folksong "Hevenu Shalom Aleichem"?). The question was edited by a moderator, I rolled back, and the question was promptly closed as off-topic. Are ques...

discussion close-reasons

Noach mi Frankfurt

6:09 PM

@msh210 You, Monica, and Double AA serve as mods and Isaac is one of the founders

6:29 PM

@NoachmiFrankfurt One of the founders of MY, yes, but the founder of m.y, its predecessor. Semiofficially "the patriarch of Mi Yodeya".

Double AA

7:00 PM

@NoachmiFrankfurt Mods just enforce policy. We don't make it.

@NoachmiFrankfurt My initial impressions: I have a sense that it would be too broad, in the sense that someone could compile a book about different name combinations/parallels and their meanings/relationship between Hebrew/Aramaic/Yiddish/Ladino etc. so a post here wouldn't be suitable to our community and wouldn't contribute much to scholarship on the matter. I don't think it would be off topic. I don't think I'd unilaterally close it as too broad, though.