@MonicaCellio I still hold by my opinion with Torah codes with respect to much of remez in general (won't say all, but a large chunk of it, certainly, including Gematria).
Consider the traditional Gematria Bar Mitzvah speech: "If you take the gematria of talmid chacham in mispar katan, you get 33, and since you can be one off, let's call it 34. Moishe's name in a"t ba"sh has a gematria of 102, which is precisely three times 34, symbolizing that Moshe will be proficient in Torah, Neviim, and Kesuvim." It only works during PTIJ season.
Ba'al HaTurim has the right idea: The source for everything he writes is a Midrash or Gemara; his "appetizers" are merely hints to things derived from other sources. Even when Chazal seemingly learn halachos from gematria, it's really a tradition, and the gematria is a hint to it.
Which leads me to my other big problem with Torah codes: those people who try to predict the future off of them...
Generally speaking, R' Yosef Karo doesn't quote authorities by name in his Shulchan Aruch, but rather focuses on what the halacha is in the Shulchan Aruch and leaves the various opinions and rationales to be explained in his Beis Yosef.
In going through Hilchos Pesach, I stumbled upon the first ...
Consider the following list of questions of the form "Is X kitniyos" or "Why is/n't X kitniyos":
Why do we have Kosher L'Pesach quinoa but not buckwheat (kasha)?
Why isn't chocolate considered to be kitniyos?
Is tofu cheese "kitniyot" on Passover?
Canola Oil - Kitnyos?
Wild rice and Pesach
Is M...
@DonielF Thanks for the reminder. I must admit that I haven't had the negative experience Monica described, but I get a glimpse every once in a while... There are still many opportunities to learn and teach, and some points where it may be good to spread Torah or a Torah perspective. It's also an opportunity for meaningful Torah study with other MY users (I won't name names) - some questions here may not draw the types of answers that some of us are looking for, but asking them there will.
@Y e z Well I know that I have a page printed out from it somewhere. I'm hoping that by finding the page I will be able to track down how I printed it.
@Alex Also just giving you a heads up that if you do manage to find it, I'll be demanding you stick around for anything else I can't find until I finish putting my mareh mekomos together.
@רבותמחשבות I think every couple of years I revisit the one about חייב איניש לבסומי.
@Y e z not that there is anything particularly sensitive about this one, it just isn't a good venue/format for recording, so I don't record it/post it.
I had an argument with a friend about when you can perform the Pesach seder mitzvot of eating a kezayit of shmurah matzah and drinking four glasses of wine (beginning with kiddush).
My friend said that you must wait until after sunset to say kiddush and eat the kezayit of matzah since these mitz...
@ShmuelBrin "One of those knots" meaning mathematical knots in general, or "one of those knots" meaning the ones in the linked-to page? It's the former but not the latter. It is, in fact, this one.
(Also known as the 3,4 torus knot: if you draw on a doughnut with a pen, going three times around the doughnut while going four times through its hole or vice versa, you'll draw this knot.)