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Pidyon Haben
The ''pidyon haben'' () or redemption of the first-born son is a mitzvah in Judaism whereby a Jewish firstborn son is "redeemed" with money. The redemption is attained by paying five silver coins to a kohen (a patrilineal descendant of the priestly family of Aaron), on behalf of one's firstborn son. Another object of equivalent value may also be used. ''Pidyon haben'' is a relatively rare ceremony. A family does not perform the ceremony if their firstborn is either a girl, or born by caesarian section, or preceded by a miscarriage (although some early miscarriages do not count as miscarriages), or if either grandfather is a Kohen or a Levite. Origin In the Hebrew Bible the laws (see mitzvah) concerning the redemption of the first-born male are referred to in Book of Exodus, Exodus, Book of Numbers, Numbers and Leviticus: The redemption price for firstborn non-Levites was set at 5 shekels: The arakhin laws set the redemption price of different classes of people whose "va ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Golden Calf
According to the Torah, the Bible, and the Quran, the golden calf () was a cult image made by the Israelites when Moses went up to Mount Sinai (bible), Mount Sinai. In Hebrew, the incident is known as "the sin of the calf" (). It is first mentioned in the Book of Exodus. Sacred bull, Bull worship was common in many cultures. In Ancient Egypt, Egypt, whence according to the Exodus narrative, the Israelites had recently come, the bull-god Apis (deity), Apis was a comparable object of worship, which some believe the Hebrews were reviving in the wilderness. Alternatively, some believe Yahweh, the national god of the Israelites, was associated with or pictured as a sacred bull through the process of religious assimilation and syncretism. Among the Canaan, Canaanites, some of whom would become the Israelites, the bull was widely worshipped as the sacred bull and the creature of El (deity), El. Biblical narrative When Moses went up Mount Sinai (Bible), Mount Sinai to receive the Ten C ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Responsa
''Responsa'' (plural of Latin , 'answer') comprise a body of written decisions and rulings given by legal scholars in response to questions addressed to them. In the modern era, the term is used to describe decisions and rulings made by scholars in historic religious law. In the Roman Empire Roman law recognised , i.e., the responses and thoughts of jurists, as one of the sources of (written law), along with laws originating from magistrates, from the Senate, or from the emperor. A particularly well-known and highly influential example of such ''responsa'' was the ''Digesta'' (or ''Digests''), in 90 books, the principal work of the prominent second century jurist Salvius Julianus. This was a systematic treatise on civil and praetorian law, consisting of responsa on real and hypothetical cases, cited by many later Roman legal writers. In the Catholic Church In the Catholic Church, ''responsa'' are answers of the competent executive authority to specific questions (in Latin, '' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bat Kohen
A bat-kohen or bat kohen () is the daughter of a kohen (Jewish priest), who holds a special status in the Hebrew Bible and rabbinical texts. She is entitled to a number of rights and is encouraged to abide by specified requirements, for example, entitlement to consume some of the priestly gifts, and an increased value for her ketubah. Hebrew Bible In the Bible, both Joseph and Moses married daughters of non-Jewish (Egyptian and Midianite) priests. However, in rabbinic literature the term ''bat kohen'' refers exclusively to daughters of Jewish priests, the descendants of Aaron. If the daughter of a priest engaged in illicit sexual relations, her penalty was to be burned; in contrast to the usual penalty which was strangulation. Daughters of priests were allowed to eat the sanctified gifts to priests (''terumot hakodashim''), just as sons of priests, and priests themselves, were allowed to. Rabbinic sources describe Tamar as the daughter of Shem, and consider Shem have been a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Igros Moshe
''Igros Moshe'' (; Israeli/Sephardic pronunciation: ''Igrot Moshe'') is a nine-volume series of ''halakhic'' responsa by Rabbi Moshe Feinstein. The first seven volumes were published during Rabbi Feinstein's lifetime, while the remaining two were published posthumously in Jerusalem. Overview Rabbi Moshe Feinstein was recognized during his lifetime as the ''posek hador'', the final decisor in ''halakhic'' queries, by much of the world's Orthodox Jewish community, due to his reputation as a ''talmid chacham'' with profound knowledge in all areas of Torah. The most difficult questions were often mailed to him. In 1959, a compilation of these questions related to the laws of '' Orach Chaim'' were printed in the first volume of ''Igros Moshe''. Later volumes were printed over the next twenty five years, with the publishing of the sixth volume in c. 1985. The remaining two volumes were published posthumously, largely based on manuscripts, with the final printing in 2011. Altogether, t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shulkhan Arukh
The ''Shulhan Arukh'' ( ),, often called "the Code of Jewish Law", is the most widely consulted of the various legal codes in Rabbinic Judaism. It was authored in the city of Safed in what is now Israel by Joseph Karo in 1563 and published in Venice two years later. Together with its commentaries, it is the most widely accepted compilation of halakha or Jewish law ever written. The halachic rulings in the ''Shulhan Arukh'' generally follow Sephardic law and customs, whereas Ashkenazi Jews generally follow the halachic rulings of Moses Isserles, whose glosses to the ''Shulhan Aruch'' note where the Sephardic and Ashkenazi customs differ. These glosses are widely referred to as the ''mappā'' "tablecloth" to the "Set Table". Almost all published editions of the ''Shulchan Aruch'' include this gloss, and the term has come to denote both Karo's work as well as Isserles', with Karo usually referred to as "the ''Meḥabbēr''" (, "Author") and Isserles as "the Rema" (a Hebrew acron ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bar Mitzvah
A ''bar mitzvah'' () or ''bat mitzvah'' () is a coming of age ritual in Judaism. According to Halakha, Jewish law, before children reach a certain age, the parents are responsible for their child's actions. Once Jewish children reach that age, they are said to "become" ''b'nai mitzvah'', at which point they begin to be held accountable for their own actions. Traditionally, the father of a ''bar'' or ''bat mitzvah'' offers thanks to God that he is no longer punished for his child's Jewish views on sin, sins. In Orthodox Judaism, Orthodox communities, boys become ''bar mitzvah'' at 13 and girls become ''bat mitzvah'' at 12. In most Reform Judaism, Reform, Reconstructionist Judaism, Reconstructionist, and Conservative Judaism, Conservative communities, the milestone is 13 regardless of gender. After this point, children are also held responsible for knowing Jewish law, Jewish ritual law, Jewish tradition, tradition, and Jewish ethics, ethics, and are able to participate in all ar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Synodic Month
In lunar calendars, a lunar month is the time between two successive Syzygy (astronomy), syzygies of the same type: new moons or full moons. The precise definition varies, especially for the beginning of the month. Variations In Shona people, Shona, Middle Eastern, and European traditions, the month starts when the new moon, young crescent moon first becomes visible, at evening, after Astronomical conjunction, conjunction with the Sun one or two days before that evening (e.g., in the Islamic calendar). In Egyptian calendar, ancient Egypt, the lunar month began on the day when the waning moon could no longer be seen just before sunrise. Others run from full moon to full moon. Yet others use calculation, of varying degrees of sophistication, for example, the Hebrew calendar, the Chinese calendar, or the Computus, ecclesiastical lunar calendar. Calendars count integer days, so months may be 29 or 30 days in length, in some regular or irregular sequence. Lunar Cycles, Lunar cycles ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ta'anit
A ta'anit or taynis (Biblical Hebrew ''taʿaniṯ'' or צוֹם ''ṣom'') is a fast in Judaism in which one abstains from all food and drink, including water. Purposes A Jewish fast may have one or more purposes, including: * Atonement for sins: Fasting is not considered the primary means of acquiring atonement; rather, sincere regret for and rectification of wrongdoing is key. Nevertheless, fasting is conducive to atonement, for it tends to precipitate contrition. Therefore, the Bible requires fasting on Yom Kippur. Because, according to the Hebrew Bible, hardship and calamitous circumstances can occur as a result of sin, fasting is often undertaken by the community or by individuals to achieve atonement and avert catastrophe. Most of the Talmud's Tractate ''Ta'anit'' ("Fast ) is dedicated to the protocol involved in declaring and observing fast days. * Commemorative mourning: Most communal fast days that are set permanently in the Jewish calendar serve this purpose. These fa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jewish Holiday
Jewish holidays, also known as Jewish festivals or ''Yamim Tovim'' (, or singular , in transliterated Hebrew []), are holidays observed by Jews throughout the Hebrew calendar.This article focuses on practices of mainstream Rabbinic Judaism. Karaite Judaism#The calendar, Karaite Jews and Samaritans#Samaritanism, Samaritans also observe the biblical festivals, but not in an identical fashion and not always at exactly the same time. They include religious, cultural and national elements, derived from four sources: '' mitzvot'' ("biblical commandments"), rabbinic mandates, the history of Judaism, and the State of Israel. Jewish holidays occur on the same dates every year in the Hebrew calendar, but the dates vary in the Gregorian. This is because the Hebrew calendar is a lunisolar calendar (based on the cycles of both the sun and moon), whereas the Gregorian is a solar calendar. Each holiday can only occur on certain days of the week, four for most, but five for holidays in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shabbat
Shabbat (, , or ; , , ) or the Sabbath (), also called Shabbos (, ) by Ashkenazi Hebrew, Ashkenazim, is Judaism's day of rest on the seventh day of the seven-day week, week—i.e., Friday prayer, Friday–Saturday. On this day, religious Jews remember the biblical stories describing the Genesis creation narrative, creation of the heaven and earth in six days and the redemption from slavery and the Exodus from Egypt. Since the Hebrew calendar, Jewish religious calendar counts days from sunset to sunset, Shabbat begins in the evening of what on the civil calendar is Friday. Shabbat observance entails refraining from 39 Melachot, work activities, often with shomer Shabbat, great rigor, and engaging in restful activities to honor the day. Judaism's traditional position is that the unbroken seventh-day Shabbat originated among the Jewish people, as their first and most sacred institution. Variations upon Shabbat are widespread in Judaism and, with adaptations, throughout the Abraham ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shekels
A shekel or sheqel (; , , plural , ) is an ancient Mesopotamian coin, usually of silver. A shekel was first a unit of weight—very roughly 11 grams (0.35 ozt)—and became currency in ancient Tyre, Carthage and Hasmonean Judea. Name The word is based on the triliteral Proto-Semitic root , cognate to the Akkadian or , a unit of weight equivalent to the Sumerian . Use of the word was first attested in under the reign of Naram-Sin of Akkad, and later in in the Code of Hammurabi. The Hebrew reflex of the root is found in the Hebrew words for "to weigh" (), "weight" () and "consideration" (). It is cognate to the Aramaic root and the Arabic root ( ث ق ل, in words such as "weight", "heavy" or , a unit of weight). The famous writing on the wall in the Book of Daniel includes a cryptic use of the word in Aramaic: "". Shekel came into the English language via the Hebrew Bible, where it is first used in Genesis 23. The term "shekel" has been used for a unit of weight, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
