A. Only true tree fruit. Tomatoes, pineapples and bananas may be technically considered fruits, but they don’t really grow on woody trees and therefore this Halacha does not apply to them. But blueberries are considered a fruit, because they grow … Read the rest
...A. I’m not sure of JNF’s policy, but Halacha forbids planting in Israel’s soil during the Shemitta (sabbatical) year. 5768 / 2007-8 (when this question was originally posted) is a Shemmitah year. There are several different ways that observant Jews … Read the rest
...A. There sure is! See Deuteronomy 3:27 where G-d tells Moses, “Ascend to the top of the mount and raise your eyes westward, northward, southward and eastward, and see with your eyes, for you will not cross this Jordan.”… Read the rest
...A. Here’s the background. Jews in Israel dance with the Torah on the 8th night and day of the holiday. Jews in the Diaspora dance with the Torah on the 9th night and day of the holiday. The Ari’zal of … Read the rest
...A. Hebrew is written and read from right to left instead of from left to right (like many other languages). Different isn’t backwards.
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By the way, here’s a joke circulating the internet about this difference:
1) A disappointed salesman … Read the rest
...A. We in the diaspora pray toward East to the direction of Jerusalem. (The Jews of Babylonia and Syria prayed to the west, towards Jerusalem). The Western Wall is named such because it is the wall surrounded the western side … Read the rest
...A. “Savta” is Hebrew for grandmother. Mazal Tov!… Read the rest
...A. This is simply a matter of sensitivity. There are no Jewish laws prohibiting his music, but for those who suffered through the Holocaust and saw their loves ones go to their death while Wagner’s music was played by their … Read the rest
...A. See Kings I Chapter 15. Kings Asa and Aviyam had the same mother, Maacha daughter of Av(i)shalom.… Read the rest
...A. Neither. Cyrus was the Persian King who gave the go-ahead but it was built by Jews, led by Ezra and Nehemiah. Herod was King (vassal to the Romans) a few dozen years before the Common Era, who despite his … Read the rest
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