All posts tagged: Talmud

A partial solar eclipse in Israel has Orthodox Jews wondering

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Israel365 News is an Orthodox Jewish news site based in Israel. Though they don’t accept Jesus as the Jewish Messiah, they believe there will be a Messiah. Along with that, they have an end-times theology, that speaks of when this Messiah will return. And in that day —declares my God— I will make the sun set at noon, I will darken the earth on a sunny day. (Amos 8:9 The Israel BibleTM) There was a partial eclipse of the sun in Israel on Tuesday, Oct 25, 2022, and Israel365 wrote of its spiritual significance. For reference, the Torah is what we refer to as the Old Testament, and the Talmud refers to an ancient Jewish commentary on the Torah. Israel365 has this to say about the solar eclipse: In its discussion of eclipses, the Talmud (Sukkot 29a) specifically described solar eclipses as being a bad omen for the nations that base their calendars on the solar cycle. At the end of this section describing the omens contained within eclipses, the Talmud states a disclaimer: “When …

Why is there a wire surrounding an area of Manhattan?

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Many people don’t realize there is a string of wire encircling a large part of Manhattan Island in New York. It is strung along posts 15 feet (4.57 m) high off the ground. Why? Well it allows Orthodox Jews to go outside their homes on the Sabbath. In the Mosaic Law, the Jews were told to rest on the Sabbath day. This of course resulted in a big discussion on what it meant to rest and more specifically what was work. This resulted in the development of a series of oral laws, where Jewish teachers provided specific details on what was allowed and not allowed under the Mosaic law. This included regulations surrounding the Sabbath. These were eventually written down in what is referred to as the Mishnah. There were different versions of these oral and written laws, and in the fourth century, they were eventually gathered into a single written record called the Talmud. Today, it involves of a multi-volume set that compiles hundreds of additional rules Jews need to obey in order to …

Orthodox Jews wearing a kippah in Warsaw, Poland. Photo: Alex Proimos/Flickr/Creative Commons

Why do orthodox Jewish men wear a kippah or skullcap?

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With Jewish groups in Europe warning Jewish men against wearing a kippah or skullcap in public for fear of attack, I was a bit curious as to why they actually wore one. There are no passages in the Old Testament requiring men to wear a cap. After a bit of research, I discovered through Chabad.org that the tradition is based on the Talmud which is a collection of ancient Jewish writings interpreting the Old Testament Law — essentially an ancient Jewish commentary. The Talmud tells the story about an astrologer who told a Jewish woman that her son was destined to be a thief. To prevent this from happening, the woman demanded her son wear a cap as a reminder that God was watching his every move and to remind him of God’s presence. It even includes an incident that happened to the boy as he was sitting under a palm tree. His hat had fallen off and when a fruit fell to the ground he was strongly tempted to eat it, even though it …