WebYeshiva.org

WebYeshiva.org

By webyeshivaReligion & SpiritualityJudaism
Download on the App Store

WebYeshiva.org episodes

  • MythBusting: Jewish Urban Legends & Misunderstood Texts with Rabbi Uri Cohen - Session 19

    Class description

    Here are the topics for Session Nineteen:

    Urban Legend:

    “A pomegranate has 613 seeds!”

    Frauds, Fakes, Forgeries:

    “The Maharal’s Haggadah commentary was discovered in the Royal Library of Metz!”

    Street Torah:

    “If women do a zimmun of their own, men should walk out!”

    Factitious Fiction:

    The Red Tent:
    “All the Matriarchs worshipped goddesses. Harsh monotheism is only for males!”

    People Thought the Darndest Things!:

    “Lice don’t reproduce, but are produced by spontaneous generation!”

    Misunderstood Text:

    “Rashi blames Dinah for going out and getting raped!”

    Stranger Than Fiction:

    Rav Eliyahu Dessler’s mussar includes practical tips from Dale Carnegie.

    1 hr 7 min
  • MythBusting: Jewish Urban Legends & Misunderstood Texts with Rabbi Uri Cohen - Session 18

    Class description

    Here are the topics for Session Eighteen:

    Urban Legend:

    “The Magen David is an ancient Jewish symbol!”

    Frauds, Fakes, Forgeries:

    “Eldad Ha-Dani was a medieval traveler from beyond the Sambatyon!”

    Street Torah:

    “Women lighting Shabbat candles should have one for each family member!”

    Factitious Fiction:

    The Frisco Kid: “Even to save your life, you can’t travel on Shabbat – that is, until sunset!”

    People Thought the Darndest Things!:

    “If a niddah looks at a mirror, blood-red drops appear!”

    Misunderstood Text:

    “The Torah says charging interest to Jews is a sin, but charging interest to non-Jews is a mitzvah!”

    Stranger Than Fiction:

    Some use the Targum Yonatan to answer the question of who’s the mom in egg donation and surrogacy.

    59 min
  • MythBusting: Jewish Urban Legends & Misunderstood Texts with Rabbi Uri Cohen - Session 17

    Class description

    Here are the topics for Session Seventeen:

    Urban Legend:

    “If a child intermarries, the parents are supposed to sit shiva!”

    Frauds, Fakes, Forgeries:

    “Rabbi Mordechai Kaplan led an Orthodox congregation until he lost his faith!”

    Street Torah:

    “You can kasher a knife by sticking it in the ground!”

    Factitious Fiction:

    The Last of the Just: “Being a Jew is to suffer, and being a lamedvovnik is to be martyred!”

    People Thought the Darndest Things!:

    “The ten tribes still exist, but they’re beyond the Sambatyon River!”

    Misunderstood Text:

    “A man using an Orthodox prayerbook thanks God that he isn’t a woman!”

    Stranger Than Fiction:

    Yeshiva University wanted to honor its oldest living alumnus, but it would have been too embarrassing.

    1 hr 2 min
  • MythBusting: Jewish Urban Legends & Misunderstood Texts with Rabbi Uri Cohen - Session 16

    Class description

    Here are the topics for Session Sixteen:

    Urban Legend:

    “Singing Tehillat Hashem after Shir HaMa’alot is an anti-Zionist thing!”

    Frauds, Fakes, Forgeries:

    “The Besamim Rosh is by the Rosh but it wasn’t published until the 1700s!”

    Street Torah:

    “You’re not allowed to marry someone who has the same name as your parent!”

    Factitious Fiction:

    The Ten Commandments (1956): “Moses received the ten commandments in private!”

    People Thought the Darndest Things!:

    “An eighth-month baby isn’t viable!”

    Misunderstood Text:

    “The Kuzari says converts can’t be prophets, which is racist!”

    Stranger Than Fiction:

    The traditional prayer for the government has a concealed, subversive message.

    1 hr 5 min
  • MythBusting: Jewish Urban Legends & Misunderstood Texts with Rabbi Uri Cohen - Session 15

    Class description

    Here are the topics for Session Fifteen:

    Urban Legend:

    “Orthodox Jews serve men before women!”

    Frauds, Fakes, Forgeries:

    “The Radziner Rebbe reinstituted the original tekhelet!”

    Street Torah:

    “Following the law of the land isn’t required in the Land of Israel!”

    Factitious Fiction:

    The Merchant of Venice: “A Jew can demand a pound of flesh for defaulting on a loan!”

    People Thought the Darndest Things!:

    “The redemption will involve flying miraculously to the Land of Israel!”

    Misunderstood Text:

    “The Gemara says that people doing mitzvot can’t get hurt!”

    Stranger Than Fiction:

    The fifth Lubavitcher Rebbe went to therapy with Sigmund Freud.

    1 hr 8 min
  • MythBusting: Jewish Urban Legends & Misunderstood Texts with Rabbi Uri Cohen - Session 14

    Class description

    Here are the topics for Session Fourteen:

    Urban Legend:

    “Newlyweds should have sheva berakhot every day of the first week!”

    Frauds, Fakes, Forgeries:

    “A pious rabbi found and published the long-lost rishon, the Sefer HaEshkol!”

    Street Torah:

    “A mourner in the first year should walk out for Yizkor!”

    Factitious Fiction:

    Nurses TV show: “Orthodox Jews can’t accept transplants from non-Jews!”

    People Thought the Darndest Things!:

    “A woman can get pregnant by taking a bath!”

    Misunderstood Text:

    “The Gemara says that the only wisdom for women is the spindle!”

    Stranger Than Fiction:

    Rabbis have discussed when exactly to say “L’chaim.”

    1 hr 4 min
  • MythBusting: Jewish Urban Legends & Misunderstood Texts with Rabbi Uri Cohen - Session 13

    Class description

    Here are the topics for Session Thirteen:

    Urban Legend:

    “Adam and Chavah sinned by eating an apple!”

    An Unlikely Story:

    “93 Bais Yaakov girls killed themselves so the Nazis wouldn’t get them!”

    Street Torah:

    “The Second Beit HaMikdash was destroyed only because of sinat chinam!”

    Folk Etymology:

    “The word ‘helpmate’ is a reasonable translation of ‘ezer kenegdo’!”

    Don’t Know Much About History:

    “World War I started on Tisha B’Av!”

    Misunderstood Text:

    “The Rambam says girls and women are too dumb to be taught texts!”

    Stranger Than Fiction:

    Elvis Presley was a Shabbos goy for his Orthodox neighbors. But according to his mom, he was in fact halakhically Jewish.

    1 hr 9 min
  • MythBusting: Jewish Urban Legends & Misunderstood Texts with Rabbi Uri Cohen - Session 12

    Class description

    Here are the topics for Session Twelve:

    Urban Legend:

    “You can fulfill Seudah Shlishit with Divrei Torah instead of food!”

    An Unlikely Story:

    “The Chofetz Chaim’s grandchildren refused to use his Kiddush cup, since it wasn’t big enough for the Chazon Ish!”

    Street Torah:

    “A woman shouldn’t make Havdalah, and certainly shouldn’t drink the wine!”

    Folk Etymology:

    “The word ‘cholent’ is from the Yiddish for when you eat it: ‘shul ende’!”

    Don’t Know Much About History:

    “Rashi’s daughters put on tefillin!”

    Misunderstood Text:

    “The Gemara says we shouldn’t save the life of a non-Jew on Shabbat!”

    Stranger Than Fiction:

    A strange statement in the Shulchan Arukh is the result of meddling printers who didn’t cover all their tracks.

    1 hr 5 min
  • MythBusting: Jewish Urban Legends & Misunderstood Texts with Rabbi Uri Cohen - Session 11

    Class description

    Here are the topics for Session Eleven:

    Urban Legend:

    “Mordechai was Esther’s uncle!”

    An Unlikely Story:

    “Rabbi Akiva Eiger naively called a regular Jew the leader of world Jewry!”

    Street Torah:

    “The entire Zohar was written by Rav Shimon bar Yochai!”

    Folk Etymology:

    “The word “baal” means a husband because “baal” actually means an owner!”

    Don’t Know Much About History:

    “Targum Yonatan on the Torah was written by Yonatan ben Uziel!”

    Misunderstood Text:

    “Kiddushin is a kinyan, which means the groom is buying the bride!”

    Stranger Than Fiction:

    People don’t realize that the broken Vav in Parashat Pinchas is supposed to be there.

    1 hr 6 min

About WebYeshiva.org

From the publisher's feed

WebYeshiva.org, the world’s first fully interactive online Torah study program, was founded in 2007 by Rabbi Chaim Brovender with the goal of making Torah accessible to every Jew around the world.