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Dear Rabbi, I am trying to teach myself Gemorrah and I saw you gave a lecture on מצוה מבאה בעבירה on YU Torah. Might I ask you some questions about this? I started in the third פרק of Sukkot where R. Yochanan says a stolen לולב is פסול on Sukkot because it is a מצוה מבאה בעבירה. Question 1: Why didn’t the גמ' object to the stolen הושענת as a מצוה הבאה בעבירה? Question 2: What would be the case if I already owned a kosher לולב but stole a better one and used the stolen one? I don’t “need” the stolen one to do the מצווה? On the other hand, it is a מצוה מבאה בעבירה Question 3: What if you need a לולב on the first day and I have one I’m willing to give to you on one condition. The transfer is חל the moment you draw a drop of blood from your father. Is that a מצוה מבאה בעבירה? Is there a פגם on the לולב because it was obtained thru an עבירה, similar to גניבה? Or is it like Tosafot’s example of climbing a tree on שבת to get to a perfectly good sukkah on the top of the tree? Question 4: Does a מצוה מבאה בעבירה apply to an אסור committed בדיעבד? For example, you thought you found an ownerless לולב later found out that you picked it up from someone’s field. When you later realize you stole the לולב does it come out you didn’t fulfill the מצווה of לולב? Question 5: Rambam הלכות שופר וסכה ולולב 8:9 seems to hold that מצוה מבאה בעבירה is a דרבנן and one doesn’t apply a דרבנן on a דרבנן (taking the לולב on days 2-7). However, in the Mishna in Brachos 47b where Rabbi Eliezer freed his slave to make a מניין to say קדושה, the גמ" proposes it is a מצוה הבאה בעבירה, but answers a מצווה for the צבור is different. The גמ" could have said it was a דרבנן on a דרבנן (davening) Question 6: What is different about a מצווה for the צבור? If a מצוה מבאה בעבירה is מאוס to Hashem for לולב, it should be מאוס to Hashem for davening as well Question 7: what does the Shulchan Aruch 637:3 mean when it says one can’t fulfill his mitzvah in a stolen sukkah? Is the sukkah perfectly good but since it is a מצוה הבאה בעבירה one doesn’t get “credit” for sitting in a sukkah, or is it like he is eating outside a sukkah entirely? Thank you so much for any help you can give me

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Shalom Rabbi! Could you tell me from where is the text:"im lo le ma'ani az le ma'anam", from Tanach or some Tefilah? And who is saying it, and about who? in what context? Thank you very much and Shabat Shalom !

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If Kohen and Levi are present, the Aliyot are Kohen, Levi, Shlishi, Revii, etc. What happens in the following cases and what are the Aliyot called? Kohen YES NO NO Levi NO YES NO  

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Korean average IQ is 107. Ashkenazim Jews, 115. Are Jewish people are smart because of Torah study? Is there any connection between Torah study and Jewish intelligence?

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Did the flood in Noah’s time cover the entire planet with water and wipe out all civilization and animals? Or did it only affect the geographic region covered in the Torah? Were the Chinese, Native Americans, and Aborigines (just to name a few) affected by the flood? Or just those in and near the Middle East? Did Noah take all animal species from all parts of the world on board the ark, including kangaroos and llamas, for example? Or just those animals found in the biblical region?

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Was the full Torah that is written in the scroll today (The Five Books of Moses) given at Mt. Sinai? Or were just the Ten Commandments and previous events given to Moses and all the Jewish people there with the rest to come later? As we know, most of the Torah tells about events that occurred after Mt. Sinai. If the full Torah was given at Mt. Sinai, that means that everyone, including Moses, Aaron, and the entire nation would know in advance of their own actions and how they would behave, which could affect their own behavior.

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I know a lot of people do it. But is it actually wrong or sinful to intentionally refuse to work for a parnassa and instead spend much of one’s time learning Torah if doing so puts a strain on one’s family or community?

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I am an old guy (33) and I am baal teshuva. I would like to study and obtain smicha. What are my options?

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How we are supposed to academically, and religiously, understand the book of Daniel? Daniel is a noble Jewish youth of Jerusalem, taken into captivity by Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. He serves the king and his successors with loyalty until the time of the Persian conqueror Cyrus, while remaining true to the God of Israel. Question, is this supposed to be Nebuchadnezzar II (605 BC – c. 562 BC) Most modern scholars see the book of Daniel as actually being written during the reign of the infamous Antiochus IV Epiphanes (175–164 BCE) (the villain of the Chanukah story), although based on older materials. Question: Do any classical, medieval, or modern Jewish rabbis also see it this way? Any info would be appreciated. In the book, knowledge of the Babylonian-Persian period (Nebuchadnezzar era) is vague or erroneous. For example, "Belshazzar (Bel-shar-user) is identified as the son of Nebuchadrezzar and is called "king" (5:1), but we have seen that his father was Nabonidus and that, though he was a regent, he never became a king. King Darius is called a Mede, the son of Xerxes (Ahasuerus), in Daniel 9:1, although we know that he was a Persian and the father of Xerxes. As the story moves into the Greek period, it becomes more accurate. The writer knows of the desecration of God's altar by Antiochus IV in 168 (9:27; 11:31) but not of the restoration of worship by Judas Maccabeus three years later. The book must have been completed between 168 and 165, probably closer to 165. The presence of Persian and Greek loan-words lends support to the Hellenistic dating." (Old Testament Life and Literature, Gerald A. Larue ) How do we understand this book in an authentically Jewish and also academically responsible way?