The Rabbinic administration before the destruction:
Tosefta Chagigah 2:4 states explicitly that there were different-level courts around Israel. The highest one was at Yersuhalayim. However, the high court gave the sages room for nuanced rulings that fit their hometowns. So, for example (Mishna...
Rabbinic mental preparation for the destruction:
1. From several sources we know that the Temple administration was declining. Since Herod's time, it had become customary for priests to buy the position of high priest. Even more righteous priests who did this were looked down upon by the sages...
Not really. I don't think there's evidence that RYbZ didn't see the Temple as central. After all, he did institute several laws in its memory. And before the destruction, he was part of fierce debates with the Sadducees regarding the manner in which it should be run. Something a lot of people...
Me'am Loez is usually based on older sources the author had, so it's always worth trying to locate the original sources. In this case, there are a few Talmudic sources that attest both realistic and legendary qualities to a city in the Province of Syria named Luz. See BT Sotah 46b, BT Sanhedrin...
https://www.timesofisrael.com/four-1900-year-old-roman-swords-discovered-hidden-in-desert-cave/
A couple of months ago, a researcher from Ariel University in Israel explored a cave in the En Gedi area in Israel. The cave had been explored many times before, but he lucked out and found a javelin...
Atheism wasn't really a thing then, so she was obviously religious. Now, what god or gods she worshipped - that's another matter.
According to Genesis 26:34-35, she was a Hittite and a source of bitterness to Isaac and Rebekah. It doesn't sound like she knew some of the truth.
After receiving a good mark on my essay, and some deliberation, I decided to send it in to a journal called Hayo Haya, which was established as a way of publishing select seminar papers written by history students. I was told it would take some time until they get around to reading it, because...
Here's a link to the haftarah in Hebrew and English:
https://www.chabad.org/parshah/torahreading_cdo/p/haftarah/aid/2495808/jewish/Shoftim-Haftorah-Hebrew-and-English.htm
That's the opening of the haftarah of Parashat Shoftim (and yes, a Hebrew-secular calender verifies that the date matches). My dad also had his bar mitzvah that Shabbat (though over a decade after you).
Technically dat means law, so dati means law-abiding. But most people don't think about it that way, because the world has gotten used to Western definitions.
I think many of us can relate. Still, I find it impressive that Rav Hai was so forward about the issue, no hemming and hawing involved (I don't mean "forward" as in progressive, because that would make out disagreements such as that of Rabbi Matzliach as being backwards, which is not something I...